General Debate 10 March 2020

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MT_Tinman

Covid-19.

Sounds awful.

In fact is just a bad cold.

Doctors who aren’t shouting politically motivated “pandemic” appear to agree that the new corona-virus is just a slightly more virulent form of the common cold – also a corona-virus.

From casual observation, other than the vulnerable due to age or illness the only people seriously affected appear to be smokers and those who live among heavy smokers. i.e. those with lungs already under attack.

The main danger to the world appears to be not the virus but the the politicians attempting to use the virus to advance their cause, most often to have more and more say over the lives of other people.

Most of these are, of course, from the left and NZ’s current PTPM is no exception. Thankfully she’s as incompetent at this as she is at everything that requires more than a tea-towel and a frown.

The cancel everything crowd, however, are having a field day, getting sports events, conventions and in some places, all public gatherings, stopped.

Here in Godzone the next thing I suspect to be advanced will be the suspending of the September elections because they might cause NZers to gather together to rubbish wanna-be and existing pollies – a good thing 😉

Keep washing your hands (that’s healthy), wear a mask IF YOU FEEL ILL and otherwise continue life as you’ve always led it (with the exception of voting ACT from now on) and only then will we, the people of first NZ and then the world, overcome this version of the common cold.

Also posted here: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3593227314157276209#editor/target=post;postID=1345941881218858556;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname
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March 10, 2020 8:01am
- Tall Man
  
  But it’s really really cool to panic and post stuff on twitter about the end of civilisation as we know it.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:11am
  - Simon
    
    Labo want to introduce a broad based virus tax to sort out equality issues and direct consumer behaviour around the virus.
    
    A Labo led virus taxation working group will be set up within the next 3 months. The first draft report on how to handle the virus via taxation will be ready in the next 6 to 9 months.
    
    Greens proposal to handle the virus is a call for the virus to be banned.
    
    Unless someone somewhere pays money into NZ First the virus is nothing but a National led conspiracy.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:49am
  - Wangas Feral
    
    It is not going to be the end of the world but it will be for some people.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:00am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Its funny eh, but whenever I see the word ‘Covid-19’, I immediately think of
  Dexys Midnight Runners song, “Come on Eileen” 🙂
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:57am
  - toby1845
    
    Whenever someone mentions Dexy’s Midnight Runners, I think of the 1982 joke:
    
    Q. “What’s hotter than Come On Eileen?”
    
    A. “Olivia Newton-John in Grease.”
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:40am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  A bad cold that gives 30% pneumonia, requires oxygen for 15% and respirators for 5%. If you get good hospital treatment ~1-2% die. If you don’t then up to 10%. 3 weeks ago Italy had 3 known cases. They are now having to limit treatment based on age because they have run out of space, this with only 0.01% of their population infected. Their death rates are about to shoot up. Probably anyone over 45-50 will be denied treatment due to lack of space.
  
  Even with universal good hospital treatment 5% of deaths will be under 50 years old.
  
  WuFlu is not a fucking “bad cold”.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:58am
  - Frank Thomas
    
    Have seen the statistic that 98% of the fatalities are aged over 60.
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:33am
    - SGA
      
      So… ?
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:40am
      - Frank Thomas
        
        So….. Out of over 114,000 reported cases only 80 people WORLDWIDE who are under the age of 60 have been confirmed to have died from the disease. It seems to hit the elderly the hardest. If you are under 60 and in reasonable health you should be OK……. Ok?
        
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        March 10, 2020 10:50am
      - SGA
        
        So… ? Does that we mean we should be doing anything different?
        
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        March 10, 2020 10:57am
      - Frank Thomas
        
        No……Keep calm and carry on……
        
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        March 10, 2020 12:17pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      I looked yesterday and found 95% of dead are over 50. That’s still a lot of younger people, kids losing parents. The terrifying thing is that death rate goes up to perhaps as high as 10% once our hospitals are overwhelmed – and that is likely only a few weeks from now.
      
      Govt needs to hit the panic button now. 2 week lockdown immediately – we can stop it now, but not in a few weeks time.
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:45am
      - mudrunner
        
        Kids losing grandparents is more the reality. So the world will carry on.
        
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        March 10, 2020 11:26am
      - GoVege
        
        These days a lot of grandparents in this country are raising their grandkids because their parents are on drugs.
        Lets hope coronavirus doesn’t get established here.
        
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        March 10, 2020 1:30pm
    - Michael NZ
      
      Frank this site breaks it down..
      10:40
      
      https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
      
      [Mod: Approved at 10.43; not bad eh!]
      
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      March 10, 2020 10:40am
      - sooty
        
        We would give you a pat on the head, if we knew which one you are.
        
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        March 10, 2020 12:53pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Any one of the eight heads, a Hydra by any other name.
        
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        March 10, 2020 1:47pm
      - Michael NZ
        
        Thank you. 🙂
        Now what about my secret name and all that, I sent an email ages ago to DPF..
        
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        March 10, 2020 2:22pm
    - Pharmachick
      
      You don’t have parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, brothers or sisters over 60 then? Where the Mortality rates skyrocket.
      
      Beacause your comment implies “Oh, old people die… too bad”.
      
      Pretty ignorant mate.
      
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      March 10, 2020 7:14pm
  - Andrew Worth
    
    What’s annoying is small minded people turning this situation into a political football, as some new weapon to turn on political opponents, just another opportunity to create a political narrative rather than deal with the reality in front of us.
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:41am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      No. The govt are doing a shit job, and we can’t afford that as it means tens of thousands extra deaths. Should we blithely accept their crap performance to assuage your concerns about ‘politics’
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:47am
      - SGA
        
        I don’t think that a National-led government would be doing a lot different, tbh. They’d be listening to the same national and international experts, they’d be looking at what Australia, US, and Canada are doing, they’d be trying to juggle prevention measures against the effect on the economy (and I doubt that they would weigh that any less than the current government), and they would be considering the diplomatic implications of travel bans (e.g., I doubt that they would have been any more willing to annoy China, say). So, in broad strokes, I think things would be much the same.
        
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        March 10, 2020 10:47am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        I’m talking about the tendency of some to look for any excuse to turn this pandemic into a fact free opportunity to attack the other side.
        
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        March 10, 2020 11:25am
    - All_on_Red
      
      And the Corporate rent seekers putting their hands out for Bailout money- the Virus is just an excuse to get bailouts for the shit they were already in.
      I’m looking at Europe mainly for this.
      
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      March 10, 2020 10:14am
- SGA
  
  hmmm… looking down the page, I see Maggy and others making opposing comments. Can you all be right?
  
  In fact is just a bad cold.
  
  “Bad” in the sense that it has killed 463 people out of 9172 infected in Italy (at the time of writing). That’s over 4.5%. Although I’d expect that percentage to drop markedly, to dismiss Covid-19 as just a common cold makes about as much sense to me as panic buying toilet paper.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:10am
  - Fletch
    
    Yep, I think people are writing it off too easily – being flippant about it.
    
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    March 10, 2020 1:00pm
- Misha Beattie
  
  I think you are wrong for the reasons artemisia sets out below. This thing has a much higher mortality rate than the flu. You are correct in that it kills old people especially. But there are LOTS of old people . My mother is 83 and I would be very concerned if it hits.
  
  Further many of the people who do not die will be hospitalised.
  
  Italy has about a quarter of people over 65, and about 7 percent over 80 years old.
  
  Oliver Hartwich is a smart guy and a Europe expert. He is confident that this event will cripple Italy. This article is well worth reading.
  
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/2020/03/09/1074222/a-catastrophe-that-will-cripple-italy
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:36am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  In fact is just a bad cold.
  
  No it isn’t.
  
  That’s as wrong as saying influenza is just a bad form of a cold.
  
  There are many types of coronavirus…
  
  The beastie causing the current pandemic of respiratory illness – Covid-19, is not the same virus as the ones causing the common cold.
  
  https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:30am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I am interested in seeing the demographics of who is impacted by the virus and the mortality demographics.
    As I understand it, the virus impacts older people, those who are smokers and may impact certain races more than others.
    Once that sort of information is available then it should be possible to target those in most need with support and preventative measures.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:38am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    Maggie, I’m old, I am regularly in confined environments with tourists for extended periods and I’ve had a (sometimes debilitating) disease for the last couple of years.
    
    Do you really think I haven’t seriously considered this matter, read everything I could find by genuine medical people (as opposed to slime and the politically influenced)?
    
    The fact is that the medical world has been dealing with corona-virus in various forms for decades. This is just another form with the added bonus that viruses that spread so quickly are always those that do less damage.
    
    I simplified for effect but the fact is unless the world (including New Zealand) keeps turning this relatively minor virus will be exploited by the political to destroy the way of life we now enjoy.
    
    THAT is what we must guard against!
    
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    March 10, 2020 11:26am
  - Doctor Who
    
    The virus causing covid-19 is SARS-CoV-2.
    
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    March 10, 2020 11:32am
    - rangitoto
      
      Just call it the Wu Flu.
      
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      March 10, 2020 1:24pm
    - Pharmachick
      
      Random scientific names don’t define pathogens.
      
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      March 10, 2020 7:17pm
- madamezucchininz
  
  ….Italy has up to 9000 cases and 463 deaths last time I looked….so that is close to a 5% kill rate of those with the Wuflu….so it is a little bit more than a common cold….I listened to one of the WHO men who gave an interview…he was asked about children getting this etc….and his answer, they don’t yet know the effect to children as when it broke out in China the kids were on a Spring Break holiday which they extended due to the bug….there are a lot of unknowns…..as I have said before, if it hits Christchurch and has a 10% infection rate, that would be 50,000 people sick and if out of that 50,000 another 10% become very ill and need hospitalization that would be 5,000….we just will not cope
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:58pm
artemisia

Yesterday one of ours was stood down from his one week block course at a polytech because he was at one of the two Tools concert more than a week ago with along with 10,000 other people.

Apparently one confirmed case of someone at THE OTHER concert on a different day has triggered the polytech’s Covid-19 panic plan. So let’s panic, even though GP and Healthline say risk is zero, zip, nil. So no testing possible because no risk factors and no symptoms. Pretty obvious really.

Polytech listens – nope, stand down right now, leave the campus right now. Common sense completely absent.

So shoutout to all those 20,000 people at the two concerts, here’s your opportunity to let your edu provider or employer know to activate their panic plan. Right now.

Unbelievable.
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March 10, 2020 8:03am
- slightlyrighty
  
  I work next to a bloke who was at the tool concert, and I am not worried in the slightest.
  
  What we are seeing is a media that is not fit for purpose, simply feeding off a panic that they created, aided by a social media that is about as useful at combating misinformation as a one legged man at an arse kicking contest.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:26am
- Kevin Herlihy
  
  Polytechs and all public institutions are in a difficult situation. It’s a case of damned if you do or damned if you don’t.
  For instance if they kept their doors open knowing that an infected person was amongest them the outcry would be over the top, especially if someone died as a result of not taking appropriate action.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:53am
  - artemisia
    
    But sending a student off campus who was at the same venue but on a different day to an infected person is pretty common nonsense would you not agree? Maybe if the polytech/s had asked all students at the same gathering as the infected person to stand down that would be very slightly believable. Like that will happen.
    
    Our guy is finishing his apprenticeship, it’s not like it is a few days out of a year long course. Now has to get a med certificate to go back this week and / or be somehow shoehorned into a later course.
    
    And no guarantee a med cert will be accepted as he has been told no test is required. So he is in limbo, and instead of finishing his week, or even the day, he has been on the phone gathering information and trying to make a GP appointment.
    
    Since he is not at a course or at work he will almost certainly have to take annual leave.
    
    Maybe the media should be reporting stupidity like this instead of reporting ‘let us all panic bigly’.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:12am
igm

Not a nice look when one is white and a non-muslim . . . wake up NZ we are being taken for a ride.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/119830895/mother-heartbroken-as-eldest-son-deported-from-new-zealand-in-visa-mixup
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March 10, 2020 8:05am
- Ruawai
  
  Immigration NZ need to find the friend of Golriz and deport him.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:26am
- doggone7
  
  The ride suits us when we say in some situations, ‘Rules are rules, apply them, it’s about hard and fast rules and being consistent. Officials and politicians should simply apply the rules.’
  In another case we say, ‘There should be some flexibility and discretion to be used by officials and politicians.’
  
  If the guy in this case was dark skinned and from Botswana would you be saying the same? If the guy was a New Zealander in Australia and our PM said the guy should be allowed to stay there the criticism would be about her being arrogant and interfering in their politics.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:50am
- mark15
  
  Did he commit an offence somewhere amidst all that maudlin crap?
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:03am
  - Nermal
    
    Good point. Conveniently not mentioned in sympathetic article
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:41am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      What was mentioned was the fact that Oliver, the mother, ‘forgot’ to renew her sons visa.
      
      She fucked up and now we are heartless bastards.
      
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      March 10, 2020 1:58pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  I’m not sure what you mean – are you suggesting that if he was brown or a muslim the decision would have been different?
  
  The situation looks very clear-cut – visa ran out, he wasn’t a boy or a child, he’s a 21 year old man who had moved out of home and didn’t take care of an extremely important legal obligation and is now learning that actions (and inactions) have consequences.
  
  I don’t buy the whole “he has no family there, no connections and no friends” thing; later in the article the mother says that family has rallied together to find him accommodation with “the few connections they had left in the city” well which is it?
  
  About time this young man took responsibility for his life, which it sounds like he was doing anyway, now it’s just somewhere else. He should go quietly, not burn any bridges, and apply for a visa when he’s in South Africa. he has options, it’s not a life sentence and who knows? It could be the making of him.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:32am
- Liberty
  
  How many years have Dot.cons friends in high places been procrastinating?
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:05am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    As many as he wrote cheques for the NZFraud Foundation.
    
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    March 10, 2020 2:00pm
- MrLovebucket
  
  And the silly bint goes on about Aussie deporting actual maggots back to NZ.
  
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  March 10, 2020 1:22pm
Maggy Wassilieff

On Feb 21st, Italy had three coronavirus cases, now 366 people are dead, and 7353 are infected (at least).

How life has changed in two weeks and three days. Suddenly France and Germany are about to reach the 1,000 mark.

This is what exponential curves feel like.

From:http://joannenova.com.au/2020/03/did-i-say-disruption-was-coming/

Death toll in Italy from Covid 19 – 463.
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March 10, 2020 8:06am
- cmm
  
  “This is what exponential curves feel like.”
  
  Especially an exponential curve where the outcomes (symptoms) are not visible for a couple of weeks.
  
  Africa is now ramping up. Massive numbers likely to come from there.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:10am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And if it has got loose amongst the displaced folks trying to get into Europe…
    
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/first-coronavirus-case-on-greek-island-filled-with-migrants
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:37am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      I wouldn’t call them “displaced folks” or “migrants” I’d call them illegal males of fighting age seeking to invade Europe for ideological purposes.
      
      I thank TFSM daily that our islands are so remote from such people.
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:10am
- Simon
  
  lol – calm down. Check Singapore.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:22am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Singapore has competent government and a well organised response, best in world really. What does that have to do with NZ which has neither?
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:49am
- Ian Boag
  
  Current worldwide doubling time is about a week. So we will see some truly impressive numbers quite soon.
  
  Just as well there are KB people who know that it’s a conspiracy of the international left and we shouldn’t worry about it ….
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:27am
  - cmm
    
    Exponential growth is limited because of the limited population size. Once more than, say, 20% of the susceptible population is infected then there is less opportunity for infection and the new infection rate starts to reduce. Once you’ve infected, say, 80% of the susceptible population it gets very difficult to find new customers.
    
    The exponential curve Maggy refers to above only really applies in the early days of an infection of a fresh population. China, for example, is way past that but we’ve still got our turn coming.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:46am
    - jonno1
      
      Quite right. Otherwise known as an S curve.
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:06am
    - SGA
      
      China, for example, is way past that but we’ve still got our turn coming.
      
      To be fair, China introduced stern measures to curtail the growth rate, so it has levelled out well before that natural population-based “brake” on the spread of the virus.
      
      There is another factor to consider too. As far as I am aware, it is still unknown what sort of lasting immunity a past infection will give you. If that immunity is limited then it would allow the virus to remain in the population longer.
      
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      March 10, 2020 9:34am
      - Engelbert Humperdink
        
        Anyone who says China has leveled out obviously believes the numbers China is putting out back then and right now.
        
        Yeah right.
        
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        March 10, 2020 10:08am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Current doubling time is actually about 4-5 days.
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:00am
- NoCash
  
  Spain just had a 63% increase of confirmed cases in one day.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:34am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    From what base?
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:44am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Spain’s dead from Covid-19 went from 8 to 26 over the weekend.
      Numbers infected went from about 780 to 1036 from Sunday8th – Monday 9th.
      
      https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1252798/Spain-coronavirus-latest-spread-Italy-quarantine-Europe-virus
      
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      March 10, 2020 10:40am
    - NoCash
      
      From 674 to 1102 in one day.
      
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      March 10, 2020 11:03am
    - NoCash
      
      Final tally for 9 March, 557 new cases. So from 674 case as of 8 March to 1231 by end of 9 March, an increase of 83% in one day.
      
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      March 10, 2020 11:20am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Would have been a weekend processing backlog. But still, its exploding.
        
        I predict Most of Europe will be in universal lock-down within a week.
        
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        March 10, 2020 2:29pm
- GazzaW
  
  I did read that the average age of those dead in Italy is 81! Older Italians have also retained their love of smoking and the cumulative respiratory problems must surely be another factor in the Italian death toll.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:56am
- Aunty
  
  Just as a head’s up, Maggy, epidemic and pandemic curves are sigmoidal (S-shaped curves), and the good news about that is this too shall pass!
  
  Sigmoidal curves of course do have a phase that is exponetial and we are seing that phase in Italy at the moment.
  
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  March 10, 2020 1:25pm
NoCash

I’m afraid Western Europe has fallen… Time to impose a travel ban on people from Italy, Germany, France, and Spain.
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March 10, 2020 8:06am
- Jack5
  
  And perhaps Auckland should be fenced off from the rest of the country, and a no-cross line drawn at Cook Strait.
  
  Might delay the spread of the virus for a week.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:25am
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    We should always have fenced off Auckland, never mind the coronavirus. Just sayin’.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:09am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      if it wasn’t for the Duty Free shop at the bottom of the Bombay’s, I wouldn’t leave . . .
      
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      March 10, 2020 2:02pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  It’s everyhwere, need 2 week quarantine for all arrivals regardless of origin. We should have been doing that for a month, then we wouldn’t be in the shit.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:02am
  - NoCash
    
    Israel has just done that, except for Americans.
    
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    March 10, 2020 11:05am
G152

Any-one interested in actually seeing what the Koran contains may recommend

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/index.htm
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March 10, 2020 8:08am
mjw

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
The Coronavirus is a perfect example of why we need government to represent the interests of the whole community. The whole situation demonstrates the total infeasibility of anarchic libertarianism (if more evidence of that was needed), as this would be totally unable to coordinate a public health response and border control.
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March 10, 2020 8:09am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Never pass up on an opportunity or excuse for eroding freedoms eh comrade?
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:51am
  - double d
    
    In wholesome agreement Urban.
    Anarchic libertarianism….pfffft
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:20pm
slightlyrighty

I see that the Wellington Council was warned 6 years ago about the state of our infrastructure for water and water supply.

They did nothing. Except cycleways.

They have shown neglect, and we are now paying the price. We have had a decade of leftist councils, with Green and Labour mayors, and we are now reaping the results.

Whenever you see a trendy pedestrian crossing light, a rainbow crossing, a cycleway or a council art exhibit, remember that this is a council pandering to a minority instead of doing it’s most basic function.

When your bus is late, your streetlight doesn’t work, your road is a mess, you are stuck in traffic because 25% of the CBD is affected by roadworks, your building process is held up by compliance, you can’t swim because of sewage, remember that the same organization is responsible for overseeing all of this.

However, so long as a rainbow bus is launched, and they can have a few warm fuzzies, then it’s all ok, I guess.

Cretins. the lot of them.
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March 10, 2020 8:10am
- igm
  
  Councils cannot worry about infrastructure when they are preoccupied with cycle lances, poofy crossings and housing spongers who have only one interest in life: fulfilling their self-entitled wishes.
  So long as non=ratepayers vote in local body elections we will have left-wing mongs infiltrating, which then flow on to employiing salaried unionised personnel.
  Ratepayers, we are being screwed, time to stand up to these losers.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:27am
- Colville
  
  Justin Lester. remember that name.
  
  and CEO Kevin Lavery…who has done a runner.
  
  This quote from 2019 for a morning laugh.
  
  Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Milford says Lavery has been crucial in making Wellington one of the best little capitals in the world
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:37am
- peterwn
  
  When I saw that Wellington Water had hired overseas consultants I though they had hired technical consultants to sort things out. But no, the consultants are just a bunch of bull artists to try and tell everyone either things are not that bad or that it is all the four Councils’ faults.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:41am
- kowtow
  
  Yes and the urban dwelling green/sustainable anti farmer types who protest constantly and aggressively about “Fonterra shitting in “our” rivers” seem to think that their own turds are not washing up on the beaches of Wellington , Auckland and Dunedin……..
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:13am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  That mad woman Wade-Brown has a hell of a lot to answer for.
  
  37 0
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  March 10, 2020 9:25am
  - Michael NZ
    
    and all the mayors last 20yrs.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:54am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Blame the hoards of dullards who don’t vote for better candidates.
    
    6 1
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    March 10, 2020 2:32pm
- Nermal
  
  Hidden infrastructure is always the first thing hit by budget cuts or re-allocations. The council politicians get money for their advertised pet projects, or even rate cuts. It takes several years for the infrastructure deterioration to become evident, and by then the politicians have Either gone or conveniently blame someone else. That’s a good time to employ some extra PR experts, who are wonderful at butt covering
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:47am
- Michael NZ
  
  i have personally emailed Andy the mayor and all the other councillors over the last decade saying ;
  your responsibilities are:
  1. infrastructure
  2. running the city.
  3. your pet projects.
  
  you are correct sprightly
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:53am
  - Michael NZ
    
    sorry 2 decades. apologies.
    
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    March 10, 2020 2:21pm
Poppa

Global markets are in free fall, oil has tanked

I think all Robertson’s chickens are about to come home to roost. We were heading into recession anyway but this will speed up the process

A lesson in how to waste a surplus of $8B in 2 years
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March 10, 2020 8:11am
- cmm
  
  The problem is that now Robbo has a scapegoat.
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:21am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    and a compliant media to promote it.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:29am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    But we will all wonder why he can’t drive us safely through the coming mess.
    
    We all know someone who handled a disaster and a financial downturn at the same time.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:33am
    - igm
      
      Yes, but the person you are referring to was not trained by a “creative accountant”!
      
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      March 10, 2020 8:36am
    - cmm
      
      But that was over 10 years ago – iPhone 1.0. How many people can remember that far?
      
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      March 10, 2020 8:58am
  - Tricati
    
    He may have a scapegoat but what needs to be pointed out is our economy was going south before the virus mania started, and the fact he had spent the surplus, hence the borrowing for over-blown infrastructure spend.
    The dithering going on regarding a stimulus package, or business support, would suggest their plans for a big election spend-up are being compromised and the only people putting in an effort are the spin doctors to distract people from Robbo’s incompetence.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:38am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Those at the top take the rap–they take the pay.
    Holding themselves out as capable of governing, now they have to prove it or be done for.
    With MMP we need a way of redress against fake MP’s.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:43am
  - peterwn
    
    And Winston. In his 2017 coalition decision speech he said that the economy was in for a recession. He may have had some justification with this since he forced Labour to rip $3B plus out of the economy for his vanity purposes.
    
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    March 10, 2020 8:44am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      One of the financial journalists recently predicted that if the economy does officially go into recession (i.e. two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth), the announcement is currently scheduled to be made about 10 days before the election.
      
      What’s the bet Grant Robertson will find some reason to delay the official announcement of the Q2 growth numbers from 1 April to 30 June.
      
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      March 10, 2020 10:52am
      - Paulus
        
        And delay the Election for as long as he can !
        
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        March 10, 2020 2:01pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        I have a lazy fiver for that . . .
        
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        March 10, 2020 2:06pm
  - rouppe
    
    And when they blame covid-19 remind them how they didn’t accept the gfc as reason enough for a growing deficit under John Key
    
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    March 10, 2020 9:07am
- kowtow
  
  As usual the MSM are turning this into another over hyped catastrophe story, last night TVNZ 1 led the “news” with breathlessly panicked delivery of financial Armagedon , this from a “news” broadcast that does not even routinely deliver a financial section in its nightly show.
  
  Drops in the market are actually buying opportunities and are generally followed by healthy gains………
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:10am
- kloyd0306
  
  The Kirk-Rowling government of ’72 to ’75 failed in the space of one term, due to incompetence.
  
  This selected-by-Winston mob fit the same bill and deserve the same treatment at the polls.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:43am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    To be fair, the Kirk/Rowling government had to deal with the 1974 oil shock, rampant inflation, and the rise of Muldoonism.
    
    Even if the 3rd Labour Government had been remotely competent, I suggest the combination of those factors might have been beyond it.
    
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    March 10, 2020 10:55am
    - curry4me
      
      Tony Stuart: They were highly competent compared to the current COL.
      
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      March 10, 2020 11:23am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        So is a troupe of monkeys in the clown circus of a government.
        
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        March 10, 2020 2:08pm
    - kloyd0306
      
      To be fairer, inflation blew out to 12% during the incompetent Rowling govt. Labour has a history screwing things up when finances are involved.
      Nothing has changed. The current mob have no clue. Thanks Winston, you are indeed poison.
      
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      March 10, 2020 3:38pm
- Nickc2
  
  Remember that $12Bn he borrowed a couple of months ago? Well, I said at the time it would be re-prioritized before it could be spent on promised infrastructure and it looks very much like it will.
  Another Black Hole for a National Government to fill. The CoL are intent on trashing the joint before they lose the Treasury Benches.
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:56am
Yvette

On Shane Jones comments, John Armstrong claims –
For all his faults, Jones is not a racist. He is someone pretending to be a racist — and for one reason. By sounding like a bigot along with his attention-seeking and headline-generating friction with Ardern, he and Peters are hoping to recreate New Zealand First’s halcyon days back in the 1990s when the latter barnstormed the country promising to slash the number of migrants entering New Zealand to the bone. [1]

What may motivate Jones does not matter when on the face of it he is still being racist.
But, in remonstrating with Jones, Jacinda may in fact be increasing the impact Jones and Peters have?

To halt this in its tracks,Jacinda should of course lay a complaint against Shane Jones with Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner on the grounds that –

1 – what Shane is saying harms the Indian Community
2 – as a target now of those who say she, Jacinda, should be stopping or punishing Shane, her reputation is suffering as she pleads with voters to be fair and not react negatively against her for Shane’s words, as he continues to utter his back-woodsman come-politician so-called oratory
3 – it would clearly distinguish Labour’s standards from those of New Zealand First
4 – if she can’t do anything about Jones herself, she should pass the issue on to someone who can
5 – and, if Jacinda doesn’t, it renders as rubbish, whatever she says of inclusividy and “They are us”, and
6 – it is the decent thing to do (last point, but of course, should be the first)

As Winston agrees with Shane Jones, Winston as a logical person will not discipline his comments, so does that not leave Ardern as the next in the Government who should?
And what is the position with the Race Relations Commissioner?

It is reported [2] that Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has slammed Shane Jones for his recent comments against Indian communities, deeming them “racist, ignorant and harmful”.

The item does not say why Meng Foon does not take further action when Jones’ comments appear to fit the description of “Inciting racial disharmony”. Link to law: [3]

“As a leader in Government, his words are irresponsible and harmful to many Indian, migrant and ethnic communities. These types of comments divide us as a country and embolden those that hold racist and xenophobic views.” – Foon

Does he require an official complaint before he can take action?

And can Foon backtrack on remarks be has made condemning Jones’ conduct?
So it is a “win-win” situation that should over come Jacinda’s anxiety to act.

So, Let’s do it, Jacinda – or piss off with your tarnished star-dust,
and don’t let the poor hit you on the way out

[1] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/john-armstrong-true-measure-nz-first-s-plight-glaringly-obvious-in-shane-jones-racist-spiel
[2] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/mp-shane-jones-racist-and-ignorant-statements-must-stop-race-relations-commissioner-says
[3] http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM305478.html
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March 10, 2020 8:20am
Jack5

Jacinderella supposedly tells off the Australian Prime Minister for deporting NZ criminals and she is applauded by her media claque.

Hypocrisy! Here’s New Zealand locking up a 21-year-old man who’s been in the country since he was 12 then throwing him out of the country – away from his family. He’s in exactly the same position as the deported NZ criminals, except this young man isn’t a criminal and has done nothing wrong.

You have to wonder whether Immigration NZ would have thrown him out if he had been a non-white South African.

New Zealand’s immigration policy and immigration administration are both disasters.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/119830895/mother-heartbroken-as-eldest-son-deported-from-new-zealand-in-visa-mixup
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March 10, 2020 8:20am
- backster
  
  He approached the Prime Minister for help and received a letter of acknowledgement….Wonder how that helped his welbeing.
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:18am
peterwn

See:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/119830895/mother-heartbroken-as-eldest-son-deported-from-new-zealand-in-visa-mixup

Man came from South Africa to NZ a 9 years old and deported at 21 years old because of visa irregularities he was not responsible for. He had NOT committed any crime.

And yet Jacinda lectured ScoMo about the Aussies doing this to Kiwi criminals.

Pot calling the kettle black.

The Government needs to ask its immigration people to do a complete review on this sort of thing. There are probably other people who were brought to NZ as infants where their parents were granted residency but the infants were not. This was at a time when children were named in parents’ passports and generally did not have their own passports. It was probably assumed (wrongly as it turned out) that if parents were granted residency then children had residency too.
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March 10, 2020 8:21am
- Nermal
  
  Are you sure he hasn’t committed any crime? The article is Conveniently silent on that issue, and the photos of his rellies doesn’t assure me.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:54am
  - peterwn
    
    Whether he had committed any crime is not relevant. Even if he had committed a crime, NZ’s conduct is still what Jacinda ‘told off’ ScoMo for with respect to similar Australian conduct.
    My key point is all infant children of immigrant parents should have been granted residency along with their parents. Immigration would (or should) have known about these children when granting the parents residency and when the family entered NZ. This was a dreadful bureaucratic oversight and is one the Government needs to retrospectively remedy. In some cases the parents or children woke up to this and rectified the situation (it was easier to rectify in past years). There was a general lack of awareness of the rules apart from what appeared in newspapers now and again.
    For example there was a father (born in NZ – his parents from UK) and son (born in UK). The father who spent years in UK was unaware he could claim UK citizenship and was similarly unaware the son was entitled to NZ citizenship (assuming no complications around the edges such as illegitimate birth).
    
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    March 10, 2020 11:05am
- cmm
  
  “There are probably other people who were brought to NZ as infants where their parents were granted residency but the infants were not”
  
  No, the parents do not have residency. They are on work permits. Once the child became an adult he then needs his own work permit, study permit, etc.. If they had gained residence earlier then this would not have been an issue.
  
  Quite a few things don’t make sense here.
  
  If you’re shit scared of being sent back to SA, then surely you’d pay a bit more attention to the state of your visas etc? For me it would be all consuming.
  
  The mother is claiming an abusive relationship going back 14 years, yet immigrated with the bloke 12 years ago. Seems odd to me.
  
  Still, if he had been a lawn mower salesman he’s be sorted!
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:08am
Happychappy

Jacinda Ardern is becoming a habitual liar and obviously cannot help herself with her statement she picked the new Police Commissioner. I believe that after what happened to Winston Peters over Wally Haumaha when he wanted to install this Senior Officer as Deputy Police Commissioner the outburst that followed with one complaint after another you would have to believe it need to be a consensus between all Parties to appoint Andy Coster as Police Commissioner.
Ardern said she personally knew of Coster’s passion for a police force that knows “it’s strength lies in what it could achieve with the Community it serves”.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/andrew-coster-named-new-zealands-police-commissioner
I wonder whether this opinion of Andy Coster is her own or that of her father’s
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March 10, 2020 8:25am
- cmm
  
  “Jacinda Ardern is becoming”
  
  Nope, she has been one for a long, long time.
  
  The truth feels uncomfortable to her. She would lie if her dog really did eat her homework.
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:13am
- Nickc2
  
  Her father’s choice? Probably. If it is, it stinks.
  She should have signed off on the most qualified officer’s appointment. Appointing a family friend to a position like this is corrupt.
  At the very least, she should have stood aside from the selection process knowing a friend of the family was involved and let the NZ Police appoint their most qualified officer and Cindy’s job would then be to sign off on the appointment.
  CORRUPTION FREE NZ YEA, RIGHT!
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:13pm
Simon

It seems many years ago now but it was in January of 2020 Trump was starting WW3.

Calm the fuck down. Clownshow.
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March 10, 2020 8:25am
RW Capitalist

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/government-unveils-predator-free-2050-plan.html
Wasn’t this Nationals policy, before the last election?
The one Labour/Greens laughed at and said was impossible?
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March 10, 2020 8:28am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Indeed. It’s good that Labour and the Greens embraced National’s ambitious policy.
  
  However there’s also a lesson for National there; don’t release too much policy too soon, as Labour and the Greens will steal it to save having to develop their own.
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:59am
- curry4me
  
  RW Capitalist: Yeah, I remember reading about it at the time.
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:27am
hullkiwi

As we often say this country comprises a lot of sheeple. So much so, that in the week following the confirmation of the first NZ identified case of Covid-19, retails reported a 14% increase in sales year on year for the same period. And analysts report the increased sales were in the known items:
Toilet paper;
Paper towels;
Tissues;
Water;
Preprepared meals;
Cleaning products;
Hand sanitizers;
Flour, rice and sugar.

Analysts are expecting this to go on for the next few weeks.

Source: http://www.rnz.co.nz Morning Report.

The scary thing is, these people are in a panic, what would happen in an earthquake? Are they not prepared for that? The other thing not mentioned was panic buying of supplies for pets – do these people not own pets? Or do they just not have a clue?

To think these people get the vote?
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March 10, 2020 8:32am
RW Capitalist

“The spread of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 is slowing down in mainland China,”
But the ambulance chasing media are only focused on where it is getting worse.
When the answer lies in where it is slowing down.
How long can we expect, before it slows in other places.
Never let a good disaster story go by.
1. It’s easy copy.
2. You can relate it to any political party you like.
3. Easy to lay blame.
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March 10, 2020 8:35am
- SGA
  
  “The spread of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 is slowing down in mainland China,”
  But the ambulance chasing media are only focused on where it is getting worse.
  
  People in Europe, Nth America, Oceania, wherever are interested in where it is getting worse because it is bringing the virus closer to them, and they are wondering what it might mean for them and their community.
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:36am
MCos

I heard a bloke from Z on the radio say that the public wouldn’t be happy if the price of petrol went down 20c one day and back up the next.

I’d say a lot of people would be very happy if the price went down 20c for a day.

If the price of oil didn’t rocket back up again he’d have some explaining to do if petrol didn’t stay down.
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March 10, 2020 8:42am
- hullkiwi
  
  MCos, that comment was similar to another one from an analyst questioning what the sustainable price of a barrel of oil is. The analyst suggesting that it is between $40 – $50. How does he know? 4 years ago oil sunk to less than $30/barrel, this after reaching $140/barrel in 2008 and analysts talking of future oil prices being $200/barrel per the GFC.
  
  What it amounts to is analysts know very little about anything except self fulfilling prophecies.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:56am
- Paulus
  
  Mobil have a one day a week special with their free club card – with a 10 c litre discount.
  
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  March 10, 2020 2:08pm
Maggie Pie

The Coronavirus emanating out of China is not all we have to worry about. The Chinese have been exporting death and destruction to this country for years…..and continue to do so. Like Coronavirus, we have no real idea just how much or what is finding it’s way over our border.

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1236842772788699138

I would like to hear something definitive from Simon Bridges as to what National intend doing to stop this scourge. Or is it as my partner thinks, Simon is still under JK’s spell?
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March 10, 2020 8:45am
- doggone7
  
  You reckon Simon should arrange a meet with Jian Yang and get the true oil? There could be about 14,999 others in Auckland who are ready to advise him too.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:41am
- kowtow
  
  Look at the problem from another point.
  
  ‘We’ have been importing death and destruction for years , and at least we could do something about it at our end.
  
  But funnily enough our media and many politicians present the importers and distributors as ‘people of the country’ , ‘family’ etc who have a kind side , who feed poverty stricken children in schools , who are misunderstood , etc .Local councils even spurge rates money on them ( Dunedin)
  
  I’ve read of a recent instance where there are “tensions” ( a media euphemism for a murderous rampage ) that the local Plod were going to have a whoee with certain of the players…….
  
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  March 10, 2020 10:22am
pb

I’d imagine quite a few people would enjoy a few snow-covid home days. Surely there’s a chance life might get better without the commute to the cubicle slave pen and 10 hours of screen worship. What if the kids preferred being taught by Mum and Dad. What if a little less diversifying our virus culture was a good thing. Perhaps a good time to sew a late crop of victuals and build that timber frame study out back. https://www.traditionalbuilding.com/features/learn-to-timber-frame
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March 10, 2020 8:50am
LTA1955

Labour manages to generate recession whenever they slither into power. They were on the exit during the last one and left the mess for the Nats to clean up.
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March 10, 2020 8:51am
Poppa

I think we can safely guarantee one thing, & that is that both the oil companies & the Govt will use this as an opportunity

The oil companies will maximise profit due to the lower cost of crude & the Govt certainly won’t be reducing road tax component

So once again low crude prices won’t help the hapless motorist much at all
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March 10, 2020 8:52am
- kloyd0306
  
  Agreed. Watch for smoke and mirrors.
  Rip off tax levels.
  Oil companies with snail-pace reactions to price drops but lightning fast with increases.
  Double whammy for the motorists funding bike lanes.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:49am
Monique Watson

I see the unions are making hay while the sun shines.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12315223

I hope the government settles with them. Might wake up more people to the outrageousness of socialism. Trying to get a wage increase when the retired are getting called back to fill the shortfall.
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March 10, 2020 9:02am
Than

Used Delorean for sale. Only been driven from time to time.
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March 10, 2020 9:15am
- alloytoo
  
  Hmmmm that’s available for hire seen it in Howick.
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:18am
lastmanstanding

There was an interesting item on The Bolt Report last night. A young Muslim woman has written a book Unveiled in which she details her upbringing including being forced to wear the Muslim dress and being forced to marry a Taleban fighter and escaping a brutal marriage.

She talked about Cindy and how young Muslim women find it deeply offensive that Cindy wears the Muslim head dress. She said Cindy is seen to be supporting radical Muslims by doing so.

Of course in addition rather than respecting Muslim culture Cindy has forced the events of next Sunday. Muslim leaders have explained they dont do as we do in the West. They move on after terrible events like March 15 but no Cindy has to be front and centre for the photo ops.

Thats more important than respecting Muslim culture. Its all about her her and more her.

One can only pray that in 6 months she will be but a foot note in history.
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March 10, 2020 9:16am
- mark15
  
  Would she notice if she was the only woman there wearing a headscarf?
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:29am
- G152
  
  Any-one want to know what and how muslims think may I suggest
  
  http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/index.htm
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:50am
- Tall Man
  
  “she will be but a foot note in history”
  
  Hopefully little more than a stain on the symbolic voter’s boot that kicked her out of office.
  
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  March 10, 2020 6:05pm
Odakyu-sen

I remember back in mid-2000 in Auckland. Ordinary 91 petrol was about $1 a liter. Looking back at the other data for that time, $US1 = $NZ1.78 and the price of crude oil was about $US30 a barrel.

Fast forward to today.

Petrol at the local Z is $2.20 a liter
Crude oil is back to $30 a liter
$US1 = $NZ1.57 (The Kiwi is stronger against the $US than in mid-2000)

Logically, ignoring government taxes that have changed since mid-2000, petrol at the pump in Auckland should be back down to around $1 a liter in a couple of weeks’ time.

Have I missed something?
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March 10, 2020 9:35am
- lastmanstanding
  
  I wouldnt hold your breath. The fuel companies will take their own sweet time hoping the oil price will increase so then they can increase the pump price rather than reducing it. Between the fuel companies and the Gumint motorists are being well and truly raped.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:53am
  - david
    
    Nah, “fleeced” is the word ‘cos Cindy told us.
    
    Rather appropriate considering the image of “sheeple” continuing their bizarre love affair with the great shepherdess.
    
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    March 10, 2020 12:05pm
- cmm
  
  You missed the Hugz?
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:57am
- Paulus
  
  Yes -they good old days when I started driving – 4 Gallons for a pound !
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:18am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Four UK gallons would be 18.2 liters.
    The average weekly wage in 1969 was just under $50 a week (including overtime and bonuses) (Ref: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-1960s/overview)
    
    At the time of currency conversion in 1967, the rate was 1 pound = $2.
    So, your wage (I guess) in those days would have been about 20-22 pound a week. Let’s assume 20 pounds.
    
    So, your weekly wage would buy 20 x 18 liters = 360 liters of petrol.
    That’s 360 liters x $2.20 a liter = $792 a week
    
    That’s not a lot different from today.
    
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    March 10, 2020 2:37pm
cmm

Still not a peep from a Labour MP of proud Indian heritage.

https://twitter.com/priyancanzlp
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March 10, 2020 9:52am
- MCos
  
  About what?
  
  1 13
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  March 10, 2020 10:45am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    About the Indian-bashing Minister who is a coalition partner of her government.
    
    17 1
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    March 10, 2020 11:02am
    - MCos
      
      https://www.indiannews.co.nz/allstories/shane-jones-comments-on-the-kiwi-indian-community-were-offensive-priyanca-radhakrishnan
      
      6 2
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      March 10, 2020 11:50am
      - cmm
        
        This is astroturfing. Makes a comment in the Indian News to placate Indians without saying anything in a forum that most NZ will read.
        
        She doesn’t draw a line in the sand. No promise to do anything about it.
        
        Pathetic response.
        
        10 1
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        March 10, 2020 12:48pm
      - MCos
        
        On the other hand we have Parmjeet Parmar who doesn’t know who to cheer for at the cricket
        https://twitter.com/Parmjeet_Parmar/status/1220601820029935616?s=20
        At least she managed to have a go at Shane Jones in Stuff about arranged marriages.
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117293146/shane-youre-wrong-national-mp-happily-in-an-arranged-marriage-for-25-years
        
        4 1
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        March 10, 2020 1:59pm
Ian Hawthorn

What we need is to sign up a bunch of young doctors and advanced med students – pay them a million dollar bonus each, and infect them with covid-19. In that age bracket most should be OK – for many it will be the proverbial common cold – but a few will get very sick. Give them the best medical care should they need it while they recover. Once they’ve recovered we’ll have a bunch of shockline medical troops with which to fight the coronavirus; people who have had it and are therefore immune and who will be able to work in hot units with the sickest patients without needing to self quarantine every time their mask slips.
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March 10, 2020 10:16am
- kowtow
  
  It’s not April 1st yet.
  
  11 0
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  March 10, 2020 11:19am
- cmm
  
  Start working on your Nobel acceptance speech.
  
  5 0
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  March 10, 2020 12:43pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Perhaps a lesser reward. An useful idea.
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:51pm
Max

Lurking in the background is a means testing New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill which is at select committee stage. Why haven’t we been informed about this and what ramifications will this have on pensioners and veterans who worked hard all their lives to acheive a comfortable fun retirement at the end of one’s life? Do we know about this move and which parties favour the legislation, and what are the details?

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This omnibus bill deals with social assistance for older people. The single broad policy is to modernise and simplify New Zealand superannuation and the veteran’s pension by shifting toward an assessment of entitlement on an individual basis; and improving the consistency and clarity of policy and legislation.

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MP in charge
Sepuloni, Carmel
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March 10, 2020 10:18am
- alloytoo
  
  She is obviously running out of money for Job Seeker benefits, looking to target a soft group.
  
  12 0
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  March 10, 2020 11:23am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Don’t presume Pensioners are softies–many know where the secrets presently rest.
    
    9 1
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    March 10, 2020 12:49pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Has Winston ceased to be the Pensioner’s watchdog?
  Has WINZ purchased the admin software out of Auckland Uni. that some States in the USA are complaining about? The system is firstly for the people not the other way around. Robots and algorithms don’t do human relations in their bits and bytes.
  
  We are going to have to get our money back from this incompetent selected governance module.
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:48pm
  - Piniwi
    
    KevO’Brien @12.48 pm “Has Winston ceased to be the Pensioner’s watchdog?” Perhaps not as seniors open their email today with the latest from MSD. “March SuperGold offers”. Lol
    
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    March 10, 2020 2:11pm
Maggie Pie

Italy now in total lock down. A business aquaintance of my partner was telling him he’d let one of his St Mary’s Bay houses overlooking Westhaven to part of the Italian Cup syndicate. Even though he’s been paid a substantial upfront deposit, his biggest concern now is whether they will fulfill the contract. It’s a real worry 🙁
9 0
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March 10, 2020 10:25am
- alex Masterley
  
  Thats the AC event in Calligiri blown out of the water then.
  
  8 0
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  March 10, 2020 11:38am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  If he owns multiple houses in St. Mary’s Bay I don’t feel too sorry for him. He will survive.
  
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  March 10, 2020 9:35pm
oldfella

A timely UK article as we approach the Chch shooting anniversary.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/09/censorship-will-not-defeat-extremism/
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March 10, 2020 10:41am
oldfella

This is also worth a read as we approach the shooting anniversary.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/09/in-defence-of-trevor-phillips/
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March 10, 2020 10:48am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  The conclusion:
  
  ‘Phillips is a successful black man who does not hesitate to identify the deeply regressive elements of the left’s multicultural ideology. His mere existence is a major inconvenience to the left. For the Labour Party, Phillips is nothing but an uppity coconut who needs to be punished for not fitting neatly into its political agenda.
  
  The suspension of Phillips is just another demonstration of the Labour Party’s increasingly regressive and authoritarian turn. This is a party led by a man who has a history of fraternising with Islamist organisations. And a party that has witnessed the departure of British Jewish politicians due to institutionalised anti-Semitism – including Dame Louise Ellman, who had been in the party for 55 years before she quit last year.
  Yet it is Trevor Phillips who is considered to be so unpalatable that he is undeserving of a place in the Labour Party. A once great party has descended into a complete farce. Labour is on the brink of total irrelevance.’
  
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  March 10, 2020 2:26pm
BobbyS

Just got advice my 17 year olds school is running classes all day on a programme called “Loves me not”
https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publication/loves-me-not
A whole day, no classes, more govt intervention in to parents domain
Ive asked on who’s authority, what legislation, why parents were not asked but instead told and why is it compulsory
This is a fricken joke
The nanny state shit is alive with this BS govt
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March 10, 2020 10:49am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is it combined with compulsory greenism too?
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:41pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVVBFCx2zlU
Some light entertainment from Mark Dice.
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March 10, 2020 10:53am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvHc1NJbp5g
Greek Force are holding back the current migrant invasion. This time they are getting assistance from other Fourth Reich countries.
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March 10, 2020 10:55am
- rangitoto
  
  Where are Leonidas and Themistocles when you need them?
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:38am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS8UyTwAC5o

How to Make Money in China: Selling People’s Organs. It’s time to leave the Made in China stuff on the shelf, and get drop shipping supplies from Vietnam, or Taiwan.
7 2
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March 10, 2020 10:56am
- Maggie Pie
  
  What is amazing, is that even our little Poodle wont go anywhere near ‘Doggy Treats’ if they say Made in China.
  We had no idea Gladys could actually read!
  
  11 1
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  March 10, 2020 11:23am
Maggy Wassilieff

YES!!
Can the bloody thing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120144035/coronavirus-prime-minister-seeking-advice-on-whether-march-15-event-and-pasifika-festival-should-be-cancelled
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March 10, 2020 11:16am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Eek, they can’t do that. I’ve heard there’s a new song to debut in Church this Sunday.
  Some people do go over the top.
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:39pm
- SB 2
  
  Pacfica or Mosque shootings anniversary.
  
  There are creative ways we can all remember and commemorate the later eg DPF suspend postings for a couple of minutes at the time and place.
  
  Next Anzac day, Waitangi day?
  
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  March 10, 2020 3:01pm
  - cmm
    
    Stephie, what the hell are you talking about?
    
    I have seen you form a coherent sentence so I know it is within your capability.
    
    You seem to be conflating two issues:
    1) Should the Mosque shooting be commemorated? If so, who would we be doing this for? For what purpose?
    
    2) If the event should be commemorated, then how to do so in the face of a COVID threat.
    
    Since the Muslim community seems, almost unanimously, opposed to commemorations then it would not be sensitive to their needs/desires to have a commemoration.
    
    So who’s “needs” are being met then? Seems to me like the “guilty whites” to alleviate their guilt trips and PriNZess for #CinD4UN.
    
    How? Well if it is for the “guilty whites” and #CinD4UN, then clearly lots of cameras required and an anonymous, silent, commemoration won’t cut it.
    
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    March 10, 2020 7:35pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Corona virus spreading in Sydney..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-10/coronavirus-spreads-in-nsw-doctor-calls-for-sydney-quarantine/12040128
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March 10, 2020 11:20am
- SB 2
  
  MW, a bit of a doomsday clock syndrome?
  
  50 seconds to go?
  
  https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
  
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  March 10, 2020 2:18pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No, stephieboy.
    
    Just information that is not available easily here in NZ’s msm.
    
    And how many folks do you think travel between Sydney and NZ each day?
    
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    March 10, 2020 3:59pm
Lee C

SGA I accidentally ‘reported’ you. Sorry, 2020 10:47AM.
What I hoped to ‘Reply’ was
National might have done it any differently. I think Bridges would have been much more effective, but the media and certain parties/blogs/ would certainly be beating them to a pulp over it, IMO, had they been in power .

As opposed to the rather uncritical and laudatory but faint praise allotted to Jacinda Ardern’s ‘response’…
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March 10, 2020 11:28am
- SGA
  
  SGA I accidentally ‘reported’ you. Sorry, 2020 10:47AM. What I hoped to ‘Reply’ was
  
  I do that occasionally too – I think the mods know that happens.
  
  I think Bridges would have been much more effective,
  
  Perhaps, but in what way? I’m not trying to pick a political fight. Looking at the big picture, I genuinely think a National-led government would have done very similar things for very similar reasons at very similar times in terms of public safety.
  
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  March 10, 2020 11:55am
Misha Beattie

I don’t understand why dozens of flights are still leaving from Milan today.

https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/mxp/departures

Sure it is dozens rather than the usual hundreds, but why are there any?

In New Zealand I would like see the Government be transparent about contingency planning. eg what are the precise circumstances that would close all schools in New Zealand, or all travel? All I see is reassurances about processes and working groups of ICU specialists.
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March 10, 2020 11:35am
- david
  
  Looks like courier companies and air cargo are still working. Possibly also foreign carriers relocating to home base with crews to park up (My guess only).
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:29pm
- MCos
  
  Five people in NZ have Covid-19, maybe a few more and you’re wondering when the schools will close?
  
  It’s a balancing act.
  The flow on from forcing the closure of schools would put Innumerable people out of work; many from day one. There’s enough people effected as it is.
  Things will have to deteriorate drastically before that course of action is considered.
  Once that happens who knows what will happen next?
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:36pm
  - Westie Bob
    
    From Newshub I have asked for specific advice from the Ministry of Health and the director-general of health over two large events happening this week just to reassure myself that we’re using all the information we have, and I expect to get that advice today.”
    
    Newshub asked Ardern if the memorial could potentially be cancelled, and she said “no”.
    
    “I’ve just highlighted for the director-general that we have two large events in New Zealand this week, and asked again for his advice on managing those events,” the PM said.
    
    “New Zealand does not have a community outbreak at this point. We have cases that are identified where we’ve been able to do contact tracing, so we’re not at the point where other governments around the world have cancelled events.”
    
    The Pasifika Festival is happening at Auckland’s Western Springs on Saturday while a memorial for the March 15 Christchurch terror attack is happening on Sunday at Hagley Park.
    
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    March 10, 2020 5:31pm
- cmm
  
  As much as people want certainty in a time of uncertainly, we also need flexibility.
  
  Therefore I don’t think we should call for “precise circumstances” etc.
  
  A bit of leadership wouldn’t go amiss though…
  
  One thing I don’t understand is that Labour has a real doctor on their squad: Dr Liz Craig, but we end up with a doctor of bible studies as Min Health.
  
  Liz Craig only gets to be on the Health Select Comittee.
  
  Can’t they swap?
  
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  March 10, 2020 12:39pm
  - SB 2
    
    Why it makes me think of Gerry Brownlee a woodwork teacher and Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery.
    
    0 19
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    March 10, 2020 2:17pm
    - Jack5
      
      Stephie, Brownlee was a builder as well as a teacher.
      
      A builder wasn’t a bad background for someone dealing with reconstruction.
      
      17 0
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      March 10, 2020 2:55pm
    - BeaB
      
      As well as working in his family’s construction business Gerry Brownlee had been involved in campaigns to save historic buildings in Christchurch. With his business, political, heritage and Christchurch knowledge and experience. he was tailor made for the job.
      Much better than being a Doctor of Theology and keeping on using the title of doctor when talking about a health emergency. If Labour had any ethical standards and decency they would have made him drop the title during this crisis so as not to mislead the public.
      Apart from anything else, he is such a nong he gives medical doctors a bad name!
      
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      March 10, 2020 3:19pm
      - sam green
        
        Tony Ryall worked in a bank.
        
        0 12
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        March 10, 2020 4:40pm
      - Jack5
        
        Sam, Ryall had a Massey business degree, and was a “credit analyst” in a bank, and worked later in the BNZ “corporate recovery section”, which I guess means debt collecting from companies.
        
        I think the only truly financial portfolio Ryall held as a Cabinet Minister was being in charge of the Audit Department, though oversight of State-owned enterprises and Housing NZ were among his Cabinet business roles.
        
        9 0
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        March 10, 2020 5:25pm
      - sam green
        
        That’s right Jack5 – but he wasn’t a medical doctor which seems to be cmm’s point. He was a competent minister of health.
        
        3 2
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        March 10, 2020 7:22pm
    - cmm
      
      Were you going to find a person with a PhD in Earthquake Recovery. Where do they even teach that?
      
      7 0
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      March 10, 2020 7:25pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Where do they even teach that?
        
        Massey University
        https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/explore/departments/joint-centre-disaster-research/joint-centre-disaster-research_home.cfm
        
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        March 10, 2020 7:30pm
Maggy Wassilieff

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/oral-questions-10-march-2020/
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March 10, 2020 11:36am
Swifty

Farewell Max von Sydow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyQmO-LFF4M
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March 10, 2020 12:48pm
Poppa

Ok I officially give up & will hence forth go into full panic mode

I intend to panic buy at the beer shop tomorrow as I believe we have enough toilet paper for a while & it will be an ideal time to empty my freezer of all the stuff we have stuck in there for use another day.

All of that is presuming I do survive. Unfortunately I am in one of the high risk age categories but at least I haven’t been to Iran lately
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March 10, 2020 1:23pm
Chuck Bird

Has anyone seen this? Comrade Ardern wants lecture Australians about deporting Kiwi crims to NZ. As far as I can tell this young man has not committed any crime. Then of course we have the same Immigration Minister who wanted to grant permanent residency to a convicted drug dealer.

I hope National raises this issue in Parliament.

Mother heartbroken as eldest son deported from New Zealand in visa mix-up

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/119830895/mother-heartbroken-as-eldest-son-deported-from-new-zealand-in-visa-mixup
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March 10, 2020 1:51pm
Chuck Bird

This one promise Comrade Ardern will keep unless we have a few principled MPs. All those who vote for this bill think is okay to kill a 38 week unborn baby. This would never pass a binding referendum but MPs are meant to have more of a conscience that you or I.

“In the UK, abortion is available through to birth for disabilities including Down’s syndrome. In February the BBC reported that a woman had been offered an abortion at 38-weeks gestation – three days before she gave birth – because her baby had Down syndrome.”

https://downright.org.nz/#the-law-change
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March 10, 2020 2:40pm
- sooty
  
  I won’t trust labor
  To build houses,
  Build an unwanted shitty light rail system,
  Make roads flow freely,
  Plant trees,
  Bring Whinestone to justice,
  Have a corruption free parliamentary election,
  Kick the greens in the nuts,
  Reduce the tax burden.
  
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  March 10, 2020 4:55pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Ob the ground account of medical situation in Lombardy:
https://twitter.com/jasonvanschoor/status/1237142891077697538

We have to do everything we can to prevent this happening here. That means country wide lock down as soon as we can prepare for it.

UK is asking everyone who develops sniffles to self isolate for a week starting in a few days.

If you haven’t already done so then get supplies you need for a few weeks self isolation, it’s coming.
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March 10, 2020 4:33pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Urban
  
  As soon as this virus reared its ugly head and I knew it was from China I knew we were in for a rough ride.
  
  In 1968/69 pre mass air travel and cruises there was the Hong Kong Flu and one million died.
  
  Now we have people flying and travelling in the modern version of the petrie dish and in Europe free movement.
  
  People living in sub standard conditions and we are in for a rough ride. I have just bought a 145 litre chest D/Freeze to augment my larger up right D/F and I reckon I have enough for 6 weeks excluding booze.
  
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  March 10, 2020 5:41pm
  - MCos
    
    The so called Hong Kong flu was spread worldwide by air travel. Although it originated in Hong Kong it rapidly spread through SE Asia and from there to America by way of the military in Vietnam.
    Americans were particularly susceptible for some reason.
    It’s still around today, but mostly controlled by vaccine.
    Article I read didn’t specify the death rate of those who catch it.
    
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    March 10, 2020 7:00pm
Jack5

Manila needs you, Meng Foon

Chinese settling in the Philippines are meeting prejudice from Filipinos. For example, and echoes of comments in Auckland, recent-arrival Chinese are being blamed for rising rents.

This comment about Manila Chinese by a 25-year-old Filipino, reported in the South China Morning Post, indicates the level of prejudice:

“They prefer throwing things on the ground even when trash bins are near them. Their personal hygiene is a big issue for me since we can smell that they do not take a shower for days. More than that, they always spit on the floor, which could spread germs and viruses within our area.”

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3074180/chinese-influx-
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March 10, 2020 5:07pm
wilderbeast

Did anyone get to Nicola Willis’s transport meeting last night?

I didn’t but I commend her and it gave me cause to reflect on how WELLINGTON has stagnated in my 20 years here. I arrived here fresh faced from overseas attracted by its burgeoning reputation and the “Absolutely Positively” vibe of the time. In those days I could reliably bus home in 20 mins on a Friday afternoon and the place seemed to have a purpose.

Since then we’ve had shambles after shambles of elected councils, all hell bent on doing nothing except deferring infrastructure projects and pushing “progressive” (the irony) propaganda and catering to fringe lunatic groups. In light of the fact they’ve done nothing with the infrastructure in 20 years and they’re bankrolled by all the rates huge government departments bring to town in beggars belief any of us should be experiencing rate rises. Not to mentioning the fact that they’ve done nothing to release meaningful amounts of new housing into the city, no wonder rents are rising when all developers can do is try and squeeze a few more houses out of the few nooks are crannies left.

It’s enough to consider living elsewhere, feels to me like John Key was right. The trendy types will point to Cuba Dupa and craft beer – good luck with that!
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March 10, 2020 5:27pm
MrTips

Heard DPF and Simon Wilson on the wireless driving home.

My God, Wilson is an airheaded, ridiculous minded, bird brained, nanny pamby, dish rag of an apologist.

“Need to put the minimum wage up because of….feels”. Hey idiot, what’s better: 15.90 or NO JOB.

“National is just being picky”. Bullshit, they are the opposition and highlighting Cindy’s shortcomings. And Cindy has admitted she has no idea by practically ASKING National for the answer today.

Wilson is so biased and useless, he’s like a self licking ice cream made from pre-excreted sago.
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March 10, 2020 6:34pm
- Swifty
  
  Which station MrTips?
  
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  March 10, 2020 7:20pm
Prince

Provincial Growth Fund officials spend over $1M on travel in 2019.
Ho hum, we know how little this Govt cares for the money they extract from us. And not surprising given the disregard their boss shows for public funds.
Of interest though is this quote from the bloated clown…

“A million dollars is a huge amount of money to garden variety Kiwis,” the Regional Economic Development Minister told Newshub.”
So if we are ‘garden variety’, how does Jones see himself ? Don’t we know how special he thinks he is ? How well does that fit the ‘kiwi battler’ bullshit NZF puts out every three years ?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/revealed-shane-jones-provincial-growth-fund-officials-spent-more-than-1-million-on-travel-in-2019.html
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March 10, 2020 7:36pm
- sooty
  
  How many, where, why, when, overseas did they go?
  
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  March 10, 2020 8:59pm
Daphne Whitethigh

With bitter irony, this is probably the last post for tonight. Every news outlet leads with the Italy lockdown. Apart from NZ. There is something wrong.
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March 11, 2020 12:11am

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