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March 26, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 26 March 2020

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Prince

This crisis has highlighted the extent of the ‘feminisation’ of the NZ media.
The daily standups and surrounding TV ‘Specials’ give us an insight to the adoring treatment the Prime Minister gets from the mostly middle-aged, white female journalists who are in her thrall.
Last night TV One news featured a journalist in Wellington telling us that ‘Jacinda said…’ something. Can you imagine a few years ago if a journalist breathlessly announced that ‘John said…’ or ‘Bill said…’?
The daily briefings are top and tailed by Wendy Petrie, Kate Bradford, Siouxsie Wiles and a host of other fangirls telling us what a great job the PM was doing.
There are no hard questions, no one dares question the ‘went hard and early’ myth or the claims that NZ have tested more, shut down the borders earlier, isolated tourists etc etc that David shows on this blog are mostly lies.
There is one exception to this, and heartiest congrats to Heather Du Plessis Allen, who last night pushed Ardern to the edge on her ZB show.
I have no problem with women dominating our media. But they need to demonstrate the integrity to question the Prime Minister fully and highlight when she is making things up. Parroting tropes about bubbles, clichés about kindness and lies like ‘We went hard and early’ does nothing to suggest an independent media.
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March 26, 2020 8:01am
- Padraig Payne
  
  When this is over, I hope there is royal commission into the government response.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:02am
  - alex Masterley
    
    So do I.
    There was one after the Spanish Flu epidemic, which reported after 6 months.
    This lot would take twice that to get a commission started.
    One of my favourite axioms is “Proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performance.”
    Judging by performance todate there has been eff all planning of thought put into this mess.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:00am
    - Jack5
      
      Prince says “I have no problem with women dominating our media.”
      
      Mmm. But what of the death dive of newspapers and the weakening of commercial radio and TV, and the drift of both of them to the Left. This has been in parallel with the feminisation of the media.
      
      Anyone care to argue whether this meets David Hume’s definition of cause and effect?
      
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      March 26, 2020 2:00pm
      - Prince
        
        No doubt the death of newspaper has been partially attributable to the lurch leftwards. Only the Left wing and Public Servants (free copies) read them now.
        Ardern’s address this afternoon was preceded by a woman (didn’t catch the name) who spoke for around two minutes telling us what Ardern would say. It was like an old fashioned Herald before the speech from the throne.
        I think her name was Squealor, or maybe I’m confusing her with someone she reminded me of.
        
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        March 26, 2020 4:57pm
- freethinker
  
  Speaking to people through business and personally I find that many women have far harsher views of our assistant part time PM than most men. As Labour rely on the female vote which in the past has been more socialist the female vote may change the balance in this respect.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:08am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Freethinker, in general I find it is women over 40 who have or had a family annot stand her. Whereas, millennial girls follow her as though she is a goddess, ie they are as shallow as she is.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:53am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Hopefully this means the millennial girl vote has switched from Greens to Labour.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:57am
- bruceavon
  
  The whole question time after the briefings is a waste of time. Dominated by one journalist woman who seems to ask ok questions but drowns everyone else out. I know what you mean about the majority of females in journalism but the worst questions were asked by one if the fed guys there. One day he asked “what happens if there is an earthquake during the lockdown?” And the next day said “there are reports of patients being scared of doctors wearing masks. Can you comment?” FFS. What a moron. they should stop the whole question time. confusing.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:16am
  - sooty
    
    Yep them dumarse fan girls would not know which way to sit in a toilet!
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:38am
- Nickc2
  
  Agree and it will only deteriorate further when we only have one media outlet.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:33am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Petri Dish is in awe of Jacinda. If you let her, she will have Cindy’s photo on the news desk with a garland around it and worship it every 10 minutes. I am sick of her beaming face when she talks about what Cindy did.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:46am
  - geoff3012
    
    Amanda gillies on am show is chunderous to the max.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:23am
- kowtow
  
  Cactus Kate ,Asian Invasion is asking the questions .
  
  “While Jacinda Ardern was in Australia on holiday, and Scomo was in Hawaii as bushfires were raging, absolutely nothing was being done about tourists entering New Zealand and Australia from China. Other Asian countries you may view as third world had already banned the tour groups and individuals and were screening arrivals. Those tourists then decided not to go to those countries and visited down under and other places that did not have these rules.
  
  Either the health authorities didn’t tell these leaders, remember probably the same people we are now being asked to trust. Or they did tell them and no one did a thing about it.
  
  What is it?”
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:12am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Oddly enough, the ABC womin in Aussie give the pale, stale, male neoliberal, fascist conservatives in power absolute hell…
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:21am
- hilaryt
  
  Yes. The ‘the PM is my pal’ phenomenon accounts for a huge proportion of her fanbase. As a Cantab I saw Key get mobbed, post-quake, when they opened Re-Start, the container Mall. Bob Parker was sitting on the sidelines being ignored, so I snapped his picture, with consent…he wore a wistful smile and I joked with him that money can’t buy that sort of x-factor popularity & he agreed. In hindsight we were all a bit febrile with expectation when things re-opened after our traumas post-quake, but there was no doubt Key attracted his share of fandom.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:51am
- tf78
  
  I have no confidence with women being in charge – I would much prefer men in charge. Jacinda being a socialist does not auger well with me at all, she is very much a person who seems to love the power. I wish National were in government right now.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:53am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    ↑↑↑↑ – Mummy issues…
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:54am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      I have issues with your mother even though I don’t know her
      
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      March 26, 2020 12:50pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Thanks for sharing, don’t give a shit though.
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:47pm
  - freethinker
    
    Tf78 – For years we were told that if only women were in positions of power all would be well so am I being a misogynist by pointing out some results-
    Merkel/May/Clark/ardern/La Garde/micron who may have a penis but is actually a special female as he married his mummy and she said so.
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:18pm
    - GoVege
      
      Isnt there the same age difference between mr. and mrs. Trump, f’thinker?
      Does that mean he married his daughter?
      
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      March 26, 2020 8:21pm
  - Jules99
    
    I don’t know, if we had Thatcher as she was in her prime, I reckon she’d drag us up by the bootstraps.
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:45pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Yes, Maggy had balls. Oops, is that too inclusive? Probably, but who cares.
      
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      March 26, 2020 2:32pm
      - cmm
        
        Maggy had bigger balls than just about all the UK politicians since then. Boris might have found his though.
        
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        March 26, 2020 3:19pm
    - tf78
      
      Maggie was such the exception along with Queen Elizabeth.
      
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      March 26, 2020 4:15pm
  - cmm
    
    I have no problems with women being in charge so long as they don’t expect any free passes for being women.
    
    People got upset about me remarking on PriNZess’ frequent wardrobe changes. Are we expected to make a dispensation for this because she’s a woman? If a man did that we’d mock him for being a poser.
    
    If she does 4 changing/make up sessions a day at 15 minutes each then that’s an hour a day she’s not doing stuff that a man would be doing.
    
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    March 26, 2020 3:17pm
    - Nickc2
      
      @cmm
      Yes, Boris found his just where he left them – in his mistress’s bed.
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:55pm
  - sam green
    
    Really tf. You want Simon in charge? You’d have a Trump/Johnson shitshow.
    
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    March 26, 2020 8:07pm
- stewmar
  
  Couldn’t have put it better myself. I cringe every time I see Wendy Petries grin like the Cheshire Cat. She never changes her demeanour from story to story, even if it’s a tragic story that she is reading off the prompter. A truely shallow sort of media type who is well outside her depth.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:05am
PhilBest

The estimable James Delingpole yesterday:

“…Some world leaders — Putin, definitely; Macron, President Bieber and others, probably — appear to be relishing the opportunity which the coronavirus pandemic has given them to flex their authoritarian muscles with draconian restrictions on freedom.

It’s quite possible that President Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson may reluctantly have to go the same way. But the key part is this reluctance: both men want to get their nations as close to things were before as quickly as possible. Neither, I don’t think, is thinking: “Mwahahaha! Now is the chance to expand government beyond my wildest dreams.”

…Imagine how very different it would have been if a Socialist like Jeremy Corbyn were prime minister or if Hillary Clinton had won their countries’ elections.

The restrictions we’re experiencing now would be just the beginning of their controlling masterplan to socialise everything.

Instead, thank goodness, we find ourselves led by men — Trump and Boris — who are horrified rather than quietly delighted about the prospects of their countries being turned into borderline police states…

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/23/we-are-lucky-that-trump-and-boris-are-not-natural-authoritarians/
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March 26, 2020 8:02am
- MT_Tinman
  
  if a Socialist like Jeremy Corbyn were prime minister or if Hillary Clinton had won their countries’ elections.And NZ
  
  And NZ allowed an incompetent combination of the two, not just become PM but now become dictator.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:54am
- John Warren
  
  Far too many websites are focusing on Trump’s boasting and hyperbole, rather than what he’s actually doing to get America through this. We all know he’s a blowhard, get over it. Ultimately, actions speak louder than words, and history will judge Trump by how America comes through the crisis, nothing else.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:09am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    John, every single death in the US over the next year will be blamed on Trump, I guarantee it.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:36am
    - PhilBest
      
      What we in NZ don’t see unless we go looking for it, is all the “keep-em-honest” alternative sources of information that a good proportion of Americans now follow, hence the MSM narrative is pretty much an “echo chamber” phenomenon rather than an indoctrination phenomenon. They’re way ahead of us in this respect. The volumes of visitors to “Daily Wire” for example, is incredible given that Ben Shapiro only started it a few years ago.
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:37am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, his media statements are invariably taken out of context, deliberately misreported and/or manipulated to suit a designed Democrat outcome.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:43am
- bruceavon
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  You have to be joking. I for one am glad I am here and not suffering under the hopeless leadership of Boris and Trump. I have many friends in Britain and it is a fiasco. Johnson seems to want to have a dollar each way. he had half a lockdown where people were told not to go to work unless it’s essential. What does they mean? Chaos. Thousands packed onto the tubes in London because of reduced service because people were supposed to be home. the US is worse. they have just overtaken Italy in active cases and will soon be the worse place in the world for Covid-19 and Trump wants to open up for business next weekend. you either lock everything down or give up and accept countless deaths and keep your country going. You can’t do it by halves. And it would take a very very brave and reckless leader to ignore this virus.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:28am
  - Aunty
    
    “Thousands packed onto the tubes in London because of reduced service because people were supposed to be home.”
    
    Information from Wikipedia.
    
    The current operator, London Underground Limited (LUL), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL), the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in London region.
    
    TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London, a position held by Sadiq Khan since May 2016.
    
    So the current fiasco on the underground is due entirely to UK Labour’s Sadiq Khan refusing to require London transport to put on MORE carriages, not less!
    
    It just goes to show you how dangerous and useless these toxic woke socialist losers are, doesn’t it?
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:11am
    - bruceavon
      
      I don’t like khan but the tube situation is a combination of cutting the numbers and the government hopelessly expecting people to stay at home if not “essential” with zero guidelines and no consequences. so many just went to work as normal. they should be checking people are essential services like we are. the British are blatantly flaunting the lock down rules because they are half arsed about it.
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:33am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        it would be hard for NZ to be more half-arsed than it already is about defining who or what is an essential service, and their decisions absolutely reek of making-it-up-on-the-spot-just-another-Captain’s-call.
        
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        March 26, 2020 11:43am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Aunty, that is rubbish.
      
      The operation of the “tube” is nothing to do with the mayor and whether you like his politics or not.
      
      For reference
      The tube carries 3.5 million to 4 million passengers per day (yes, it carries over 1billion passengers per year). Anyone who has lived and worked in London knows that the carriages are moving sardine tins on wheels. It is for many Londoners their primary means of transport within Zones 1, 2 and 3. What was shown on the TV, was not even close to being considered full based on the historic metrics of London Underground. A LUL train is considered full, when 100% of the seating an 95% of the standing area is occupied (staggering I know, but true). As I will outline below it is not possible to add more carriages to a train or put more trains on.
      
      Compounding the overcrowding on the tube are two factors, these being:
      
      1. Much of the network within Central Londer was built between 1865 and 1930, when the population of London and the South East was significantly smaller than it is today and therefore station platforms did not need to be such as to accommodate trains of greater than 9 cars. However, it would be great if they could. But they can’t expand too many of the station platforms because of cost (digging underground), disrupting existing services and buildings above, and the fact if the expanded some platforms some stations would end up connecting beneath ground (eg Covent Garden and Liecester Square);
      2. For a matter of safety, each train should remain circa 2 minutes apart allowing for circa 90seconds to dwell at each platform. You cant just add more trains into a timetable without compromising the safe operations of all the services on the timetable.
      
      For information, the video we’ve seen on the TV was a Central Line train stopping at Holborn. The Central line in Zone 1 was built largely in the late 19th/early 20th Century and as anyone who travelled through that station on a daily basis (as I did), its platforms on both the Central and Piccadilly lines are crowded regularly on any day of the week.
      
      For reference, I don’t mind people writing that they don’t like a person’s politics, but I do have a problem when people write things as tou did that are just totally incorrect as you did. Also, I have the benefit of having been involved in a number of UK and European transport projects (including LUL).
      
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      March 26, 2020 2:14pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        What do you think will be done about passenger congested services in the future?
        
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        March 26, 2020 2:59pm
      - Aunty
        
        Sadiq Khan appoints the Board, the Board controls the Underground. Don’t be naive, hullkiwi, join the dots.
        
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        March 26, 2020 3:58pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  Police Commissioner Mike Bush interviewed by Susie Ferguson this morning made it sound frighteningly authoritarian: he claimed ‘kind face of the Police’ but kept adding things about possible warnings and arrests. Ferguson was totally pathetic: no questions when Bush said people had been warned for driving and going to the ATM. What? She needed to ask: why is driving, for instance to go for a walk alone or with household members a risk to anyone else? What if someone needs ATM cash to buy food supplies? We should all treat ATMs and cash carefully of course, as could be infected surfaces. This was always the case. If there is to be no cash about, they need to close off ATMs.
  
  Ferguson needed to ask some very tough questions about this level of restraint. She failed.
  
  Note that this is after a couple of days ago National Radio was telling people that going for a walk with people in your household is fine (actually it’s beyond fine: it’s necessary for health and sanity!!). And Corin was saying one should still go surfing!
  
  Well, Civil Defence channel National Radio, which is it? Locked in our houses, or able to go for a walk?
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:33am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    This government does not have a clue and have given carte blanche to the Stasi.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:44am
  - alwyn
    
    I was absolutely appalled by the Police Commissioner. I think he should be relieved of his duties until he can demonstrate that he has read and understood what we are allowed to do.
    This morning he seemed more like a character out of a B-grade Western movie. He had the “I am the law in Dodge City” approach.
    
    For example he seemed to think no one should be out of their home and that somehow using an ATM was a forbidden activity.
    What does the official website say? You can
    “Access essential services, like buying groceries, or going to a bank or pharmacy.
    Go to work if you work for an essential service.
    Go for a walk, or exercise and enjoy nature.”
    What is using an ATM except going to a bank?
    
    Just listen to the man.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018740208
    I have decided to keep a copy of the material on the official website with me when I go out for my daily exercise. I have to drive there because I live on a hill in Wellington and walking, other than on the flat, is very difficult. I am, on the other hand only too willing to keep a safe distance from other people. Indeed, if a Policeman approaches me, I am going to order him to stay at least 2 metres away from me and I will show him id but I am not going to let him touch it. Why should I get this disease because the Police Commissioner hasn’t told his staff how to do their job properly?
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:13am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      On the bright side, Bush and his gang are far more likely to get the virus than we are. On the flip side the chances of even that are low until the clueless let even more cases in through our uncontrolled borders.
      
      Again on the bright side so long as the socialists keep on making everyone’s lives as miserable as irrationally possible the odds of them being reelected will plummet.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:00am
      - stewmar
        
        I don’t see any evidence that the police are trying to restrict people’s movements after day one of the lock down. There has been a steady non stop flow of traffic all day on highway 12 where I live.
        
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        March 26, 2020 4:53pm
      - alwyn
        
        @stewmar.
        Well I can only suggest that the Police seem to have put their own interpretation on things.
        Have a look at this story from the Herald.
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12320102
        The daughter of the couple involved says
        “They live on Lake Rd so were going for a walk around the lake … they pulled them over and told them that they had to go home and Dad said, ‘well i thought we were still allowed to walk’, and they said that was at alert level 3, we’re now at alert level 4.”
        A police spokesman says
        “”Restrictions include remaining at home, you can still go outside but you must remain within your neighbourhood.”
        I have seen police interpretation that if you have to drive to the place where you want to walk you can’t do it as that’s not your “neighbourhood”.
        A bit tough for someone like me. I live up on the hill in Wellington and it is very difficult for me to walk on other than a flat piece of ground.
        
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        March 26, 2020 6:27pm
  - sam green
    
    Just fecking well stay home and stop whinging. Civil liberties? Bunch of knobs.
    
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    March 26, 2020 8:27pm
- Ceejay
  
  I’d like to think Simon and his redoubtable Select Committee will be protecting us from any tendency our noble leaders might have to take us in this sort of direction.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:30am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    “I’d like to think Simon and his redoubtable Select Committee will be protecting us from any tendency ” – Qualifies as the best joke of 21st century.
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:36am
- Fletch
  
  The only problem is that you still have the Democrat left, Pelosi et al, pushing through Socialist stuff via pork attached to the relief bill. The Senate had voted on a bill and both sides had agreed, then Pelosi flew in after recess and said that, no, the House had a better bill and she wanted that to be the one adopted. As I said, it is loaded with ‘pork’ that has nothing to do with relief from the virus, including –
  
  – A bailout for the U.S. Postal Service
  – Student loan debt forgiveness
  – Required same-day voter registration
  – Airline emissions standards regulations
  – Study on climate change migration
  – Collective bargaining provisions
  – Increased federal minimum wage for companies that accept government loans
  – Publication of race and pay statistics for corporate boards.
  
  The Dems have never met a crisis they won’t try and twist to their own ends.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:14am
PhilBest

No ordering or deliveries of “non essential” stuff now? Boris Johnson hit the nail on the head when he said something like “of course a government should be reluctant to do something like this, it’s going to be traumatic for a lot of people”.

People stuck at home will obviously have “projects” they’d like to use their time for, and if the government is the obstacle to them getting “non essential” stuff they’d otherwise have been able to get, what is this going to do to people’s heads while under confinement?
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March 26, 2020 8:05am
- Padraig Payne
  
  Yes totally agree – Mitre 10 is open for tradies. No reason why they cant deliver stuff to you.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:04am
  - DeepBlue
    
    The greater the exceptions, the more weak links. Deliveries require many more staff to go to work to pick and pack.
    
    Imagine how many more couriers would be running around the country delivering these goods, to everyone. It would become too easy for people to choose to go out.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:09am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Why shouldn’t they go out if there is no risk?
      
      Imagine how many more couriers would be running around the country delivering these goods, to everyone.
      
      Imagine how much better they would make life for everyone.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:08am
      - DeepBlue
        
        No risk? If there is no risk then we wouldn’t be confined to home. Every human interaction, every surface touched could mean we stay home for more than four weeks.
        
        The lockdown has happened. We now need to get to the other side as quickly as possible.
        
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        March 26, 2020 12:01pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        You are fantasising if you think this will be over quickly with no risk. We either manage risk intelligently or die. That is the whole story of evolution. The elite are managing their risk, not ours.
        
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        March 26, 2020 1:09pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    An elegant solution would be a system where you phone in advance and pay in advance as Farmlands are doing. You arrange the sale and the have a designated person hand the stuff over ( in a plastic bag!!!) keeping a respectful distance. Now that takes thinking and planning, something Jacinda’s mob have no understanding of. Same with bottle stores etc.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:18am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Except, as experienced by my son in law, the staff stand round and chat as the plastic bags are loaded into the ute / truck
      
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      March 26, 2020 12:58pm
  - niggly
    
    “Mitre 10 is open for tradies” … actually the govt have been “just a wee bit” misleading here.
    
    I spoke to Mitre 10 and Bunning Trade sales staff yesterday. They WON’T be open for tradies in they way we imagine (i.e. public banned but tradies driving in and out picking up supplies as normal etc).
    
    Apparently the stores & trade section will still be closed, but if a tradie needs items it must be for an “emergency/essential” situation (and some sort of proof be given), the tradie rings in, staff will then go to the store to prepare the items for pickup, but have little or no contact with the tradie (like leave items in a designated area), once tradie leaves then staff leave.
    
    Can’t say this is exactly how it will work everywhere but this is how my local branch will operate.
    
    Edit: Just like the way rightoverlabour describes above re Farmlands!
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:01pm
PhilBest

One thing I haven’t seen specifically discussed yet re getting out for exercise: bicycles. I expect to see a lot of lycra out there for the next four weeks on the nearly empty roads.
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March 26, 2020 8:07am
- SJ Actual
  
  But will that be allowed. Police commissioner doesn’t seem to think so.
  His message is not to leave the house unless essentiall.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:58am
  - PhilBest
    
    It’s this kind of over-reach that starts political awakenings…
    
    We’re meant to be allowed out “from our own home” for exercise and fresh air, just not to take the car somewhere else for exercise (even this is over-reach). Bicycles are a grey area right now.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:21am
    - cmm
      
      It is preposterous.
      
      People living in the city are more likely to spread disease to eachother if they walk in the streets and are less likely to spread diseases if they go to the beach.
      
      Without a good explanation, it smacks of power play.
      
      The only real advantage of walking at home is that this will keep any infection clusters small and local. People infecting each other at the beach can spread it many km (even though this is extremely unlikely).
      
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      March 26, 2020 9:27am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        The beach area is a source of ozone a well known sanitiser.
        
        24 4
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        March 26, 2020 9:31am
      - PhilBest
        
        As I commented separately; some cities are high density enough that everyone going outside means “instant crowd”. We should push back NOW, and HARD, against the central-planning arrogance that wants our cities the same way. Urban sprawl is GOOD, pass it on.
        
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        March 26, 2020 9:41am
      - 453mm
        
        The beach is also a place where dress standards allow better exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D for well-being and UV radiation (in small doses) to kill viruses.
        On the other hand I guess one way to achieve social distancing in your townhouse back yard is to indulge in some naturism.
        
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        March 26, 2020 10:13am
      - sooty
        
        I got a personal email from Comrade Cindy, saying I can go for a walk no problems. Just keep the distance!
        
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        March 26, 2020 10:45am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Lucky you.
        
        The emails I get from Her Virtuesignaliness always relates to buying a tea towel or some other fund raising begging bowl technique.
        
        A complaint under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 stops the fers for a minute
        
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        March 26, 2020 1:01pm
      - niggly
        
        Sooty: Print out dear leaders email and have it ready to present to Commissioner Bush when he drives past in his armored car leaning out the window with a loudhailer warning citizens to keep off the streets!
        
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        March 26, 2020 1:09pm
    - Random T Person
      
      Well, I can tell you this much, I will be leaving my house on my dirt bike to go ride out at Coastlands/Thornton area and up Manawahe. It’s a solitary activity and those beaches are generally clear of people anyway (except surfers and the occasional dog walker). And I shall take the ‘official recommendations’ on a printed piece of paper, too, so if any stasi tries it on, I shall brandish that missive in his or her face.
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:29am
      - freethinker
        
        I doubt thickus plodicus will infest those areas too far from the local curry house, oops forgot they will be closed.
        
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        March 26, 2020 2:45pm
    - Sacha
      
      I live down a no exit country road. I have horses & 5 acres.. Under the new regime I am only allowed to ride them on my land. I have started to feel some sympathy for those who want to go hunting out in the bush by themselves and for those who want to ride their bikes, or catch a few fish. These people are not likely to get up close to others, and are very unlikely to be carriers of the virus – as am I.
      Over-reach indeed.
      
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      March 26, 2020 8:59pm
  - tf78
    
    Can you imagine living with 5-6 flat mates who normally hardly run into other due to work – then all of a sudden you are confined with them for a month!
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:26am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Without apparent authority Police have issued threats of arrest of those who go away from their homes for recreation.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:27am
  - Rich Prick
    
    I will be testing this in half an hour. I’ll be refueling the car and detouring to the beach on the way back. Is that illegal? I guess I’ll find out.
    
    48 4
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    March 26, 2020 9:32am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      Please report back.
      
      28 4
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      March 26, 2020 9:42am
      - rightoverlabour
        
        A down tick. Fuck you are a moron!
        
        26 6
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        March 26, 2020 10:19am
      - Rich Prick
        
        Three cop cars, we must be a very naughty suburb.
        
        14 1
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        March 26, 2020 11:19am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Or a secret doughnut shop . . .
      
      10 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:05pm
- PhilBest
  
  Something many of us can be thankful for: in high density cities (like what our planning tosspots want to turn us into) people ARE being ordered to just stay inside, period, because there isn’t the street space for them to all go outside at once and maintain distancing! Probably a problem for Wgtn CBD apartment dwellers too. In London, they’ve ruled the Parks&Reserves out of bounds because they’d get flooded with too many people otherwise.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:28am
- Nickc2
  
  Don’t give those bastards (cyclists) ideas, they will be calling on Cindy and Julie-Ann to make it a permanent feature whereby cyclists have right-of-way at all times over motorised traffic and motorists will be required to pay cyclist’s Road User Charges. Oh shit, we already do that don’t we?
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:54am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Yet still better than allowing them to sprawl all over footpaths, sneaking up quietly behind pedestrians to crash into them.
    
    That’s what Genter wants!
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:14am
    - sooty
      
      We spend millions on cycleways and do they use them!
      
      10 2
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      March 26, 2020 10:47am
    - Nickc2
      
      You mean the minister for stupid ideas. Say no more. A scarecrow of her would be sufficient to keep the crows off the crops for the rest of the century.
      
      13 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:13am
- NoCash
  
  How about running? Can I still do my usual 10km run (5km each way out and back from my house)? Is that local enough or too far away from home?
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:03am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    I hope you still run. But don’t puff into my face when passing, like a woman did yesterday!
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:20pm
- Alboy
  
  I’m sure I heard the princess say, from her daily throne session, just yesterday that you can still go for a bike ride. I remember thinking at the time, how is that different from going for a drive to the beach or Bush, or going for a motorcycle ride, or taking the boat out…..
  
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  March 26, 2020 4:33pm
peterwn

Curse on supermarket hoarders especially during the last few days. We are ‘self-isolated’ and depended on a friend to collect ‘click and collect’. Got about 50% of what we ordered to last a week. You have to book a locker a week ahead and start an order. Prisoners do not have that problem, indeed the liberty gap between prisoners and everyone else has closed somewhat.
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March 26, 2020 8:09am
- Jules99
  
  There was some talk overseas of prisoners being released early due to the virus which got me thinking, now they have food provided for them and a cell, possibly shared with one or two others. Go home and they have no food and house packed with all sorts of people who can’t go out. Might be more pleasant in jail.
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:54pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Ah, but going home to that situation might shorten their lives. Apart from those who give a stuff, Andrew Little and Kelvin Davis, who cares?
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:35pm
All_on_Red

Breaking News
Prince Charles is self isolating with Covid-19
Prince Andrew is self isolating with Sophie-15
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March 26, 2020 8:10am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  One will get a nasty dose of flu and the other will get ten years with his new best friend Flo . . .
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:34am
  - Colville
    
    If you think Philip will ever see the inside of a court room then I have a bridge for sale.
    
    5 17
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    March 26, 2020 9:01am
    - PhilBest
      
      Philip?????? Who was talking about Philip? Now you mention him, I’d comment that he’s a global treasure, I’d like to hear his candid thoughts on a few things right now. He’s not unlike Sir Bob Jones in some ways, calls a spade a spade.
      
      27 1
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      March 26, 2020 9:43am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        I can picture him now:
        
        “Of course the bloody flu came from China. How can you trust anyone that can be blind-folded with a shoe-lace!”
        
        10 1
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        March 26, 2020 11:49am
      - projectman
        
        One of his best, worth repeating often right now:
        
        “If it has four legs and is not a chair, if it has two wings and flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”
        
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        March 26, 2020 5:27pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Gold!!! Thanks, guys!
        
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        March 26, 2020 6:04pm
    - Colville
      
      sorry…Andrew.!
      
      4 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:42am
- jp_1983
  
  Greta didn’t let this crisis go to waste and she has it as well too.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:45am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Sweden isn’t doing much testing.
    https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202003/13/WS5e6afc8fa31012821727ee10.html
    Greta wasn’t tested for Covid-19.
    She could just as easily have had a cold or seasonal flu.
    
    33 2
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    March 26, 2020 9:32am
    - Rich Prick
      
      She doesn’t need a test, she can see the virus.
      
      69 3
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      March 26, 2020 9:34am
    - giltee
      
      Greta who? 🙂
      
      20 3
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      March 26, 2020 9:56am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        A well known Atlantic sailor I believe . . .
        
        7 1
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        March 26, 2020 1:07pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Hey greta are you better are you well well well?
        
        1 2
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        March 26, 2020 3:53pm
  - Fletch
    
    She is searching for relevance in a world not so concerned with climate change, therefore, “I probably had it”. Probably?….
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:17am
- Brian Marshall
  
  I’m a royalist from way back, but I couldn’t help having a good laugh at that. I hope Prince Charles recovers rapidly.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:06am
  - cmm
    
    Unfortunately for him his grip on the perch is already rather weak with recent bouts of pneumonia etc.
    
    The number 1 factor for dying from Covid is having pre-existing conditions. He has a cupboard full.
    
    24 4
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    March 26, 2020 9:30am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Prince Charles is pretty fit. did you mean Prince Philip?
      
      22 3
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      March 26, 2020 9:51am
      - cmm
        
        Thank you for the correction. I was getting them confused.
        
        9 0
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        March 26, 2020 10:26am
      - peterwn
        
        Prince Philip still has an excellent chance of making it through the next 15 months and receive a telegram from the missus.
        
        13 0
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        March 26, 2020 10:38am
- Classic Liberal
  
  And Charles, generally very healthy, just has a mild dose.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:16am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    like the vast majority (94%) of cases.
    
    12 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:49am
    - MCos
      
      Which, by your number, means 6% get hit hard,
      Additionally 1-2% die.
      So if nothing is done at all that’s a lot of people.
      Even with the present draconian measures the bug will eventually spread to a fair proportion of the population once things ease off as they must do sooner or later.
      
      4 4
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      March 26, 2020 12:25pm
      - RW Capitalist
        
        only 400 000 WORLD WIDE have it.
        the 1-2% is of those that get it.
        only 2-6 per MILLION population ie around 0.0004% of the population
        
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        March 26, 2020 4:55pm
Simon

As late as 13 March the Christchurch memorial mass gatherings were going ahead. Now barely 10 days later its home detention ordered for everyone and now in effect.

Closed border to China 2 February massive fluke due to Trump Admin. But apart from that no measures taken. No screening at air ports, no travel bans from places elsewhere. No tracking of patients and isolation with those they came in contact with.

No real testing until recently.

Massive under reaction to the Wuhan virus to mad over reaction.
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March 26, 2020 8:11am
- Paulus
  
  Simple underlying factor
  “To little too late”.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:51am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Nine days of negligence . . .
    
    11 1
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    March 26, 2020 1:11pm
- PhilBest
  
  Exactly! And if the powers that be have got things pretty well planned to keep the populace locked down (Police, Military) why didn’t they give similar attention to having planning for a pandemic like Singapore had?
  What needs more resources: mass testing of the population, or patrolling the streets?
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:56am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  You won’t be saying that in two weeks when NZ has 3-5000 cases. Everything done looks excessive at the time and insufficient in retrospect.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:03am
- KevO'Brien
  
  We had to wait on the PM’s photo call on Mar 15. If she had acted earlier to actually shut down our tourist entry points we would be having less problems now.
  Is this a programmed power grab?
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:34am
  - PhilBest
    
    Yep, this is something that Simon has a fair point about, too little action on border control and too much on “controlling local population”. Deliberate perhaps? Simon needs to run with this, hard, in the future battle for political direction of the country.
    
    Also we need a future pandemic plan that involves getting people freakin tested, like Singapore, rather than defaulting to lockdown as the main – even “only” – strategy.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:48am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Absolutely right. There will be more of these viruses. Like Singapore, we need testing, tracing, quarantine, treatment, but otherwise getting on with business. I’d rather have my temperature checked at every mall or shop and wear a mask in crowded places (yes, properly worn they do work – to all those naysayers), than this total population control.
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:22am
    - tf78
      
      Simon need’s to play a bit cool or the Nats will get kicked off the committee. (I think they’re on there because they have the brains).
      
      1 2
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      March 26, 2020 4:38pm
  - sooty
    
    Or even stopped cruiseliners emptying hundreds on to the streets and spreading the virus for up to say 150km radius of the port with their sightseeing!
    Or started screening the people at the airport, which they only started yesterday or the day before!
    This government is a ship of fools and are all as dumb as Phill Twyford. God help us when he has risen to be so high. It doesn’t say much for the rest of them!
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:50am
    - Nickc2
      
      Ah, but they won’t sack Twyford, no matter how stupid he is and what he F_s up, he knows where all the Labour Party skeletons are.
      Hey Phil, if you have forgotten where all those skeletons are (as you probably have given your past history), just lift up the carpet in Cindy’s office. Best be quick though, Mallard may clean them out first.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:24am
- smttc
  
  Simon, haven’t you heard? The Prime Minister went hard and went early. sarc
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:56am
- giltee
  
  …because she had no idea what to do so had to wait to copy what others did
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:58am
lastmanstanding

Some random questions.

1. Will PC Bush ( I use both descriptors) act against non-whites who breach the lockdown. Or will he and his political master fear the R word.

2. Will the Government repeal legislation and regulation passed as a result of Covid-19 that restricts citizens freedoms on the basis they may need such legislation and regulation in the future.

3. Will the Opposition expect David Seymour stay silent knowing they can take advantage sometime in the future.

4. Will the naive answer Yes Yes No.
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March 26, 2020 8:14am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Yes, yes, no, and no.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:16am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    You are very very naive mma. Have I got a bridge to sell you!!!!
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:08am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      How much?
      
      4 5
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      March 26, 2020 12:00pm
      - stigie
        
        2 nanny goats and a Billy !~
        
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        March 26, 2020 1:20pm
- Sacha
  
  Wots-his-name is isolating the fam up north by keeping the tourists (?) off the farm.
  I wonder what the outcome might be?
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:26am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Apparently Police were assisting at the medical checkpoint yesterday. As a medical checkpoint it is not a roadblock.
    
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    March 26, 2020 5:39pm
- Padraig Payne
  
  I think Bush is arrogant. I live alone. Why can’t I drive my car to a deserted beach, go for a walk, get back in my car and drive home again? That is by definition a zero risk activity (barring a crash or a break down I guess) , unlike going to the supermarket.
  
  He said “don’t even think about it”.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:29am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Bush would have enjoyed Germany in 1939…
    
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    March 26, 2020 8:55am
    - lastmanstanding
      
      Yes. He and his Commanders will have set up a bunker at the HQ and be plotting on a map which KBer will be receiving the ‘Re-education Visit”.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:10am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The Director of Civil Defence explained why…
    
    Each time you take a longish trip (1hr or more) increases the probability that you will need to fill up with petrol within the next few weeks and engage in an exchange with a contaminated surface (pump handle) or another individual .
    
    I know it sounds dopey as a one-off, but if 30, 000 – 40, 000 folks decide to do similar in your region on every fine day, then you up the possibility of community transmission.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:41am
    - PhilBest
      
      Disposable latex gloves. I’ve long since carried them in my car anyway, it’s funny what habits you get into when some experience happens to you and you think “now if only I’d had XYZ on me”, and then you do get and carry XYZ from then on. Torch, painkillers, a tin of food, elastoplast, wet wipes, AA batteries, stuff like that. Latex gloves got added years ago.
      
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      March 26, 2020 9:51am
      - Padraig Payne
        
        Yes but I take Maggy’s point. If you had thousands of folk doing “scenic drives” most of them won’t be using latex gloves. And some will have kids running around.
        
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        March 26, 2020 11:07am
      - Fletch
        
        Yeh, I’ve had hand sanitizer in the car for YEARS, and always sanitized before eating a snack or takeaway in the car. It’s become the new norm for everyone now…
        
        12 2
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        March 26, 2020 11:20am
    - Padraig Payne
      
      Yes fair enough I guess.
      
      8 2
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      March 26, 2020 10:01am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Latex gloves or hand sanitizer, obviously, Maggy. You seem to just bowing down to a completely unnecessary authoritarian regime.
      
      I can tell you where the real risk lies: supermarkets. Heaving masses of people too close together, touching things. I’ve seen customers handling fruit and putting it back. Crazy to allow that now: should all be pre-packed.
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:30am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        You seem to just bowing down to a completely unnecessary authoritarian regime.
        
        If you had followed my comments on this matter for the last two months, you would realise I welcome this lockdown.
        
        Stephieboy called me hysterical and labelled me a grimreaper a few days back.
        
        I wonder what he thinks of the PM’s comment:
        thousands could die
        https://www.news18.com/news/world/if-we-dont-thousands-could-die-new-zealand-prepares-to-enter-lockdown-as-coronavirus-cases-double-2547077.html
        
        Was that anover-the top, hysterical, grim reaperish comment?
        
        Alas , no, if we don’t take action as our health system can’t handle a mass of infected patients.
        
        Personally, I would have explained to the populace a month ago what was coming and how they should prepare for the eventual lockdown..
        
        I think some things could be better handled and time will tell how much has been constrained by politics.
        
        Most folks in NZ are unaware of the powers that are able to be used in a National Emergency… I’m not.
        
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        March 26, 2020 10:55am
      - Padraig Payne
        
        “Personally, I would have explained to the populace a month ago what was coming and how they should prepare for the eventual lockdown..”
        
        Totally agree. I plan on visiting a supermarket once in the next 4 weeks. I will go at 0700, washing hands before and after. And I can do that because I ignored the PM’s advice and stocked up. I did not “panic buy”. I made a list of what I needed and acquired it all over 3 weeks. And that should have been the advice to people. Instead it was like there were only two possible modes. “Panic buy” or “shop normally”.
        
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        March 26, 2020 11:12am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        1. I have closely followed your comments and other countries. If we had early on followed Singapore’s example there would have been no need for NZ to get to this lockdown level if we had been testing, tracing, quarantining much earlier, and encouraging thermal testing and masks in crowded places. Plus asking vulnerable people to self isolate while community transmission was traced and stamped out. And generously rewarding and supporting the vulnerable for it.
        
        Instead of tanking the entire economy and now making us live under extremely authoritarian control!
        
        2. Now of course there would be a mass of infected patients if we didn’t do lockdown. But only because of lax and late government action on border control and tracing and testing within the community.
        
        3. Even in ‘lockdown’ the restrictions smack of nasty authoritarianism when perfectly aware people who keep their 2m and just want to drive to a park and go for a walk can no longer do that.
        
        If they are worried about recreational places being used for parties or becoming overcrowded, Police should deal with that in those place, not stop the entire population from staying healthy with a walk!
        
        In other words, Maggy, this isn’t an earthquake. This crisis has been partly created by a really lax and unprepared approach in the last few weeks.
        
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        March 26, 2020 11:26am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        In other words, Maggy, this isn’t an earthquake.
        
        No, it isn’t.. and NZ has to be prepared that in the next month we could experience an earthquake or a terrible storm or some other natural disaster.
        
        Thank goodness we have public servants covering this matter…… that’s another reason why we have to protect all our essential workers now .
        
        We’ll really be in the poo if our fire/health/electricity/sanitation workers are all struck down with covid-19 when a disaster strikes.
        
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        March 26, 2020 12:30pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      We should all take precautions, but given the rate at which particles in the air circulate, I suspect that a significant amount of the population is already exposed to corona virus.
      
      If you believe that 2m is enough, have you ever had a whiff of BO, a fart, or vulgar perfume across a room, or in the isle of a supermarket after someone else has moved away?
      
      I can recall one business meeting where a woman walked in all dressed up and a powerful perfume. A group of us were standing 10m from the door and we smelt it instantly. And we can all recall someone letting rip with a fart that instantly cleared an entire room.
      
      2 metres is a crock. If Greta really could see Co2 she would tell you that air molecules move fast and wide. Fresh bread, Cappuccino, rotten fish, stinky cheese, and sexually charge pheromones can travel vast distances quickly, all of which rely on water vapour.
      
      The only real questions are:
      Have you inhaled a small amount which will be dealt with by your immune system and then becoming immune resistant?
      
      Will you even notice? In any given year many people pride themselves on escaping the flu. That is incorrect. They were exposed, and were infected, but their immune system dealt with it, and they showed no symptoms because their immune system dealt with it.
      
      What is the real exposure/infection rate of corona virus? A hell of a lot higher than we think. If you travel on a plane with someone who has a virus, it is highly likely you were exposed.
      
      There are five links in the chain:
      Exposure – Infection – Symptoms – Confirmed – Death.
      
      Exposure: You are exposed to the virus. You breathe it in or pick it up. Front-line defenses deal with it. It is a non event.
      
      Infection: The virus gets past your front-line defenses. Your immune system goes to war and fights the virus. It may or may not defeat the virus at this point.
      
      Symptoms: Your immune system goes into supercharge mode, to the extent that changes are noticed e.g. fever.
      
      Confirmed: You are tested and the virus detected. Since corona viruses comprise a percentage of the annual flu, your symptoms may be from the flu and/or the/a corona virus.
      
      Death rate: those who are confirmed that die.
      
      Infected people as a percentage of exposed people.
      Symptoms as a percentage of Infected people.
      Confirmed as a percentage of observed Symptoms.
      Death rate as a percentage of Confirmed cases.
      
      The problem is, there are no stats for the first two ratios. If you graphed the winter flu the same as you did for the non inflated Covid19 curve, would the graphs be better or worse?
      
      2 12
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      March 26, 2020 11:09am
      - JackRabbit
        
        From the down ticks it would appear there is a lack of understanding of basic science and maths.
        
        5 5
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        March 26, 2020 12:46pm
    - Ruahine
      
      I reckon that is rubbish. I doubt any virus would survive petrol and diesel splashes and fumes.
      
      5 0
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      March 26, 2020 1:31pm
    - tf78
      
      I wouldn’t think germs would like to live on petrol handles for long.
      
      1 2
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      March 26, 2020 4:43pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    What’s his authority? He may be Plod#1 but he is still subject to law not his feelingz. He is also contradicting the PM.
    Is Plod#1 not aware the beaches are healthy places bringing sunlight, fresh ozonated air, exercise and an uplift of spirits. Does he not support wellbeing?
    
    What right does he have to interfere in the only local outing readily available? Keeping distances is easy–dealing with thickheaded Police is not.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:41am
    - Surely Knott
      
      This article today on Covid 19, and a picture of two police officers on duty ” outside Pak n Save in Paraparaumu ahead of the Government’s shutdown to slow the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus” Where are their face masks and gloves? Why are they closer than 2 metres to the woman in the pic. How is this stopping the spread of a virus. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/CUFkItzjq4H1oyRLeonGBV59hK0=/620×380/smart/filters:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-syd-prod-nzme.s3.amazonaws.com/public/FGT32SO3DJE7RJSZ2M46STC66A.png
      
      6 1
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      March 26, 2020 2:43pm
  - Justitia
    
    Why are the Police supporting the lawless vigilantee roadblocks in the Far North? These people are not only acting outside the law, they are breaching the lockdown and potentially exposing their own communities to infection. Has Jacinda anything to say about this?
    
    43 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:42am
    - giltee
      
      The police are supporting this probably out of fear of being called the “R” word if they do not.
      
      17 1
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      March 26, 2020 10:57am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Responsible? Reputable? Robust?
        
        They would all be appropriate R words of they gave the separatists short shrift, as the law dictates and they deserve.
        
        But you’re right, it won’t happen, just like at Hicks Bay and Te Araroa over the last week or so. Illegal vigilante roadblocks should be shut down.
        
        Go early and go hard? Cops just went home.
        
        15 1
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        March 26, 2020 11:55am
    - Nickc2
      
      Exactly, I saw the cops on TV last night reinforcing Hone’s road blocks. These cops look white to me and someone must have dispatched them there. I doubt they would go there of their own accord or even want to be filmed supporting an illegal road block.
      Come on chief plod, its your call now. Be accountable to the people who pay your wages and whose laws you are supposed to enforce.
      
      16 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:37am
      - Jules99
        
        They might LOOK white, but who knows, they might be in the same iwi.
        
        5 1
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        March 26, 2020 12:59pm
  - Pete George
    
    I think the problem is if that was allowed then everyone with nothing else to do would be out and about, and beaches and walks etc would be crowded with people.
    
    Beaches were already getting more popular two weeks ago as people tried to get away from the city crowds.
    
    12 4
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    March 26, 2020 9:58am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Then only allow a certain number onto each beach and park. Don’t stop the whole population from getting healthy exercise.
      
      8 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:28am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Well there is the space now as all those from the dating sites who ‘love to walk along the beach with someone special’ have to stay home and carry on with the someone special on this medium or go to Rudetube.
      
      1 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:18pm
  - stewmar
    
    Bush is a fool
    
    2 1
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    March 26, 2020 5:03pm
  - GoVege
    
    Exactly, PP.
    You couldn’t possibly infect anyone else.
    
    0 0
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    March 26, 2020 7:03pm
- SGA
  
  Not sure I follow all that.
  Question 1 – It’s hard to answer an “either/or” with “Yes”.
  Question 3 – So the naive answer is that the Opposition will NOT expect David Seymour stay silent knowing they can take advantage sometime in the future. The expert answer is that they expect him to? Why?
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:32am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  The NZ Herald will be desperate for a story reporting that a member of the “oppressor class” has been arrested for flouting the lock-down.
  
  Someone must be made an example of.
  
  //
  
  48 3
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  March 26, 2020 8:35am
  - Tall Man
    
    Oooo me me me…… Mind you, I’ve been sharpening my crutches……
    
    18 2
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    March 26, 2020 9:06am
  - calendar girl
    
    Talking of the NZ Herald, I think that it should consider lifting the paywall on its newspaper content for the duration of this epidemic lock-down.
    
    Such a “public service” action on the part of the Herald could help bring the newspaper back closer to ordinary people.
    
    9 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:23am
    - tui47
      
      The New York Times has made all articles regarding Corona virus free for the duration.
      
      6 0
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      March 26, 2020 12:15pm
      - calendar girl
        
        That sounds like a worthwhile public service on the part of the NYT. The kind of limited action that would help inform citizens at large about aspects of the killer coronavirus disease, but without eroding its subscription payment base.
        
        2 1
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        March 26, 2020 4:04pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    The Auckland chip wrapper is in crisis mode as the libraries, cafes, staff-rooms and the whole host of other places where their rubbish washes up, suspend their subs.
    
    How many people buy a copy a $3.00 for the labour party opinionated mouthpiece, or have a delivery.
    
    I could keep my shoes on with the answer.
    
    4 1
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    March 26, 2020 1:21pm
- jp_1983
  
  Well they certainly endorsed the blockade on the Queens Highway up north yesterday.
  
  Papiere, Bitte
  
  35 2
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  March 26, 2020 8:46am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    When the Police don’t uphold the law as common to all what sort of country has the COL delivered?
    Winston are you ashamed of what you did?
    
    32 3
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    March 26, 2020 9:44am
    - PhilBest
      
      Now there’s a point. Winston can bring down this government ANY TIME just by switching who he supports, can’t he? I’ve been expecting him to grandstand on something before the election, to try and win back the supporters he surely lost when he went with the progressive virtue-signallers and watermelons.
      
      22 1
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      March 26, 2020 9:52am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Papiere, Bitte, but in stone-age, which none of the whitey boys who will be targeted for a stop, will understand . . .
    
    1 3
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    March 26, 2020 1:25pm
- Happychappy
  
  One answer to that Gangs will have a free pass just like they have with firearms and Commissioner Bush or what ever rank he holds will side with Stuart Nash and give them a free pass .
  
  45 4
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  March 26, 2020 8:47am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  1. He has already chosen not to
  2. Highly unlikely
  3. Don’t understand the question
  
  14 1
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  March 26, 2020 9:06am
KH

It’s well overdue for the New Zealanders to be out of Camp Taji.
We had no need to be in this stupid war.
https://southfront.org/iraq-says-french-troops-have-left-the-country/
6 20
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March 26, 2020 8:19am
- Nickc2
  
  Cindy doesn’t want them back until closer to the election whereby she can welcome them with hugs and things just so long as there is a Brigade strength of photographers and female sycophant journos present.
  You can bet the family pet on Phil Goff and Helen Clark not spitting on these troops as they did on those returning from Vietnam.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:49am
lastmanstanding

Im off the do the usual weekly shop. She Who Must Be Obeyed normally does it but has decided that as I am 2 years older than her I should take the risk of catching Covid-19 ( she is maintaining a 2 metre plus distance from me in the house).

It will be interesting to see if the Hoarding Morons have now filled up their cupboards and have left me and others anything to purchase.

I will report back tomorrow.
54 2
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March 26, 2020 8:21am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Men of equivalent age have about 50% higher chance of dying than women. #Misandry
  
  29 0
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  March 26, 2020 8:28am
- cmm
  
  Hope she doesn’t get the locks changed while you’re gone.
  
  39 3
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  March 26, 2020 8:36am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Who is she going to get to change them?
    
    21 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:17am
    - davidp
      
      I think changing locks is illegal for the next month.
      
      14 1
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      March 26, 2020 9:56am
      - JackRabbit
        
        That was my point!
        
        5 1
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        March 26, 2020 10:34am
- alwyn
  
  I hope you have wished her a final goodbye. With our Police Commissioner in charge you will be locked up for sure. Leaving your home! Verboten.
  
  16 2
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  March 26, 2020 10:20am
- giltee
  
  Hahaha for some I know 2mt distancing is normal every day of the year 😉
  
  7 1
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  March 26, 2020 11:01am
mikenmildagain

Happy Purple Day!
Now, I don’t mean having a fit and turning purple after being outraged by something on Kiwiblog. Wear something purple to raise awareness of epilepsy. Of course, being confined to home you won’t be able to inflict much purple splendour on your community, but it’s the thought that counts. And you can always donate here:
http://epilepsy.org.nz/support-us
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March 26, 2020 8:22am
- cmm
  
  I must be doing something wrong.
  
  I was celebrating another Happy Stephieboy-free day!
  
  45 4
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  March 26, 2020 8:57am
- Tony Stuart
  
  As one who has epilepsy (for 45 years, controlled on medication), thank you for promoting this mikenmild. A number of charities will struggle through not being able to do their normal fundraising over the next wee while.
  
  26 4
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  March 26, 2020 8:59am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  No upticks and four downticks. How about playing the ball not the man, people?
  
  16 10
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  March 26, 2020 9:08am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    This is Kiwiblog, remember.
    
    7 20
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    March 26, 2020 9:54am
  - SGA
    
    Can’t see that happening, Nigel. 🙂
    
    6 2
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    March 26, 2020 10:03am
  - Tall Man
    
    One swallow does not a summer make.
    
    17 3
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    March 26, 2020 10:03am
    - sooty
      
      He deserves each and every downtick.
      My regret is, I can only give one!
      
      17 2
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      March 26, 2020 10:53am
      - Tall Man
        
        Be like steffy and get three logins 😉
        
        3 1
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        March 26, 2020 3:58pm
Liberty

Day 1 in Gulag 1984.
Comrade Stalin will be happy with Dear Leader.
44 6
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March 26, 2020 8:26am
- MCos
  
  Try reading some books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and you might find out what a life in a gulag is really like.
  One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich would be a good start
  
  7 4
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  March 26, 2020 1:01pm
  - Liberty
    
    Mcos
    
    You could also read “Labour and the Gulag”
    The appalling treatment of anybody that pissed of Stalin or comply
    to his vile socialist agenda.
    What is really despicable about the Gulags is the slave camps.
    Supplying timber to the British market with the endorsement of the
    British Labour Government. Who refused to admit the existence of slave camps.
    
    3 1
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    March 26, 2020 4:02pm
SJ Actual

When the prime minister announced the lock down, she said people could still walk the dog, go for a run etc, so long as people kept to their bubble.
Yesterday the police commissioner was saying don’t even think of going to the beach. Do not drive unless it’s to do something essential like get groceries.
Which one is correct?
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March 26, 2020 8:34am
- Paulus
  
  She is always right !
  
  22 2
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  March 26, 2020 8:53am
  - Tall Man
    
    Even when wrong ?
    
    20 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:04am
- Rich Prick
  
  “Don’t even think about it”, you will be told what to think in today’s midday briefing.
  
  47 2
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  March 26, 2020 8:58am
  - PhilBest
    
    I’ve been hearing a disturbing number of police car sirens during the last 90 minutes.
    
    14 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:55am
- PhilBest
  
  I would credit Jacinda with being softer than this. Hope she acts to rein in over-reach by any psychopaths unfortunately in positions of regulatory control. MBIE deciding that “only essential” orders and deliveries are to be allowed, is another one. I heard anecdotal evidence occasionally as MBIE was growing, that hiring was obviously being controlled by someone who wanted P.C. tossers, and obviously good people were getting passed over.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:02am
- Surely Knott
  
  Agree this sucks. If you are lucky enough to live by a beach and can walk to it you can go. They specifically said north shore people could go to the beach. But if you live in an area with no walking access to the beach you can’t drive to a remote beach or forest for a walk instead you must walk around your busy footpaths. I fail to see why we can’t go for a drive, a beach walk or a bush walk.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:07am
  - Nickc2
    
    Hey, welcome to Cindystan 2020, formerly known as New Zealand.
    It would be interesting to see how history records this day in 2020. The day New Zealand was overthrown by a Marxist dictatorship with the assistance of it’s Foreign Minister. Will it be remembered as the day NZ began implementing unheard of laws passed without Parliamentary debate or just as the day in which their new dictator just over ruled and dismissed Parliamentary process?
    
    12 1
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    March 26, 2020 12:03pm
    - Surely Knott
      
      Agree Nick. Social Media is a mine field. The authoritarian thought police enforcers are out in force . Rigid hardline lockdown and don’t drive your car. But where were they when the govt was letting in all the overseas travellers, and continues to let them in without quarantine. The people on the list with Covid 19 are almost exclusively linked to a direct overseas plane flight or family of. And other people who came back and didn’t self isolate and went to work. They are not linked to people going for a walk on the beach and maintaining a distance.
      
      6 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:15pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, Cindy is forever mentioning ‘processes’, but for this, we have a process which is not a process. In other words it’s typical Labour think whereby if you don’t know, fudge it and hope the media will not know or report it even they know full-well it will not be reported by out leftist MSM.
        
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        March 26, 2020 2:22pm
- JackRabbit
  
  “When the prime minister announced the lock down, she said people could still walk the dog, go for a run etc, so long as people kept to their bubble.”
  
  That was the advertising. Quite different from reality.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:19am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    the advertising is ALWAYS different from the reality with socialists.
    
    Potemkin villages anyone?
    
    Everything is fine. You will learn to love dear leader.
    
    21 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:39am
  - pdm
    
    mrspdm and I have just walked round Cornwall Park Hastings starting at about 10.10am. We saw 3 dog walkers, one lady sitting on a seat in the sun and one other walker.
    
    15 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:46am
  - sooty
    
    Are you saying that her nose will grow more?
    
    12 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:57am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Would you and your friends like a shower? I have a gas powered one in that bunker over there.
      
      7 2
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      March 26, 2020 10:35am
  - calendar girl
    
    The Government told porkies. Why are we surprised?
    
    0 0
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    March 26, 2020 6:46pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  The PM has to be right–Plod#1 announcements are against wellbeing. He has power and might and like to use it but also must be under authority. We are not a Police State.
  If Plod#1 has special powers he is choosing to act under they need to be publicly stated and his actions shown to be lawful. The conflict with the PM has to be justified.
  
  27 2
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  March 26, 2020 9:51am
  - PhilBest
    
    Jacinda should sack the guy, everyone will be on her side over this.
    
    19 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:56am
    - sooty
      
      Is plod #1, still plod #1?
      Didn’t he get replaced?
      
      8 1
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      March 26, 2020 10:56am
    - JackRabbit
      
      It is 99% certain when she said those statements she knew them to be false. Time to re-read Hansel and Gretel.
      
      7 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:29am
  - calendar girl
    
    PM Ardern won’t admit that Bush’s enforcement actions are based on interpretations different from hers. For her part, she may not even understand that their interpretations are actually diverging.
    
    It’s about time she got this dichotomy sorted out. While doing so would likely be beyond her own personal skills and understanding, she has many able senior public service advisors available who would be well-capable of drawing up a unifying plan that she and her Police Minister could (a) understand, and (b) implement as intended.
    
    3 1
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    March 26, 2020 4:34pm
- Local Miller
  
  They seem to be just making it up as they go along. Nobody sat down and worked through a decent range of scenarios to formulate responses and yes/no, you can/can’t do things. They just put in a broad range of general restrictions and have been winging it since then.
  They are a bunch of bloody children who couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery, let alone run a country.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:56am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Well if Plod gets stroppy just remind them that the PTPM is in charge, and said it is ok
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:48am
mikenmildagain

This was a genuine LOL:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120574232/coronavirus-motorhome-resident-says-lockdown-makes-him-prisoner-of-the-state
‘The motor mechanic and frequent litigant said…’
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March 26, 2020 8:36am
- KevO'Brien
  
  There are interesting side effects. We have acquired a young man, who normally sleeps under a bridge, for the next few weeks.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:39am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Read ‘Lady in the Van’ remembering that she has no toilet but did have plastic bags.
    
    5 0
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    March 26, 2020 1:31pm
Simon

NZ is in a steep recession. Is there anyone out there who thinks the Ardern government have got a grip on this?

Half arsed measures against the Wuhan virus to the massive over reaction has killed the economy.

What will follow is a series of half arsed recession measures until there is a new government.

No wonder Ardern wants to suspend the election.
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March 26, 2020 8:36am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  not an over reaction. Has been made necessary by non-existent quarantining of arrivals. Watch case numbers blow out to 1000’s over coming week.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:07am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yup. No screening at airports, letting people continue to come in from infected areas, then calling kiwis home.
    
    Our little petrie dish on the bottom of the world is going to be fun!
    
    25 1
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    March 26, 2020 9:40am
    - JackRabbit
      
      How would Billy Connolly put this if he were here:
      
      We don’t want spread the disease. So only ten people can get into the swimming pool at one time. You must keep at least 2 metres away from each other. Before you get in, it is mandatory you be hosed down with sanitiser. Each time you touch the pool rail or anything in common, you must be re-sanitised.
      
      If however you have recently arrived from overseas, you do not need to be inspected or sanitised. Your word that you do not have the disease is good enough for us. Jump in and enjoy yourselves, and try not to piss in the pool.
      
      15 1
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      March 26, 2020 11:38am
  - PhilBest
    
    “Has been made necessary by non-existent quarantining of arrivals.”
    
    Ex-freakin’ – ZACTLY!
    
    Incompetence or deliberate?
    
    24 2
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    March 26, 2020 9:58am
- Bill felt
  
  Lax and Late!
  
  14 1
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  March 26, 2020 10:17am
  - Tall Man
    
    Well that given me the shits…………..
    
    1 1
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    March 26, 2020 3:59pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Simon, we are facing a depression. You do not close down most of the western world for 1 to 2 months and then resume life as normal.
  
  Some stark numbers, NZ tourism industry is now almost at ground zero. Last year it was worth $40billion of economic activity to NZ. This activity will not turn back on in 2 months time. Air NZ has already announced 30% of its staff will be made redundant and has cut back 95% of its international flights.
  
  AirBnB in NZ has over 9,000 registered properties, income from these residences supported mortgages, what chance of there being distressed mortgages etc over the next 6 months?
  
  Forestry exports have all but ceased, there were already problems with fishery and meat exports. That is lost income now. Even when we find what the new normal is around the world, we will not be able to sell product in May that was set for export in February.
  
  Then there is the fact that many of us are now working from home. Indeed for many, that will become a new normal meaning cities like Auckland will have a glut of office space (existing & under construction) and there is a high likelihood we will not require the levels of PT we were using even a month ago.
  
  So, indeed we are facing a depression/recession the likes of which the majority of us have never seen in our lifetimes! And the people to blame are our juvenile, incompetent and inept governments who failed to act when the signs were evident!
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:04am
  - Nickc2
    
    Touche hullkiwi.
    
    8 1
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    March 26, 2020 12:27pm
- giltee
  
  Don’t you see the plan? All her inadequacies will be glossed over and the recession will be totally blamed on Covid. She’s the worlds best salesperson and WILL be voted back in. Special thanks will go to voters short memories and the adoring media.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:12am
rightoverlabour

One group I do believe may be at another risk is elderly people living alone who generally have interactions with family on a regular basis. Firstly from a psychological level these people may find the 4 weeks very stressful. Secondly purely from a physical safety point, if they get injured or fall and cant get to a phone and no one is going to be seeing them for a month, that could be catastrophic. Expect a number of things to rise. Family violence, divorce, suicide, financial destitution, mortgagee sales and a host of other unpleasant side affects. The police need to balance very carefully how they interrogate people on the street and ensuring that most people comply with the lock down. Harassing a person walking on the beach would be stupid, breaking up a group of youths parading down the street, another thing altogether.
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March 26, 2020 8:41am
- Akarak
  
  Meanwhile what’s happening at Ihumātao?
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:22pm
Paulus Gnome

Given the supermarkets have been opening at 0900 to allow for shelf stocking, I am surprised how many cars are going down my road. Essential workers perhaps?
16 1
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March 26, 2020 8:42am
Maggy Wassilieff

Good old Brits…

Coronavirus: Thousands volunteer to help NHS with vulnerable
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52029877
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March 26, 2020 8:43am
- Tall Man
  
  They’ll be happy to help here… until the morphine runs out.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:10am
lastmanstanding

We are in what I call “The Emperors Clothes” scenario.
Thinking citizens too scared to question or criticise the Governments statements or action lest they be accused of being unpatriotic or worse.

At these times it is literally a matter of life or death that thinking citizens question the Governments actions and a Government of Freedom will welcome this.

However a Government that wishes to Command and Control its citizens will declare only the Government is right. No questioning will be tolerated.

Couple this with a fawning MSM and the results dont bear thinking about.
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March 26, 2020 8:43am
- Inandout
  
  Listen to Hosking for a bit of balance.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:47am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    I normally do that from 6.00 but it was so quiet this morning I didn’t wake up until 7.45.
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:16pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  We can all be monitoring what is happening elsewhere… many of us have contacts all around the world.
  There’s no need for us to just absorb the fawning articles in our MSM.
  Perhaps some folks would have been better prepared for their weeks of confinement if they had opened their eyes and ears to what was occurring beyond our bubble.
  
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  March 26, 2020 8:49am
  - Andrei
    
    Around the world virtully all non Governmental economic activity has ceased and the only people producing anything are those who do so with Government blessing.
    
    And if that situation lasts for too long our civilization collapses
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:12am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Weird. Have we entered the season of the Biblical end times? Recovery is hard to envisage.
      
      14 1
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      March 26, 2020 9:54am
  - freethinker
    
    Quite right Maggie, the NZ MS Liars spin news no longer has much impact for me unless what I have read on overseas reliable media and blogs like this & YSB especially comments that confirm or add credibility to a story indicates some partial level of accuracy and facts. I did a Horizon poll on trust in media a couple of days ago I suspect the NZ and global media are bricking their knickers seeing their circulation fall and increasing criticism of their product.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:27am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Maggy, “Perhaps some folks would have been better prepared for their weeks of confinement if they had opened their eyes and ears to what was occurring beyond our bubble.”
    
    Yes, if we saw that NZ was woefully underprepared and lacking in testing and quarantining of arrivals. Those of us looking towards Singapore knew how this thing should really be handled.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:43am
  - giltee
    
    You can always go to FB or other social media for your information on what’s really happening around the world. Baaahahahaha.
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:17am
- kowtow
  
  Dr Wolfgang Wodarg uses the Emperor analogy in his excellent you tube item on this panpanic.
  Worth the ten minutes.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:25am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Thanks for the link, it’s spot on.
    
    100+ people die every hour world wide from the flu, yet not considered important.
    
    The coronavirus epidemic is the new global warming hoax. Stats are being distorted. Stats can be massaged in any direction you like.
    
    In Italy, most of the very old died from the medical conditions they had, not the Corona virus. Over 50% of those tested having three medical conditions, a lesser amount with two, and a lesser amount with one. Those that died outright from Corona Virus were a very small percantage.
    
    I imagine if you tested the old males, many would also have erectile dysfunction, with up to 40% being a quoted figure for over 80’s.
    
    Using the sloppy Italian science, attributing the death to Coronavirus instead of noting that they had (or had previously had it) you could easily say that 40% of the deaths in over 70/80 males in Italy was due to erectile dysfunction.
    
    Therefore the solution to stop deaths of over 70’s/ 80s males is prescription of Viagara and on tap sex workers who will be saving lives.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:32am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Is tobacco addiction (i.e. smoking) listed as a pre-existing condition? I bet that would have quite an effect on the figures of what Italians have been dying of.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:36am
      - JackRabbit
        
        In 2000, WHO published statistics on asbestosis, wherein they made a summary statement that in all but a very few small number of cases, people who died from asbestosis were also habitual smokers. And that they had never encountered a single case of someone dying from white asbestos by itself.
        
        Prolonged smoking destroys the natural ability of the lungs to remove particles, toxins and invaders. Yet is someone died, and who had asbestos in the lungs, it was considered a death by asbestos. The fact that the victims spent years wrecking their lungs by smoking and making then susectible to all sorts of medical conditions and disease, was ignored.
        
        An honest evaluation by WHO, which surprised me.
        
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        March 26, 2020 12:15pm
emmess

People are assuming/hoping the CCP Wuhan Virus dies down in warmer weather.
But I don’t think so.

What leads me to believe this is chance of these people who have died or caught it in Africa

DR Congo president’s aide dies of Covid-19
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452
What are the chances when only 3 people have officially died in DR Congo?

Zim care worker tests positive for coronavirus after returning to New Zealand
https://www.zimlive.com/2020/03/22/zimbabwean-care-worker-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-after-returning-to-new-zealand/
What are the chances when there are only 3 cases in Zimbabwe?
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March 26, 2020 8:43am
- freethinker
  
  Interesting idea but the Italian outbreak also likely to have been imported by the Chinese workers in the Milan clothing industry has occurred in their winter.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:30am
  - emmess
    
    freethinker, I think you misunderstood.
    I am saying that it is possible that it may spread in all climates and seasons. Maybe faster in some than others but there is no place that cannot be affected.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:27am
- KevO'Brien
  
  This from Arizona State Uni:
  https://askabiologist.asu.edu/plosable/does-flu-virus-prefer-cold-weather
  
  This says that viruses propagate best in dryer atmospheric conditions.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:04am
  - PhilBest
    
    That’s an interesting point. This is because they are affected by moisture content in the air, when the virus is “dry” itself it can be airborne and float around. But getting moistened beyond a certain level, makes it stay on surfaces. But then above a certain humidity level, at high levels, they are apparently spread more rapidly under the “contact with surfaces” scenario.
    There was hopes early on that some high-humidity poor countries weren’t going to be as affected, it certainly looked that way initially; but not now, they’ve succumbed anyway.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:56am
Wangas Feral

Feral Wife is not handling this isolation well. Two days and she already thinks we are running out of things and she needs to go to town. Feral kids disabused her of such notions seeing as we can survive out here for months with no trips into town. Rationing milk to a litre a day we have three weeks worth before we hit the milk powder.
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March 26, 2020 8:44am
- Tall Man
  
  Milk freezes and thaws well.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:07am
  - Wangas Feral
    
    Sure does. Pretty much everything freezes. Some not so good afterwards though 🙂
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:29am
    - Tall Man
      
      We thaw it out in the fridge after a night in the sink. Stays crunchy for a day or two but that adds to the qualities of my chocolate milk ?
      
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      March 26, 2020 10:42am
JibberJabber

Every person arriving in the country at Auckland Airport is now the responsibility of Auckland City Council, the Council has to find accomodation for these people, check on them twice a day and cater to their every need.
Good news if you have a AirBnB listing, might not get the going rate if they requisition it, but a bucks a buck.
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March 26, 2020 8:49am
- Classic Liberal
  
  About bloody time! This should have happened weeks ago. Instead we’re all prisoners now, judging by PC Bush’s frightening comments.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:49am
- giltee
  
  Point being shouldn’t the government shown leadership and done this long ago. But no without an idea, as usual they’ve handed it onto to others to do their job
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:42am
- Nickc2
  
  Another cost imposed on Auckland Ratepayers by the CoL of fools. Us ratepayers had no say in this matter which IMHO is an immigration issue and as such, the costs associated should be found elsewhere.
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:37pm
KevO'Brien

I’ve already encountered that attitude in another small group-how dare I refuse to use the hand the proffered hand sanitiser, I would be putting the whole group at risk! Fear has taken over reason.

Is this this the prelude to a global attack on the economic system and for population control?
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March 26, 2020 8:54am
- Tall Man
  
  My youngest is convinced that is the plan ?
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:11am
- freethinker
  
  A pilot exercise like the Banking theft in Cyprus.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:33am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I hope they give my mortgage a 20% ‘haircut’!
    
    Doesn’t work like that?
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:38pm
- JibberJabber
  
  It`s been called the Boomer Remover from the get go.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:42am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    But that would mean just letting it run rife, instead of trying to stamp it out.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:50am
Justitia

If the lockdown is to have any chance of stopping the spread of the China Virus then the borders must be sealed now and only re-opened when we have the capacity to quarantine EVERY arriving passenger, wherever they are coming from. If we don’t stop new infections coming into the country we are wasting our time and damaging the economy for nothing.
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March 26, 2020 8:57am
- sooty
  
  Too late.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:02am
- JackRabbit
  
  That would be the LOGICAL, RATIONAL, and ETHICAL thing to do. However like hand sanitiser and face masks, these things are in short supply.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:45am
freemark

Paul Hunt gets infected while on a Govt funded overseas junket in March. What happened to those travel restrictions? How many has he infected? How many others of his ilk have been swanning around at this time?
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March 26, 2020 9:00am
- Shut the hell up you Fascist!
  
  PH is a fatuous twerp and hypocrite of the highest order.
  
  First he sanctimoniously preaches about climate change before getting onto his European junket and bringing back coro.
  
  Time to disestablish his office. And where’s your report Katie Bradford about this outrage? None? Guess it must be because you all part of the progressive bubble. Assholes both of them!
  
  https://www.hrc.co.nz/news/paul-hunt-climate-change-human-rights-issue/
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:53am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Quite a lot..
  We had our politicians (Tracy Martin, Chloe Swarbrick) over In Australia when it was clear that the virus was not just confined to China or Iran.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:54am
  - sooty
    
    Junkets for the ruling class,
    Are coming back to bite their arse!
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:03am
oldpark

Anothe kick in the guts for Residential Landlords.
Yes yesterday the Peters selected we know best socialistic bunch of **** ***** . Yes Ardern/Robertson and gang sneaked in another type of knee-cap for Landlords .
Most Landlords had accepted under the circumstances of the Virus . Such as a Rent Freeze for Six Months Plus most evictions.
That gang of Socialists could not leave the forced punitive rules which were announced earlier at that .They brought in some more sneaky slippy tit rules.
Yes Ardern/ Robertson and their also rans introduced an even worse questional type of punitive assault on Landlords.
Figure this one . Tenants who can’t pay rent are now allowed to run their rental arrears up to 60 Days ,previously 21 days, before the Landlord can take them to the Tenancy Tribunal.
If it goes to the Tenancy Tribunal which can now operate without tenants or Landlords appearing.
the Tribunal can decide that eviction should not occur if tenants have made ,”Reasonable endeavours to pay Rent”and that ending the Tenancy would be unjustified .
In fact the Peters selected Ardern/Robertson gang who yesterday once more put the boot into Landlords who are being treated worse than the Coronavirus, have given “Tenants” almost perpetual tenure in the rentals they live in .
Who the **** would be a Landlord .
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March 26, 2020 9:01am
- Rich Prick
  
  Try that “reasonable endeavours” with the IRD and see how you get on. Why anyone bothers with rental properties in these Labour days is beyond me.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:41am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Genter this morning completely unclear about what would contitute ‘reasonable endeavours to pay rent’, no emphasis that workers currently in hibernation should be getting the subsidy via employers and thus can still pay rent. As we all still have to pay for our essential items, rates etc.
  
  And as usual the Nat Radio news headlines just picked on the most communist interpretation it could: people can’t be evicted in the next 60 days for not paying rent. Basically telling tenants that they don’t need to pay anything for two months. While landlords still have every expense and for some it’s their only income.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:43am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Sorry, not Genter. Megan Woods.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:07am
    - Paulus
      
      No difference – both incapable
      
      8 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:36pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Both useless as each other
      
      One rides a bike and the other needs to ride a bike.
      
      11 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:42pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    Foe a landlord, the instant (and severe) impact of self-declared “rent holidays” will be on cashflow. The mortgage holiday will help landlords with this. Yeah I know there will be extra costs later and more interest down the track, but “later” is not this month.
    
    If I was a landlord (I’m not) I would be offering my reasonable tenants a temporary drop in the rent to keep them (a) in the place and (b) paying something. I would take a mortgage holiday. Realism. Sharing the pain and all that.
    
    If the tenant wants to go all sad and pay nothing, then there is an eviction process that will take close to 3 months. At month two, a smart tenant will turn up with a few weeks rent arrears and a promise to try harder. Landlord then faces a hard decision as lots of potential replacement tenants will also be facing hardship.
    
    This has nothing to do with political views – I see it as a pragmatic approach to the problem. Mortgage holiday keeps landlord’s head above water for now. Rent discount does the same for tenants.
    
    I guess it will be the landlords’ call when rents go back to “normal”. The fundamental supply issue that drove rents to current levels is still there …. so there is some light in the landlord tunnel.
    
    It is what it is.
    
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    March 26, 2020 6:07pm
MrTips

Dear diary
Day 1: Strange small people in my workspace. Sent them to their room. Mental note: try this at work when lockdown lifted.
Placed wall around stores, must maintain at all costs. No one else shall get the caramel TimTams.
Wife looks vaguely familiar. Do I know her from somewhere?
So far, so good.
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March 26, 2020 9:03am
- Tall Man
  
  That’ll teach you to not sleep over at the neighbours.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:11am
Padraig Payne

Christ who would have gone to The Warehouse if it had been allowed to remain open? Bogans and their feral kids running up and down screaming and touching everything.

This guy has an inflated impression of what his store sells.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120579272/warehouse-announcement-made-in-good-faith
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March 26, 2020 9:09am
- ross411
  
  That’s what I initially thought. But it’s getting colder and where do you go if you need to buy blankets and bedding? They had a good argument there IMO.
  
  There’s another argument they shouldn’t let people in the stores, and that they should be only selling those essential goods to reduce sales, and so on.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:09am
  - projectman
    
    ” where do you go if you need to buy blankets and bedding?”
    
    Well, unless you sell them at the end of every Winter you get them out of the cupboard.
    
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    March 26, 2020 5:38pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Awesome response.
      
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      March 26, 2020 6:05pm
cmm

Paul Hunt can’t help himself from turning Covid-19 into some colonialism bashing:

“History demonstrates the severe and unequal impact of introduced disease on tangata whenua,” he said.

WTF does historic disease infections have to do with Covid-19?

If Maori are going to suffer more from Covid-19 then it is going to be mainly due to self inflicted factors like obesity-related diseases.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120564183/coronavirus-chief-human-rights-commissioner-paul-hunt-tests-positive
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March 26, 2020 9:10am
- Rich Prick
  
  The virus is racist, now where’s my compo?!
  
  31 1
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  March 26, 2020 9:19am
  - Tall Man
    
    Pffft, white men “pay” compo not get it.
    
    12 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:12am
  - backster
    
    Hasn’t the Government just provided you $56million to help with your welbeing.
    
    11 3
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    March 26, 2020 10:26am
    - Rich Prick
      
      I just checked my bank balance, nothing new there.
      
      13 1
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      March 26, 2020 10:42am
      - rangitoto
        
        You have a bank balance? Apologies for the oversight. The Government will confiscate it as soon as possible.
        
        13 1
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        March 26, 2020 11:17am
- JibberJabber
  
  “Oppressed groups enter freedom by denying that they are in fact free, as a way of avoiding the daunting level of responsibility that freedom imposes”
  
  De Beauvoir, I believe….
  
  16 1
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  March 26, 2020 9:25am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    I see by the upticks that there is no general sexism on this board: a sensible comment by anyone is taken on its merit.
    
    3 3
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    March 26, 2020 11:45am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Well we can thank him for bringing it back with him.
  
  Typical colonial! Hope he brought some muskets, beads and blankets with him on his way back to the colony he has chosen to infest.
  
  Maybe he should be forcibly repatriated?
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:45am
  - Tall Man
    
    Eaten?
    
    9 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:12am
Inandout

Constant emails from businesses saying they care about me and the virus, but ‘look at me’.
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March 26, 2020 9:10am
tedbear

Let’s ban coal..but not just yet.
The govt have now decided it’s essential energy.
Greens enjoying more dead rats?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/412626/miners-exempt-from-lockdown-as-govt-classifies-coal-as-essential-energy
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March 26, 2020 9:11am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Are we going to get Taranaki back too?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:09am
- DeepBlue
  
  I had a laugh at the Methanex plant being able to continue – “as long as it doesn’t threaten gas supplies”.
  
  This is hopefully going to rewrite Megan Woods ideology.
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:33pm
euro2019

I am just wondering how long it will take for the government to raise the tax under the excuses of this virus lockdown.
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March 26, 2020 9:16am
- MT_Tinman
  
  They won’t need to.
  
  Thanks to NZ giving the clowns uncontrolled power they will simply pass a law giving themselves access to your bank account.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:26am
- hullkiwi
  
  They are going to have to if they introduce what their supporters are pushing for.
  
  A Universal Basic Income for all! I refer you to the Standard, a discussion yesterday!
  
  WTF!
  
  $300 to $400 per week. Who is going to pay for that?
  
  They claim Bridges may not object and will not repeal it.
  
  Like hell! If Brridges doesn’t oppose it, he had better think of resign as an MP, as his chances of remaining in parliament (let alone as leader) would be gone.
  
  At what point, do the morons on the Standard and on the left realise that NZ is a small economy, we are facing a depression and such stupidity would bankrupt NZ for good!
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:21am
  - PhilBest
    
    The lavish social welfare experiment the Norman Kirk government tried 1972-75 was a disaster then that was a factor in them only lasting a term. A tame Commission of Inquiry (Thaddeus McCarthy I think) had told them that “there was no evidence it would act as a perverse incentive”. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:01am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Yes, I recall the experiments of the Kirk/Rowling govt. Much like today, they came into office when the economy was in good shape and within 3 years, they (together with the first oil crisis) managed to screw NZ’s economy by adding to the welfare burden bequeathed by the Holyoake/Marshall govts.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:11am
  - calendar girl
    
    It’s ludicrous and totally unacceptable that we can’t drive the family car to an open supermarket (or other food store) to replenish our home’s dwindling food and drinks supplies.
    
    Or to the nearest suitable public park that is open, for a spell of daily physical exercise in a safe, open, fresh-air environment. There are many locations (including ours) where it would be dangerous folly to try walking on the only local roads available. Have our narrow-vision rule-makers lived nowhere other than Remuera, Miramar or Fendalton?
    
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    March 26, 2020 6:22pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Why can’t you drive to the supermarket?
      
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      March 26, 2020 6:31pm
      - Batman
        
        You are allowed to drive to access essential services
        
        3 1
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        March 26, 2020 6:39pm
      - calendar girl
        
        You can go to the supermarket for only one reason – to obtain essentials.
        
        I’m not interested in getting into a debate with a Policeman as to whether my supermarket shopping-list contains only essentials. Beer and wine are stocked by supermarkets – but do our law-enforcers regard those products as fitting into the essential category?
        
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        March 26, 2020 7:05pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      You can drive to the supermarket.
      I did this afternoon to get some victuals.
      Where i went you could cound the number of shoppers on both hands.
      Most shelves full except for canned stuff like baked beans and spag.
      
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      March 26, 2020 7:14pm
MT_Tinman

To all of you using a mask in the supermarket recently: Did you sanitise each item and the reusable bag when you got the groceries home?
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March 26, 2020 9:24am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Yes. Of couse.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:49am
- Ed Snack
  
  Masks are useful, they prevent the spread from those who have the virus, especially those who harbour it unknowingly or with minimal symptoms.
  
  If we all wore masks the community spread would be far lower, and as a bonus, the normal seasonal flu and cold would also be greatly reduced.
  
  Don’t knock masks because some dipsticks told you (falsely) that they were of no use. They did that to prevent panic buying and to reserve as many masks as possible for medical and related workers.
  
  I would support a recommendation that everyone wears a mask when out in places likely to encounter others, but only if masks can be made available.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:55am
  - Wangas Feral
    
    I have been manufacturing our own for trips into town. Pretty easy to do and there are a few good examples on line as to how to make them.
    
    6 2
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    March 26, 2020 10:54am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Yes Ed, it never makes sense: they say in the same breath that masks don’t work and that they need to be saved for health workers. Masks do work and just need to be the right quality and worn correctly.
    
    A prepared government would have a stock and allot them to population and health workers in a controlled way.
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:51am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Your point fell over at ‘prepared government”
      
      10 1
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      March 26, 2020 1:46pm
- JackRabbit
  
  More hygienic to go back to the original supermarket bags. Dispose of once used, just like tissues. But no, they want us to use reusable open pore bags. Bit like using a hanky over and over again.
  
  9 1
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  March 26, 2020 11:50am
- Fletch
  
  I heard on the radio news that customers are being told they are not allowed to bring their own bags into the stores…
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:59am
rightoverlabour

I still believe the essential list of stores needs revisiting. A lot of people are going to be sitting at home with FA to do. Doing house maintenance etc is useful, and would keep people busy, but the hardware shops are closed. Bottle stores should also be open. A frustrated alcoholic in 4 weeks of lock down is going to end very badly. When winter hits and people need knew heaters, blankets, etc, where they going to be able to buy those? It gets cold by mid April in some parts of the country.

Canada had a list that made a lot more sense. Commonsense, however, is something this government lacks.
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March 26, 2020 9:28am
- Padraig Payne
  
  Watch domestic violence soar. It might be all pioneering in week 1, but not so much in week 3. One thing New Zealand has is lots of empty space near our urban centres. Why can’t families drive to those open spaces, go for a walk and drive home again? It would do wonders for mental health and, a crash or a breakdown aside, poses zero risk.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:37am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Why can’t families drive somewhere for a walk indeed? As long as they don’t mingle with others. No logical reason at all. Police Commissioner seemed to suggest this though – seemed keen on people doing basically nothing, not driving anywhere to go for a nice walk.
    
    But he also affirmed what you are saying this will cause: an increase in domestic violence.
    
    This upsurge in domestic violence will lie right at the door of this extreme authoritarian approach.
    
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    March 26, 2020 9:56am
  - PhilBest
    
    Forgive me for saying this more than once here, but we need to be thankful that our urban areas are not so high in population density YET, that there isn’t the space for people to do what you’re saying. In London they’ve closed the Parks&Reserves because they’d instantly be crowded if they were open.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:03am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Why can’t families not bash each other?
    
    Mine doesn’t
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:48pm
    - Tall Man
      
      It’s day 1 Paulus 😉
      
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      March 26, 2020 4:04pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    Thats the scary thing and it worries me. when the police separate a couple where does the one that is booted out go?
    
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    March 26, 2020 7:16pm
- cmm
  
  Baby boom in Jan 2021.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:29am
Tony Norriss

Anyone else frustrated with the wage subsidy process.

I manage two companies and applied for subsidies for both. Got one payment straight away, but still waiting for the other one.

No way to check and trace it. There is an 0800 number but it crashes probably due to overloading with people wondering the same.

Applying was just filling out the form which disappeared into the ether with no acknowledgement as to whether it had been received or not.

Looks like something done on the fly in a panic.
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March 26, 2020 9:36am
- pdm
  
  Tony our son is on the employee side of it and had been told by his employer he would be paid $580 a week. He spent all morning yesterday hanging on the phone seeking clarification from either WINZ or IRD as he had been offered some casual Security Guard work.
  
  He never got to speak to anyone after 3 hours so took the work and will sort out the consequences, if any, when normality returns.
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:55am
- Joely Doe
  
  Applied Monday morning when heard a proclomation was coming. Our Board also had told us to close for non-essential patients (but stay open for essential patients!?).
  Paid into account last night.
  Heard there were a HELL of a lot more applications afterwards.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:28am
- Jules99
  
  I applied as self employed on Monday – still nothing and no feedback. Although I would survive on savings, this would be a huge help as I have zero income now. Feeling a bit anxious actually. Did I fill in the form wrong? Who knows.
  
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  March 26, 2020 1:36pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Agitate…
    
    Keep sending enquiries/phone or something until you get a reply.
    
    Email your local MP
    Email the PM……
    
    They’re both available for the next 4 weeks, I gather.
    
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    March 26, 2020 3:43pm
  - artemisia
    
    We applied for self employed early on Monday, payment in the bank Wednesday.
    
    Heard that people who applied previous week were paid out in 12 hours. So more than likely the increased volume is causing a short delay.
    
    Believe they are paying out on a ‘high trust’ basis so basically everyone that filled in the few fields on the form and the declaration.
    
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    March 27, 2020 8:04am
MT_Tinman

91/2 hours after house arrest started Newshub has an article entitiled :

Love lockdown: Kiwis reveal how the COVID-19 lockdown is impacting their sex lives

It’s going to be a long 4 weeks!
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March 26, 2020 9:40am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Maybe there will be a baby blip 9 months from now?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:09am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Yep…
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:24am
    - Colville
      
      there will be a wave of new borns…they will be called the coronials.
      
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      March 26, 2020 12:45pm
      - Nickc2
        
        That will get the Lawyers on the TOW gravy train tits in a tangle, someone stealing one of their begging bowels (coronials v colonials).
        
        4 1
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        March 26, 2020 1:54pm
Captain Mainwaring

Some positives re the lockdown:
. No traffic.
. No bogans roaming the streets.
. Climate change off the front page.
. We might get single-use plastic bags back.
. No air travel for the Greenie hypocrites.
. Plenty of time for Auckland airport to fix their runway.
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March 26, 2020 9:47am
- septic skeptic
  
  If single use plastic bags come back we will see hoarding like never before – they are just so damn useful for so many things ?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:22am
  - Jules99
    
    Yes, my previous hoard was getting a bit low.
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:37pm
ldypen

Just wait until the meth heads and other addicts can’t go out to get their fix, I predict a huge increase in Domestic violence.. addicts will do just about anything to get their drug, so make sure you keep your doors closed, probably a good time to keep that baseball bat close at hand especially at night.
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March 26, 2020 9:48am
- kevn
  
  @Idy… I gather the California lock-down has gone very feral.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:19am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  3 foot curtain rail above the front door. 3/4 stainless steel bar
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:14am
Maggie Pie

Should be an exciting month. My partner has only just got his ass out of bed and is now laying on the couch 🙁
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March 26, 2020 9:50am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How about nagging him non-stop for the month?
  He won’t be able to escape to the pub or the golf-course.
  
  But seriously, Maggie Pie, your man seems untrained and I suspect you have been too slack with
  pulling him into shape.
  
  I know it’s a long and hard slog, but if after 40+ years, I can finally get a cup of tea made properly and delivered to me, then you will see that all those years and effort of subliminal coaching have been worth it.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:05am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Oh don’t worry Maggs, I’m right on his case!
    Got the cheek to tell me “he’s here to provide an essential service!”
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:17am
- hookerphil
  
  It’s 10.18 – he has inspired me to get up. Rubbish collection today – have to get it to the roadside by 12.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:19am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Is that the “Nice Ass”? you mentioned a few days ago? Asking for a friend. By the way, what is he “laying” Also asking for a friend.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:37am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Did notice he has the Sky-Remote stuck between his legs.
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:57am
RW Capitalist

The actual numbers
GE DEATH RATE
confirmed cases DEATH RATE
all cases
80+ years old 21.9% 14.8%
70-79 years old 8.0%
60-69 years old 3.6%
50-59 years old 1.3%
40-49 years old 0.4%
30-39 years old 0.2%
20-29 years old 0.2%
10-19 years old 0.2%
0-9 years old no fatalities
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March 26, 2020 10:02am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Aren’t the percentages supposed to add up to around 100%?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:08am
  - Local Miller
    
    No, this is percentage of people in each group. So for 10 – 19 year olds, 0.2% died, 99.8% survived or didn’t get the disease at all. Now 0.2% and 99.8% add up to 100%, are you happy?
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:19am
  - septic skeptic
    
    They do, for each age group if you add the chance of NOT dying.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:24am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Not if ….
    
    it is the percentage of deaths in the age group who die versus those in the age group who get it.
    
    Would need to check. However, if you are reading it as a percentage of deaths based with which age group they belonged, yes you are right.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:29am
  - alwyn
    
    No. Those numbers are the percentages of the people in the particular age group who got the disease and who died.
    They are not the percentages of the total deaths of people within the age group.
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:30am
  - Lance
    
    Nope
    Each group is the sample. Deaths as a % of infected
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:36am
    - JackRabbit
      
      “Deaths as a % of infected”
      That is the way the media and WHO are playing it.
      
      Correction – death as a % of those who were tested because they visible symptoms, and the result came back positive. Quite a different figure from those infected.
      
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      March 26, 2020 11:56am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Only confirmed cases, mind. There will be vast numbers of unconfirmed. I’m hoping the UK thumb prick test for antibodies becomes really widely used: many recovered, immune people could be identified. Then the mortality rate could drop.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:06am
Clyde

A couple of rhetoric questions that I don’t expect to get sensible answers to. Will these “maori” volunteer “health checkers” still be allowed to man these road blocks despite them not being classified as an essential service? Just what legal standing does a “rahui” have when those of brown disposition can apparently ban by way of threat anyone wanting to walk along a beach or riverbank or forest while at the same time access the same things for themselves? We have race-based interpretation of this lockdown already and now we have the Asst Police Commissioner apparently supporting it.
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March 26, 2020 10:09am
Monique Watson

Wow. It’s a police state. Police are allowed to enter your house without a warrant.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120577868/coronavirus-police-can-now-enter-homes-to-look-for-people-gathering
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March 26, 2020 10:14am
- rightoverlabour
  
  This could ultimately be good come September 2020.
  Labour – The Police State
  
  Act should get a lot of traction on this. Now Polynesian families tend to be quite large, so how will Oberfeldwebel Plod decide whether this is family gathering or “If we suspect there are gatherings inside places, we’re enabled to go in there. We’ll do everything we can to make sure people comply,” Bush said.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:46am
  - Tall Man
    
    We have a really really big bubble officer ?
    
    4 1
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    March 26, 2020 10:53am
- Wangas Feral
  
  How do we know these bastards wont bring the lurgy into the home they enter?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:57am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Monique,
  
  We did the same for Christchurch earthquake, that is declare a state of emergency so the police etc, had this level of authority, especially for the inner city. Of course it was area specific. By and large it worked well. People generally accepted that the “authorities” were doing the best they could to maintain essential services. Of course it was different to the current situation,. but the principle was the same.
  
  I anticipate that there will be a bit of easing up in a week or two. Some of the prohibitions are a bit unnecessary. For instance rural people going hunting in their immediate area. How are they going to either spread or get the virus if they are hunting as their own “bubble group”?
  
  I still don’t know what a local area is. In my case the Bayswater Peninsula is 2.0 km in extent and with about 500 households. No supermarket. That is either Devonport or Hauraki Corner, about 3.5 km away.
  
  For a bike ride, is it just the Bayswater circuit (3.5 km, which would be done multiple times on each ride) or could it be the Bayswater, Devonport circuit (9 km)? Obviously neither ride would involve contact with anyone else, they would be solo rides with no stops.
  
  Quite a few paddlers out on Ngataringa Bay. The bay is 1.0 km by 3.0 km and is quite self contained from Waitemata Harbour. Basically all the kayakers have waterside houses directly on the Bay, and they all have the kayaks at the bottom of their garden which is essentially goes straight out to what in practical terms is their own little beach, or their own private jetty. Lovely still water today. I guess people could fish from their kayaks, since they would be going out from their houses.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:04am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Hi Wayne, while we have you here: I hope you’re lobbying against opening footpaths to cyclists? They are too fast and pedestrians will constantly have to look behind and worry about being overtaken. On already crowed footpaths.
    
    6 1
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    March 26, 2020 11:11am
    - Lance
      
      Last year I was in Tel Aviv. A significant percentage of people use e-scooters.
      Two things of note in a city where this works well.
      1. The scooters had big wheels (more stable)
      2. They all rode on the road, nobody rode on the footpath, it just won’t work.
      
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      March 26, 2020 2:20pm
  - Kabull
    
    I think the biggest concern is that some of these boaters/cyclists etc may get into trouble and require outside assistance – even hospitalisation. There was a hang glider who got into trouble in Wellington yesterday and needed just that. I’ve also heard of some incident on Stewart Is (?) where emergency services had to be activated.
    So its not just a case of avoiding contact with others.
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:10pm
arkhad

Cactus counts herself as a skilled self-isolater.

Her tips are worth a read https://asianinvasion2019.blogspot.com/2020/03/self-isolation-guide-cometh-hour-cometh.html

The first is
Get a routine – do the same thing at the same time everyday at least until you have sorted your shit out and comfortable with this and have your head straight and around this. Treat yourself how you would when homing a dog or a cat for the first time it is stuck inside.
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March 26, 2020 10:14am
brett68

This is fucking stupid.
The woman’s parents had a rock thrown through a window last night and they can’t get a glazier to come around to fix it because the glaziers aren’t allowed to go to the workshop to pick up the replacement glass.

This is going to be an utter fuckup.
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March 26, 2020 10:28am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Agree, Common sense has gone out the window.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:39am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    Common sense is but a distant stranger to ALL Politicians Civil Servants, the Plod Chiefs.
    
    They wont know it if it smacked them in the face.
    
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    March 26, 2020 11:45am
- cmm
  
  Can’t even go get a sheet of plywood at Mitre 10.
  
  It really astounded me how poorly things had been thought through in just defining “essential services”.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    You’re not planning to build a coffin I hope ?
    
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    March 26, 2020 10:51am
  - brett68
    
    They’ve decided glaziers are not an essential service.
    So if a window gets broken, you’ve got a gaping hole for rain or people to come through.
    
    How the fuck could they not be an essential service???
    
    11 1
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    March 26, 2020 12:21pm
  - Colville
    
    I believe I can go to placemakers or bunnings as I have trade accounts there.
    I assume I would need to be ready to justify myself however.
    
    The glazier should just do the job. If he was a sparkie or plumber there would be no question.
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:49pm
  - cmm
    
    I always keep a couple of sheets handy. Add a few long screws and nails and you can fix all kinds of problems.
    
    And if a kid gets stroppy you can send them to their room and keep them there!
    
    2 1
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    March 26, 2020 3:58pm
- Tall Man
  
  I bet Simon would have done an awesome job ?
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:52am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    You seem to have your own down ticking fan club going on there TM, always about 3 irrespective of what you post.
    
    I admire their dedication to the cause but have doubts about their objectiveness.
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:57pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Oh they object alright, to common sense and honesty.
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:17pm
kloyd0306

Supermarket chains are rubbing their hands together. They now have a monopoly and can set any price they want.
Unintended consequences of a bad policy. Unintended consequences of a Winston choice.
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March 26, 2020 10:41am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  I noticed that yesterday when I was stocking up on beer. I like Stein Pure and Heineken, but they were both at unusually high prices. They are usually discounted; well, either of them, but yesterday they were both full price.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:07am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Same with chickens, no ‘specials’ as with the hot cross buns, only cheese n onion and chicken flavoured crisps left.
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:59pm
  - JibberJabber
    
    Local 4square yesterday $6 for a loaf of Vogels, usually $4.50 0r $7 for 2.
    So, so much for supporting the locals, obviously they don`t need or want support from the community.
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:54pm
Lance

I see in Britain extinction rebellion are celebrating people dying of COVID19
Nice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO-91BT7GIA

I imagine the Gweens have members that harbor similar views
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March 26, 2020 10:43am
- Inandout
  
  Lance, our well paid Green List MPs are mainly in that green coloured isolation bubble. As far as I am aware not one MP from any Party has volunteered to take a salary cut.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:54am
kowtow

What’s happening in Aotearoa , formerly New Zealand ?

Peter Williams interviewing Robbo just now . Robbo very upbeat and confident , along the lines of we’re a strong economy in a good position to borrow ,cos people need the things we produce.

Exactly , so why has this gubmint spent the last 2 years hammering those sectors?

Williams closely questioned on just who will be buying our debt , particularly is it China ? Robbo wouldn’t directly answer. ( Cactus Kate has previously stated they’d be in to buy up our assets at rock bottom prices )

Williams asked him about the Maori roadblocks and Robbo effectively said the cops were working alongside them to keep the local community safe , no condemnation of vigilantism.

That was followed immediately by a top news item where Top Plod said there’ll be consequences for people who broke the rules , that obviously does not apply to certain vigilante groups running illegal roadblocks .

One law for all ? Not a f#cking chance.
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March 26, 2020 10:47am
- Inandout
  
  kowtow, there will soon be a prosecution for ‘flouting the isolation laws’. A good lawyer should have a mountain of ammunition to argue government inconsistency.
  
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  March 26, 2020 10:57am
- lastmanstanding
  
  As I posted earlier was scoffed at Pold will apply the law selectively.
  
  If you are White Male and Stale the full force will be applied.
  
  Others…………………….well not so much.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:47am
Linda Reid

https://amgreatness.com/2020/03/19/dangerous-curves/
Many many early cases were not counted.
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March 26, 2020 10:57am
- PhilBest
  
  Damn good article, DPF needs to put it at the top of a new thread. AMGreatness is a great site, BTW.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:09am
- Classic Liberal
  
  And this is why we urgently need the antibody blood test to be widely available. Then everyone who has had a sniffle since January can find out if they in fact have survived the terrible lurgy!!
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:07pm
  - PhilBest
    
    YES!!
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:10pm
  - cmm
    
    Do you know how impossible that is at the moment?
    
    At the current rate of 1500 tests a day (not that we’re achieving that) it would take 8 years to test everyone once.
    
    This number can’t really be ramped up due to lack of machinery and reagents (chemicals).
    
    There is apparently a new test coming which is far faster and easier to make in the millions.
    
    8 2
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    March 26, 2020 12:26pm
    - Pharmachick
      
      Oxford has made a new one that takes 30 minutes.
      
      I haven’t had a proper squiz at it yet as they’ve not released the technological paper/manuscript, but assume its like the malaria test strips (you pee on them and they change color if you’re positive, my ex-Faculty Mentor Diane Wallace-Taylor invented them and partnered with Abbott to get them into Africa).
      
      That would be an antibody-based test, so I hope they’re making the antibodies in sheep or donkeys, and even then a LOT of livestock will be needed to keep the world supplied…
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:02pm
      - cmm
        
        Yup, but unless you have a time machine (and Bush allows you to drive it without a proper license), this test is not ready yet.
        
        1 1
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        March 26, 2020 4:01pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        @cmm,
        
        its ready in terms of tech. But they’re not releasing it because of scale-up and demand…
        
        And no, not Bush for me (thank God for that, there are enough little Napoleans in my life on a day-to-day basis)… it would be whether Justin [Trudeau] let me go. At present, yes he’s is (including that our veggie and hardware stores are still open… hmmmm?).
        
        2 1
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        March 26, 2020 4:59pm
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Yes cmm, I know that it’s not currently feasible. That’s why we need it.
      
      3 1
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      March 26, 2020 3:18pm
brett68

So, only supermarkets are allowed to sell food?
All butcheries and fruit and veges have to shut???

What the fuck is going on Ardern?
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March 26, 2020 11:08am
- rightoverlabour
  
  She has no Fucking Idea, and the people advising her are idiots. Bring on September 2020.
  
  22 1
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  March 26, 2020 11:40am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Alas, have we heard anything better from National? They seem to be supporting her every move.
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:09pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Better taxes from supermarkets?
  
  6 1
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  March 26, 2020 11:42am
  - brett68
    
    Get used to standing in the supermarket queue for hours and hours.
    500 people equal a 1km long queue.
    
    You can’t get anything delivered from countdown because every single delivery slot is taken.
    
    If you want to click and collect you’ll be lucky to find a vacant slot, our little new world has 4 slots left next Thursday.
    
    Why would you force all the fruit and veg and butcheries to close? it’s just madness
    
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    March 26, 2020 12:06pm
    - Tall Man
      
      I think Simon Bridges would have done a better job, what do you think?
      
      9 2
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      March 26, 2020 12:44pm
      - brett68
        
        I think you should stop [ Mod : posting this sort of rubbish ]
        
        1 10
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        March 26, 2020 1:39pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Really?
        
        Twat.
        
        Are the [mod]’s asleep here?
        
        5 1
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        March 26, 2020 2:02pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Oooh that’s nasty brett. Maybe he stole more than your lunch 😉
        
        4 1
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        March 26, 2020 2:12pm
    - calendar girl
      
      Our household purchases most of its food from two local businesses side-by-side, each in its own reasonably-large premises (about a third of the size of a normal supermarket) :
      
      – a specialist fruit & vegie store; and
      – a specialist butcher store.
      
      I’m very annoyed that these two air-conditioned stores are required to shut, while their regular customers are required to mix & mingle with random increased volumes of customers in (e.g.) Foodtown & Pak’N’Save, thereby putting themselves at greater risk of coronavirus.
      
      13 1
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      March 26, 2020 12:59pm
    - MCos
      
      I’ve just been to the Countdown in 3 Kings, mainly because I wanted to get a flu vaccine from my doctor a couple of doors along.
      Very few people there at all. Some stuff of minor importance was missing off the shelves.
      BTW
      My temperature as measured by the nurse proved what I suspected than I’m as cool as a cucumber.
      A necessary quality when reading Kiwiblog comments sometimes.
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:57pm
- kloyd0306
  
  Supermarket owners are laughing.
  No specials, no competition so charge what you like.
  A CoL disaster.
  Then again, what else would you expect?
  
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  March 26, 2020 1:27pm
- PhilBest
  
  I’m pleased to see that “Commonsense Organics” is open, and “Health 2000” stores – at least going by what I can find online. I haven’t been out to look. It would be damnable to have closed down places that sell stuff like Vitamin C just because the supermarkets also do.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:08pm
- Surely Knott
  
  Supermarkets open. The weary liquor licensing trusts are allowed to open the bottle stores. Fish shop, butcher, fruit shops nope.
  
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  March 26, 2020 5:54pm
Andrew Worth

I’ve just come back from picking a script up from the pharmacy, I was surprised that of the more than dozen people working in a crowded shop only 3 were wearing masks (maybe not coincidentally they were the 3 ethnic east Asians working there).
If we are going to kill this bug in 4 weeks there needs to be no leakage.
I would have thought the special people in “essential” services would be taking at least the minimum of measures to prevent being the conduit for such leakage given the sacrifices us commoners are having to make and the huge economic damage that’s happening.
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March 26, 2020 11:12am
- Fletch
  
  I understand that masks are hard to come by….
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:03pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    The Lone Ranger always had a spare under his hat.
    
    Tonto didn’t have a hat so no place for a spare mask.
    
    3 0
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    March 26, 2020 2:05pm
Ratcake

What a joke self isolation is… Running a medical centre and watching how many people are travelling around in cars.. Cant all be essential services or travelling to/from essential services… Not only that but multi people in these cars…. My staff are placing themselves in danger so these idiots can community spread… Essential services need be culled.. horse racing, diaries etc are not essential services.
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March 26, 2020 11:23am
Stu2

A first – the USA has had over 10,000 new cases in a day

Some US bloggers thinking their deaths might be limited to 2,000 or 2,500

Beggars belief. The toll is 921 now but the vast numbers of cases in the last few days mean there are a lot of deaths to come.

There are some very nervous governors looking at the trajectories vs what they think their health systems can stretch to deal with.
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March 26, 2020 11:29am
- Inandout
  
  Yes and 61,000 Americans die from the flu annually, that is quite a number.
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:02pm
  - MCos
    
    Italy experiences between 7,000 to 20,000 flu deaths a year. Currently there are 7,503 death from Covid-19 in a couple of months.
    Some interesting info on this site
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
    
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    March 26, 2020 1:34pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  That’s equivalent, by population, to 150 a day in NZ.
  We are nearly there.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:07pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  The prediction based on this is 150Million cases for the USA. https://covid.firrm.de/ ( on day 28)
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:14pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Having been to America (West Coast only) many times, I was surprised to witness if one has to blow their nose at least twice on one day, they are off the see their Doctor and their Psych on the way and get at least two sets of pills for a perceived ailment (courtesy of Doctor Google).
    I would suggest that a great number of these current COVID-19 suffers are ‘Clayton’s’ and hence only their Doctor’s and Psych’s are making a killing out of it (excuse the pun).
    Most Americans rattle when they walk.
    
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    March 26, 2020 4:07pm
Tasman Terror

One of the legacies of Jacinderella will be the phrase “ we need to have that conversation.” On Katherine Ryan’s slot on Radio NZ this morning she interviewed the Chair of Mid Central Health. In one sentence the Chair used this phrase three times! It is slang for “ I haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about but I want to sound constructive so I’ll tell you it will be considered when I have absolutely no intention of doing so.” Sad, but true. Late last year I attended a health board meeting(not Mid Central Health) and the word “conversation” was said 64 times. When I was a lad my parents monotonously said “ action speaks louder than words.” Pity they never met Jacinda.
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March 26, 2020 11:32am
Maggy Wassilieff

No Trial of Ozzie killer…
He’s pleaded guilty
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/120565800/christchurch-mosque-attacks-accused-pleads-guilty-to-murder-attempted-murder-and-terrorism
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March 26, 2020 11:35am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Good. Not the public spectacle expected. Minimal people in Court.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:40am
- DeepBlue
  
  The rapidly scheduled hearing was rushed through. The decision not taken lightly. Decision held for 1 hr to notify the victims.
  
  This is what is going to bring Jacinda down, if she rushes through the dirty laundry too many times this month.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:45am
  - MCos
    
    Are you suggesting this unexpected guilty plea is going to help bring down the government?
    Clutching at straws, Blue.
    
    4 4
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    March 26, 2020 1:22pm
- Inandout
  
  He will be left in isolation indefinitely, and apparently is unknown to Hillary Clinton.
  
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  March 26, 2020 12:05pm
Colville

Will GD do 1000 comments each day for the next 28?
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March 26, 2020 11:54am
- Jack5
  
  Only if we don’t all start to cough and croak.
  
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  March 26, 2020 1:41pm
lastmanstanding

A good outcome for the families of the victims not to have to relive the day and also for the Police and security forces that the defence doesnt get to parade certain stuff in open Court.

Some security stuff better not to be revealed in order to protect all of us.
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March 26, 2020 11:56am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Think it is hard to train a dog?
Look at all of the people who can not ‘sit’ and ‘stay’
13 1
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March 26, 2020 12:04pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  $2.00 shop clicker wired via the mains to their collar out to do the trick or, a cattle prod if one has one handy should do the trick . . .
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:09pm
artemisia

Sistema workers are now on strike. Some very angry comments from their union on behalf of ‘our overworked and underpaid members’, who are mostly migrant workers.

I see Worksafe is going in to talk to the company about H and S, so interesting to see what they come up with.

The owners committed to manufacture here for 20 years, but presume they can also manufacture in other countries maybe with conditions on volumes etc.

This is not the first time E Tu have threatened or taken industrial action since an American company bought in. The union might win another battle but will not win the war.
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March 26, 2020 12:29pm
- sooty
  
  Company maybe pleased, no workers anyway with shutdown. Strike all you want!
  
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  March 26, 2020 4:39pm
Mummy

Regarding the edict that liquor stores are a non-essential commodity, does anyone else think like me that this is just a bit of social engineering by the powers that be to try and cut down the consumption of alcohol in homes while we are under lockdown? Maybe from a domestic violence point of view. Personally I can’t see the point in closing booze barns if we can still buy beer and wine in the supermarkets. Disclaimer: I am a total teetotaller for health reasons so personally I couldn’t give a damn.
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March 26, 2020 12:48pm
- Jules99
  
  Be interesting to see how many burglaries of bottle shops there are.
  
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  March 26, 2020 1:45pm
  - brett68
    
    Heaps, they’re the only place the ferals can get their Codys from.
    
    Stupid idea to shut all the liquor outlets.
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:10pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Try:
      https://www.winesale.co.nz/spirits-and-liqueurs/
      Still operating, so I guess other online liquor store are too.
      
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      March 26, 2020 5:28pm
RW Capitalist

Wonder, in Europe, what the comparison of death rates looks like.
Between countries with major illegal immigrant/ refugee population, like Italy and countries who refused to allow them in, like Poland?
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March 26, 2020 12:56pm
- Inandout
  
  RW, try this site.
  https://www.gisaid.org/epiflu-applications/global-cases-covid-19/
  
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  March 26, 2020 1:47pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Been using this one.
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
    6 of one half dozen of the other.
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:03pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Yes, that’s the one I’m using, too.
      
      Poland has 1,051 cases, with 14 deaths, being 0.4 deaths per 1M population (compared to Italy with 124 deaths per 1M population).
      
      See https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
      
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      March 26, 2020 2:42pm
RW Capitalist

Sent this to MBIE asking clarification.
Sirs
My business provides services to pharmacies.
I test/ certify scales for pharmacies, this is mandatory for their routine audits. So they can remain a pharmacy.
I have several pharmacies who’s traceability/ certification is due in April during the lock down.
Is my business, in this circumstance, considered an essential service?

Thank you

Received this AUTOMATED reply
Thank you for your enquiry to essential@mbie.govt.nz.
We are experiencing a large volume of enquiries, and will respond to your message as soon as we can.
Please refer to the COVID-19 website for the latest information about whether your business should be operating, it is being updated as the disease threat and response evolves.
https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/essential-businesses/)
You should cease operating by 11.59pm on Wednesday 25 March unless you are sure your business provides essential services (or is part of the essential services supply chain) and you ensure all appropriate measures are taken to minimise the transmission of COVID-19.
If an activity is deemed essential, for a business to operate it must do so in a way that minimises the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Businesses should:
a. minimise, or eliminate if possible, physical interactions amongst staff and with and between customers,
b. ensure appropriate health, hygiene and safety measures are in place,
c. restrict activity to only what is essential during the Alert 4 period.
It is for an industry or business to decide how to best do this. We would expect practices to include the likes of:
– Working from home as far as possible.
– Limiting, or eliminating if possible, staff interaction e.g. through physical distancing, split shifts, staggered meal breaks, and flexible working arrangements.
– Limiting, or eliminating if possible, interaction with and between customers e.g. through online or phone orders, contactless delivery, or managed entry (while also avoiding crowding outside) and physical distancing both inside and outside the premises.
– Hygiene basics of hand washing and sanitisers.
– Frequent cleaning of premises, especially counters and eftpos terminals, and other high-touch surfaces (cleaning advice is available on the Ministry of Health website).
– Protective equipment for staff as appropriate.
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March 26, 2020 1:04pm
- Tall Man
  
  “Just do it”.
  
  Let’s do this 😉
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:33pm
- cmm
  
  Any reasonable person would say that while you are supplying pharmacies you are providing an essential service.
  
  If this was for a lolly shop or a meth house, perhaps not so essential.
  
  If MBIE’s bureaucracy is so fouled up they can’t meet their obligations (to you and us), well, screw them – act without the paperwork.
  
  I am not a lawyer.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:50pm
- Paul Marsden
  
  Here’s mine and I got the same response:
  
  March 26, 2020
  TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
  
  Dear Sir/Madam
  
  Seeking Urgent Determination As An Essential Business
  
  We are a manufacturer of fire bricks and have been a principle supplier of fire bricks for home heating wood burners, fire places, cooking appliances (and the like), throughout NZ for many years. To keep these appliances running efficiently and to meet regulatory, environmental requirements, it is important that the consumable fire brick liners are replaced as they wear, on a seasonal basis. This is usually undertaken by the owner of the appliance themselves, but maybe undertaken by the likes of property maintenance businesses, plumbers, chimney sweep businesses and specialist wood burner installers.
  
  Our customers are located throughout NZ and distribution is mainly via courier (booked online mainly via the Trademe platform), and so person-to-person contact throughout the supply chain, is effectively zero. We also have customer’s who call at the factory to pick up, but these numbers are minimal and if we are sanctioned as an ‘essential business’ this would be done on an appointment only basis and with minimal interaction. To the best of my knowledge, we are the only brick manufacturer in NZ who is currently offering this service. We also ship overseas and supply larger quantities to some re-sellers, but these customers are not an immediate priority.
  
  We note that fire wood suppliers have been deemed as an ‘essential business’ and on that bases, I am hopeful that we will receive an official sanction to open in a limited capacity.
  
  With temperatures falling across NZ and demand ramping up for our products from home owners anxious to operate their appliances to heat their homes, can you please clarify this pressing issue with us so we can access our factory?
  
  Thank you and regards…………….
  
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  March 26, 2020 3:02pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  MBIE looks like they are suffering form “Fucking Uselesss Jacinda Syndrome”. Role on September 2020.
  
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  March 26, 2020 3:03pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Still not heard.
  
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  March 26, 2020 4:46pm
freemark

Received an email from Seek with a job opening:
“Programme Director Government Women’s Network (GWN)”, for Inland Revenue.
So our tax dollars, right at the frontline, are being siphoned off for high paid wimmins stuff.
Unfuckingbelievable…
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March 26, 2020 1:16pm
Nickc2

Aust’s Tasmanian Premier does not piss around, read this:
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2020/03/tasmanian-premier-to-non-tasmanians-get-out-of-our-state-by-1159pm-this-sunday.html
The Tasmanian Premier is obviously not a Labour Party (ALP) member.
If Cindy had enough guts to do the same a month ago, I doubt we would be in the current situation we are. Well done Tasmania.
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March 26, 2020 1:19pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0KwQ96Jy_0
Greek border still under attack despite shutdown.
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March 26, 2020 1:24pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5iDvQttuZ0&feature=share
Pompeo State Department urgent press briefing after speaking to World Leaders.
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March 26, 2020 1:24pm
Cobolt24

78 cases of Covid-19, bringing total to 283, 73 of them are confirmed, leaving 5 probable cases.
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March 26, 2020 1:37pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  That is a hell of a trajectory. Extrapolating this very clear exponential that is over 1000 by next monday and 5-10000 before new case numbers start to fall in about 1.5-2 weeks. Looks like ICU’s will be overwhelmed, triage will be required and extra people will die as a result of the crappy job Coalition did with not quarantining arrivals.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:28pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  78 cases from 2800 tests. This is more than twice as many tests as on any previous day.
  The ratio of cases to tests is going down.
  
  2 1
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  March 26, 2020 3:37pm
  - rockape
    
    They are changing the criteria for tests so a change in the rates of cases to tests would be expected to change.
    
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    March 26, 2020 5:26pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  Curiously, by the time the UK hit 300(ish) confirmed cases they’d already had 4 deaths.
  
  It took about 5 weeks from 1st confirmed case to 1st death.
  
  Our 5 weeks in NZ is due around a week from now
  
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  March 26, 2020 3:44pm
Inandout

Interesting figures from 2017 of how many kiwis fell off their perch.
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/mortality-2017-data-tables
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March 26, 2020 1:45pm
Stu2

The daily update was eye opening

New border control systems have just gone in and 360 passengers have arrived since

8 had symptoms and were quarantined
160 (?) odd had no plan for self isolation and/or way to get there, and are being dealt with

So just how many of these have been leaking in?
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March 26, 2020 1:51pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  See this shit Ardern? Wake the fuck up
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:18pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  New border checks are still useless. Looking for symptoms when more than half of carriers are symptom-less. Asking questions that might get lies in response. Only non-optional quarantine can work. Govt failing to get the job done again.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:18pm
  - cmm
    
    But how would the people feel if they got put in quarantine?
    
    Here in Chch heaps of families having a stroll, kids on bikes etc etc. Sure people need some exercise, but it’s not a huge social function!
    
    Apparently in UK, the quarantine is being explained very well so people understand the purpose and that limiting the people moving around is a Good Thing.
    
    Here all we get are some vague suggestions and threats from the cops.
    
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    March 26, 2020 2:45pm
    - Classic Liberal
      
      ‘But how would the people feel if they got put in quarantine?’
      
      Ppl travelling overseas accept some risk. Having to enter quarantine somewhere is one of those risks.
      
      Kiwis even under lockdown should still be nothing like ppl really in quarantine. Having a stroll with other members of the household is healthy and perfectly safe if sensible distances are kept!
      
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      March 26, 2020 3:33pm
    - dave_c_
      
      Classic 3rd world symptoms.
      
      1 1
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      March 26, 2020 6:21pm
Swifty

I would welcome everyone’s views on vegetable pricing in NZ.

As many of you will know currently at the major supermarkets red or yellow capsicums (peppers) retails for $2 – $2.50 each.

As I’m going quite big on fermented chilli and pepper sauces this year, for the last few weeks I’ve been picking up shopping bags of red peppers at the Avondale Sunday Market for between $5.50 and $6.00 a bag and with easily a dozen in each bag, so around .50 cents each, or a bit less.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with them – they’re large, fresh, firm, unblemished but at times a bit ‘misshapen’ but which to me is immaterial as I’m chopping them up anyway.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this price disparity and the reasons for it?

Thanks.
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March 26, 2020 1:59pm
- Tall Man
  
  Greed mate.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:31pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    BS. Costs mate.
    
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    March 26, 2020 3:45pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Not really. Ask what the supermarket pays for a kilo of apples then ask why a large supermarket like Pak n Save Paraparaumu last sold for 20 odd million.
      
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      March 26, 2020 4:25pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Yes really
        
        The place I know has a 15% margin on average on fruit & veg – that’s pre-tax
        
        As I said they just about match the prices at Avo market but they follow the rules and pay tax
        
        Let’s put it this way: a $1p/h rise in minimum wage roughly means that this place (12 FTEs) has to increase sales by $3k a week just to cover the wage increase then add in the extras, Kiwisaver etc and that’s before factoring the rise in prices that the rise in produce prices leads to
        
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        March 26, 2020 7:31pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        This place is currently for sale and will end up as a family business with rellies employed.
        
        12 jobs gone, 12 tax-takes (such as they are gone), prices the same and owner profits higher
        
        2 0
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        March 26, 2020 7:37pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Why does a burger with say 50c of raw materials sell for $5
        
        Hint: the cost isn’t in the food
        
        2 0
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        March 26, 2020 7:48pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  Plenty
  
  How much tax are the Avondale pepper sellers paying?
  Is it cash only?
  What are their rates’ bills?
  Do they pay the minimum wage?
  How’s their health and safety?
  What’s their sick pay/holiday pay bill?
  What’s their AAC levy?
  What’s the cost of their public liability/building/contents insurance?
  What’s their development levy cost?
  
  If they are misshapen they are seconds and can be bought wholesale for less
  Are they buying direct from the grower, avoiding market and distribution costs?
  If they are buying at market, are they doing the buying themselves and avoiding the costs of middle-men?
  Are they paying for the disposal of their commercial waste?
  What’s their advertising/marketing spend?
  GST? Yeah, nah.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:45pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  Plus I know a shop that regularly sells bags of 4-5 capsicums for $1.99 -$2.99. Not much more than your Avondale ones.
  
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  March 26, 2020 2:59pm
septic skeptic

We are STILL not taking this seriously. 360 people arrived at Auckland Airport. 8 were symptomatic. The rest have been on the planes and in airports mingling with these and doubtless other symptomatic travelers. They should ALL be in quarantine. Instead we have 352 who are forming their own bubbles or joining existing bubbles. Then someone from that bubble is going to be shopping at the supermarket shortly.
At every step we have been a day late and a dollar short. Even today the Ministry of Health website says “With continued vigilance the chance of widespread community outbreak is expected to remain low.” I call that bullshit. We are headed for catastrophe.
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March 26, 2020 2:03pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Don’t follow the problem with the supermarket because of the steps taken before entering, inside, and when leaving the supermarket.
  
  4 1
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  March 26, 2020 3:03pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Seriously? You can’t see the risk that an infected person could contaminate the surfaces and products the next customers contact?
    
    3 1
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    March 26, 2020 3:12pm
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Don’t know where your supermarkets are but the local ones here insist on hand sanitising before entry and don’t object to it being used on the way out. But keep panicking.
      
      3 2
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      March 26, 2020 5:44pm
      - dave_c_
        
        Here in Lower Hutt, Pak & Save have absolutely no customer focused concern. No limits on how many enter, No sanitising, only a small notice at the check out indicating to stay behind the line until check out operator calls you up.
        
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        March 26, 2020 6:26pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        No hand sanitizer when I went to the local Countdown this evening, but maybe the staff have been too busy re-pricing all the specials at full retail now that they are a monopoly supplier.
        
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        March 26, 2020 9:06pm
- MCos
  
  According to Mike Bush 160 of the 360 arrived with no self isolation plan and had one imposed on them.
  
  I don’t know over what time period he’s talking about, but that’s about one 747.
  
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  March 26, 2020 3:37pm
Fletch

Presenter Richard Wilkin who hosts the Today Extra show in Australia says he has tested positive for coronavirus three times despite exhibiting “zero symptoms”.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2020/03/coronavirus-nz-born-tv-host-richard-wilkins-tests-positive-for-covid-19-three-times.html

That really is a worry. We have these carriers walking around displaying no symptoms whatsoever who are capable of passing it on to others….
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March 26, 2020 2:12pm
Jack5

Chinese company scooped up international supplies round the world after the Wuhan virus began spreading:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-backed-company-s-mission-to-source-australian-medical-supplies-20200325-p54du8.html
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March 26, 2020 2:15pm
Paul Marsden

For those trying to send email from Covid19 website
Copy and paste: essential@mbie.govt.nz.

It is wrong. The correct address is:
essential@mbie.govt.nz.
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March 26, 2020 2:29pm
Tall Man

Not much on sale at the supermarket. Wonder why 😉
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March 26, 2020 2:30pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  No flour at local 4 square and a couple of dairies…
  
  I’m impressed… looks like Kaiti Folks can bake.
  
  Just did an hour walk around the neighbourhood…and it was quiet as… (one house with an outdoor speaker boom-box)… and the tidy mown lawns are a sight-to behold.
  
  We may be a slum, but we have standards.
  
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  March 26, 2020 4:01pm
  - Tall Man
    
    No flour or yeast at ours either.
    
    Oh well, sour dough only for a while.
    
    2 2
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    March 26, 2020 4:28pm
    - cmm
      
      Handy hint: If you want sourdough then use rye flour for starter – at least to get it going. This will get a good vigorous starter going in a few days.
      
      Last year we made sourdough for a year as an experiment. Fantastic stuff, using either wheat or rye flour.
      
      You can also try soda bread if you have bicarb.
      
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      March 26, 2020 5:21pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Wouldn’t mind a link if you have it. I can ask my son but he’ll tell me… in detail, really minute detail and I’ll be lost when he says get a glass…..
        
        I got this but haven’t looked at it yet.
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FVfJTGpXnU
        
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        March 26, 2020 7:16pm
surfing

One of the home handyman type neighbours has decided he is going to bang away with his hammer and power tools… could go on for the next 4 weeks !!!

Uhhh!
6 1
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March 26, 2020 2:45pm
- cmm
  
  Could be like my neighbour who used to DIY his way though Christmas to avoid facing his missus. When the hammer blows stopped, the two way yelling started…
  
  I say used to, because he decided to take his tools elsewhere a couple of years ago.
  
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  March 26, 2020 3:54pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Next door to “surfing” it seems.
    
    0 2
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    March 26, 2020 4:28pm
Paul Marsden

Whoops, the correct address is:
essential@mbie.govt.nz

Don’t copy and paste from their website. They have a dot after ‘nz’
5 0
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March 26, 2020 2:46pm
Manolo

Another reason to kiss Labour goodbye.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-26/new-zealand-economy-facing-biggest-decline-in-activity-ever-seem
8 1
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March 26, 2020 3:25pm
cmm

“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is demanding the names of landlords treating tenants poorly during the coronavirus lockdown.”

Bullshit sweetie. Not your job, unless you think this is a state where you can act unilaterally as law maker, judge, jury and executioner.

Perhaps you need a wardrobe full of matching Tokarev TTs to look the part? Warning though. They are a bit heavy
17 3
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March 26, 2020 3:51pm
- sooty
  
  Why are you aiming to name them in public?
  Try that sweety and it will bite you on the arse!
  
  5 1
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  March 26, 2020 4:32pm
- rockape
  
  Can we also have a list of tenants that break the rules by not paying rent on time so landlords can avoid them as tenants?
  
  10 1
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  March 26, 2020 5:20pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Ask and ye shall receive
    
    https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/disputes/searching-tribunal-orders/
    
    Also various FaceBook bad tenant pages
    
    1 0
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    March 26, 2020 7:41pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  So..? Can we then have the results of employment screening tests of her Ministers: I.Q, general competency, decision making ability, numeracy, English language pronunciation, English comprehension.
  
  4 1
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  March 26, 2020 5:26pm
Maggy Wassilieff

If India is in lockdown…who is manning our call centres?

https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/telcos-rush-to-fill-gap-as-indian-call-centres-close-20200325-p54dqq
12 0
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March 26, 2020 4:07pm
- MrTips
  
  Hello, I am Goodlooking Francis from Nigeria……how may I help you 🙂
  
  8 0
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  March 26, 2020 4:28pm
MCos

https://twitter.com/kenolin1/status/1242852430582341639?s=21
1 1
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March 26, 2020 4:18pm
Inandout

If the whole world shuts down except China and the USA it will be a battle of the Titans.
2 1
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March 26, 2020 4:38pm
Happychappy

So this was the plan that Bush and Ardern were talking about those that had to go into isolation in hotels for 14 days , well the staff don’t seem to be happy about it at ChristChurch Novotel.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/03/christchurch-novotel-staff-accuse-hotel-of-not-keeping-them-safe-as-dozens-of-international-guests-arrive-for-quarantine.html
Why would put staff at risk from those that you dont know have not been with others that have Coronavirus.
6 1
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March 26, 2020 4:55pm
Sundreamer

Wonder why McDonalds was so keen to shut when every other business was desperately trying to stay open? McDonalds employ 9000 staff in NZ, lets say 6000 of them are near or close to the minimum wage. On those 6000 alone McDonald’s will get $42m under the governments wage subsidy scheme if they suddenly rostered all those people to work 20 hours a week. However if the shutdown only lasts 4 weeks, they only have to pay those workers 80% (16 hours at $18.90) so their total cost is a bit over $7m. $35m for 4 weeks. The day the lockdown ends McDonalds with be back at 120% of strength. Your local shop/contractor/charter boat operator may take years to recover if they are still around. Look after the little guys.
4 1
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March 26, 2020 4:57pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  It could also be possible that McDs realised straight away that theirs is not an essential service and simply shut down promptly.
  
  5 6
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  March 26, 2020 5:44pm
  - GoVege
    
    McDonald’s coffees are definitely essential for thousands of poor coffee addicts, milky!
    You’d think they could at least keep the mccafe drive-through open…
    
    2 2
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    March 26, 2020 7:01pm
- kowtow
  
  I was wondering the same thing about the petrol stations going to night pay only .
  
  That way most of the staff can be rostered off ?
  
  Banks too . Most of them seem to have cut their hours bigly .
  
  Supermarkets have cut their opening hrs ostensibly to stock shelves ……
  
  Not sayin’ it’s happening but is the tax payer being bummed , again ?
  
  1 2
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  March 26, 2020 6:46pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120604818/new-model-shows-coronavirus-could-kill-80000-kiwis-without-lockdown

I find it unbelievable that statements such as this can be circulated here.
This is nothing more than government-sanctioned ( or more accurately “government-encouraged” ) scare mongering.
10 2
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March 26, 2020 6:29pm
- Batman
  
  It’s an incentive for the stupid, who generally only think of themselves, to consider that they might be one if they don’t stay home…
  
  7 1
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  March 26, 2020 6:31pm
  - kowtow
    
    More like incentive for the sheep .
    
    1 2
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    March 26, 2020 6:51pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      You get out there and bust that lockdown. Show the fascists you aren’t intimidated .
      
      2 6
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      March 26, 2020 8:02pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Yeah, what would those pointy-headed academics know about statistical modelling?
  
  5 7
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  March 26, 2020 6:36pm
  - Monique Watson
    
    Sweet fuck all Milky. Those academics are wanking with numbers.
    
    5 4
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    March 26, 2020 6:52pm
    - sooty
      
      You do have a lovely way with words!
      
      0 0
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      March 26, 2020 8:14pm
  - kowtow
    
    Yeah , the same academic pencil dicks who said ” Wah wah , don’t stop the Chinese education export industry students from coming back into the country””
    
    ‘New Zealand’s borders are at present closed to all foreign travellers coming from mainland China, but universities want an exemption for tertiary students.
    
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this week signalled she was open to the idea, but only if the public could be assured of their safety.’
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/otago-university-ready-accept-chinese-students
    
    5 2
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    March 26, 2020 6:56pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yes, because university vice-chancellors represent the entirety of academic thought.
      
      2 4
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      March 26, 2020 8:00pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Strange that they took so bloody long to come up with the bleeding obvious.
    
    4 1
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    March 26, 2020 7:12pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yes. Apparently there was a possible range of between 8,000 and 800,000 deaths, but it took 17 social scientists and a $500,000 Marsden Fund grant to get a more precise estimate.
      
      1 7
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      March 26, 2020 7:21pm
  - MrTips
    
    Shaun Hendy is a Professor of Physics – not infectious diseases. And no, knowing maths is not a valid answer to that problem. I smell rampant selection bias in his numbers.
    
    Just the same as not all accountants can count (cf. Don Brash) not all mathematicians can model, appropriately.
    
    Our usual death rate is 30,000-35,000 p.a.
    To lose 80,000 people in one year is, to my mind, an unjustifiable calculation. It would take a complete health system failure, no medical staff, Green party witch doctors only scenario for that number to be attained.
    
    One strongly suspects Hendy et al. have applied a 2% flat death rate to 4M people. Given that the 2% death rate hypothesised to date is only valid for KNOWN cases, it doesn’t stand up. The true case death rate is likely to be closer to 0.2-0.5% which means 8000-20,000 deaths. John Ioannidis, who knows a lot more than Hendy, makes this very point, amount others. https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/
    
    Still not chicken feed but more believable in NZ terms. Hyperbole reigns at the moment, from disaster prediction to population control messaging.
    
    1 2
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    March 26, 2020 7:44pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Sure, they didn’t run a statistical model at all: it was just .02 x 4 million…
      
      2 5
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      March 26, 2020 8:03pm
      - MrTips
        
        Glad you read Prof Ioannidis article. Your understanding of it really shines through.
        
        0 0
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        March 26, 2020 8:29pm
- Stu2
  
  When we get this under control the issue is going to be the borders. Lot of jobs and income in tourism and universities, and a lot of risk of importing infection
  
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  March 26, 2020 7:49pm
  - Brian McDonald
    
    We will be able to control the borders there will be new travel protocols worldwide.
    
    1 1
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    March 26, 2020 8:05pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I should thin there will be a graduated approach to reopening passenger movements, depending on when major hubs like Dubai and Singapore reopen, and the situation in originating and destination countries.
      
      2 3
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      March 26, 2020 8:07pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Yep. I’ve read there is an emphasis on quicker testing results. That will allow more confidence about arrivals in other countries and may have a component for subsequent testing.
        Our dear dickhead council will finally work out that it can run itself without 1000s of workers commuting to the city. Other businesses will follow.
        
        1 2
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        March 26, 2020 8:22pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        You must be finding it quite easy to adjust to self isolation
        #NoMates
        
        1 2
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        March 26, 2020 8:25pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Not hiding from anyone sweetie.
        
        1 2
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        March 26, 2020 8:28pm
rightoverlabour

Long live working from Home. The blog has life in it, fast moderation and no Stephieboy… Feels like the good old days.

Got a call from the District Health Nurse. I may have been exposed. So I phoned my Doctor to find out if I can be tested. No, because I am not showing symptoms. So the rest of the family are treating me like an outcast.

Why were they so reluctant to close the schools? Hey Hipkins, you huge big TWAT, along with Jacinda, and that wind bag, Winston. Go back and listen to the interviews with Hosking last Friday…..
10 1
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March 26, 2020 7:05pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Why were they so reluctant to close the schools?
  
  I’ve no idea, but hey, let’s ask Professor Siouxie:
  https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-national/call-look-closing-schools-public-transport-restrictions
  
  so On 17 March… Prof Michael Baker calls for schools to close
  
  Siouxie says no, not yet.
  
  and what did the PM’s Chief Science Advisor say?
  
  Nothing….
  
  (as far as I can tell) until the Former -PM’s Science Advisor and the Teachers and Doctors demanded a Lockdown
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/health/coronavirus-covid-19-sir-peter-gluckman-calls-for-extreme-shutdown/
  
  6 1
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  March 26, 2020 7:58pm
  - Brian McDonald
    
    It’s a changing workface, Maggie. Many punters here think there is a single answer when there is not. There is some deliberate positioning as there has to be, Baker and Gluckman more than likely part of that if not the decision – then the delivery. Bloomfield revealed that there has been a plan for 4 weeks to prepare the hospitals and also isolation units. As much as we might prefer it, the response takes time and at all points, new data is being absorbed to shape planning.
    
    1 2
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    March 26, 2020 8:15pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @Brian
      
      I’m well aware of what’s been happening in the background with regard to official departments.
      
      What I’m not so sure about is the politicking of some scientists who are not official advisors.
      
      Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when Siouxie Wiles reckoned we wouldn’t get an outbreak here:
      
      https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/siouxsie-wiles-on-why-we-are-unlikely-to-see-a-coronavirus-outbreak-in-new-zealand/
      
      3 1
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      March 26, 2020 8:37pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Well whether you could believe it or not, many wanted to Maggie. That gave confidence. That was at the stage of diluting panic, as it is now. We have folks when something is announced complaining that it should have happened sooner. Another point is how information is changing and the apparent need for the public to think what is happening is under control when it is not, but rather heading that way. What we’ve got is calm under pressure. The lockdown came with signposts. It’s a good way of dealing with an unfolding picture.
        
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        March 26, 2020 9:52pm
- rangitoto
  
  More evidence that the numbers they are publishing are rubbish. There will be lots of cases of mild or no symptoms missing from the stats.
  
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  March 26, 2020 11:34pm
All_on_Red

South Korea can now get test results in 7 minutes
Why do ours take at least 48 hours?
We are becoming way behind all the advances being made.
Why is Ardern so useless she can’t move us forward?
6 2
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March 26, 2020 8:30pm
rightoverlabour

And although we are completely engrossed in Covid – 19, Global warming – NOT marches on. I wonder how that feels, drowning in your own mucus while freezing to death…..

https://watchers.news/2020/03/24/arctic-cold-arrives-bringing-early-spring-snow-and-extremely-low-temperatures-to-much-of-europe/
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March 26, 2020 8:39pm
Captain Mainwaring

Wow, a daily record for posts on KB.
Is this due to all the folk who are supposed to be ‘working’ from home?
4 0
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March 26, 2020 9:06pm
Captain Mainwaring

And now I get an email from Genesis to say that my fixed monthly charge is going up by $60 despite the fact that I’m almost $300 in credit.
Obviously they haven’t heard that we’re all in this together.
The phone conversation tomorrow might go incandescent.
8 0
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March 26, 2020 9:09pm
WaveyDavey

So if businesses find out that they can operate quite happily without expensive CBD real-estate how long before the exodus?

Wither the city rail-link then?
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March 26, 2020 9:38pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  The wither with a missing h was deliberate btw
  
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  March 26, 2020 9:48pm

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