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January 22, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 22 January 2022

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General Debate

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krazykiwi

Israel, the only quadruple-vaxxed country in the world (also using mask mandates and Covid passports), just broke global record for daily Covid cases.

And here is one of those cases. On the 10th of January Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman posted pics of him receiving his fourth vaxx dose. On the 15th – yes, 5 days later – he tested positive for omi and he is now self-isolating.

And the advice from our government? “Get boosted”. That is criminal negligence.
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January 22, 2022 8:00am
- John Pakes
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  And so just what should our Government do. Nothing? Dish out free Ivermectin? Pray to God?
  They would indeed be criminally negligent if they did nothing. Would that appease you?
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:08am
  - fernglas
    
    Nothing is a very good idea, John. Perhaps you should pass it on. It makes more sense than testing people furiously for an illness that is unlikely to harm them and crashing the economy to appease the egos of a few politicians and vainglorious experts. Prayer probably works better than Pfizer, these days, as well.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:21am
  - Luke Piewalker
    
    …. maybe should have used the $100m spent on the media and used that money for ICU beds.
    
    That’s a start. Need anymore ideas?
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:25am
  - Rodney Hide
    
    Hi John
    
    Results matter. It is not enough just to do something. Indeed, oftentimes just doing something only makes matters worse. Surely results are important.
    
    But invariably the choice is not do this or do nothing. The choice is always to do this or do that. Outside your world we choose the option thst has the best result. It’s the difference between saving lives and losing them.
    
    Rodney Hide
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:26am
    - Albert_Ross
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Indeed.
      
      But I notice that you don’t actually answer the question, which was, in case you missed it: Just what should our Government do?
      
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      January 22, 2022 8:35am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The Government should do now what is inevitably going to happen..
        
        Protect the vulnerable and attend to the sick ..
        
        Let the healthy and the mildly infected get on with their lives……
        At some point we are all going to be infected… and our immune systems (vaxxed-boosted or not) will or won’t deal with the virus.
        
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        January 22, 2022 8:42am
      - Matt Long
        
        Maybe they could look at things that are actually working around the world, follow the stategies that have given the best results, like Sweden.
        Provide information about proven treatment for Covid instead of fear porn, add resources to the health system instead of causing deaths from lockdowns.
        
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        January 22, 2022 8:48am
      - kowtow
        
        Maybe they shudda done what WHO said , ya know follow the science and not do lockdowns .
        
        Like the Swedes and everyone else who already had pandemic plans , but they panicked and took the CCP option .
        
        As to answering pakes ,why , the tone of his question proves he’s just trolling , as usual.
        
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        January 22, 2022 8:57am
      - cmm
        
        Albert: What they could do is inform the population of how immunity (and health in general) can be improved by various means, including:
        * Exercise
        * Eating properly
        * Vit D/Zinc etc
        * Reduction of obesity.
        
        When have those been mentioned by the government?
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:05am
      - Northshoredoc
        
        ‘Just what should our Government do?’
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEaUjfxQQFI
        
        47 Ronin (2013) – The Seppuku Ceremony Scene
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:12am
      - pdm
        
        They should let Omicron in while it is the middle of summer and save lives rather than have it rampant in winter and kill people.
        
        Open the borders today.
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:12am
      - David Garrett
        
        Albert: You must have missed Luke Piewalker’s very sensible suggestion above.
        
        To that I would add: immediately approve visa applications from overseas doctors and nurses whose applications are apparently presently stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire. Second, advertise internationally for more ICU doctors and nurses and offer them immediate temporary residency with a path to PR (so long as they otherwise qualify).
        
        So there are two more suggestions.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:12am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Maybe they shouldn’t have dumped the pandemic preparedness plan that has been around for decades? Why would you adopt policies like lockdown and masking which have actually made matters worse? Why would you drive a jab that wasn’t tested properly and now with empirical evidence available, is showing to be a failure as a vaccine?
        We’re now primed for a nightmare scenario come winter. Highly jabbed population with a jab that loses effectiveness after a few months. A jab that negatively impacts your innate immune system making people more likely to catch omicron. People who’s natural immune system has been also been weakened by almost 2 years of social distancing and lockdowns and limited exposure to the usual range of bugs that go around society.
        
        This is a clown show.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:40am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        It would be a good idea to advise people that improving their diet, exercising, taking vitamin C, D and zinc and generally looking after themselves would go a long way towards improving their chances of recovering from many things and making their lives better all around.
        Personal responsibility. People need to stop expecting the nanny state to look after everything
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:50am
      - Man Among the Ruins
        
        “Just what should our Government do?”
        
        The assumption is that the government must take full control at the expense of people’s human and civil rights. I reject the assumption. The government should do very little, and allow adults to decide for themselves.
        
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        January 22, 2022 11:00am
      - Fletch
        
        They should allow treatment of Covid using Ivermectin and other therapeutics that have shown to be working overseas. At the moment these are totally ignored – the vax being the only solution. And the vax isn’t working. The narrative is crumbling.
        
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        January 22, 2022 11:58am
      - Hard Cheese
        
        They should lift their idiotic ban on Rapid Antigen Tests. Approve those that have already been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia. Allow them to be sold in pharmacists and supermarkets. Allow the tests to be taken without a pharmacist looking over your shoulder. Add support to the Covid app to anonymously report your results (if you want to report them)
        
        There are lots of things the Government should do during a pandemic. Predictably they keep doing things you shouldn’t do – it’s almost like they’re writing a book on the subject.
        
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        January 22, 2022 12:57pm
      - Stellaboxer
        
        I’ll answer that . Nothing it’s better than doing something that doesn’t work just to look like you’re doing something. Especially if what you’re doing to look like you’re doing something is dangerous, expensive and tramples on a percentage of the populations human rights.
        
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        January 22, 2022 3:49pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Pull it’s head out of it’s rear orifice?
        
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        January 22, 2022 5:17pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “Just what should our Government do?”
        
        Oh FFS it’s as if these lefty sycophants think this pack of utterly dodgy drongos have exhausted every avenue of expert help out there. Scary.
        
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        January 22, 2022 5:39pm
      - Mickey
        
        Roll out ivermectin!
        
        Let the people decide which medication they want to use.
        
        Done!
        
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        January 22, 2022 7:45pm
  - Taieri
    
    They would indeed be criminally negligent if they did nothing.
    ————
    
    Criminally negligent? Why?
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:28am
  - bronny1
    
    I’ll have the IVM thanks, big study out this week showing that it works prophylactically unlike this “treatment”.
    
    https://www.cureus.com/articles/82162-ivermectin-prophylaxis-used-for-covid-19-a-citywide-prospective-observational-study-of-223128-subjects-using-propensity-score-matching
    
    Like to hear thoughts from Reid, KK eg al who are all over this stuff
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:34am
    - Fight4NZ
      
      Or with a couple of minutes research you could look at the thoughts of experts in the field, eg
      https://journals.lww.com/americantherapeutics/Citation/2021/10000/Inaccurate_Real_World_Data_Does_Not_Provide.16.aspx
      Serious question marks on the accuracy of the data.
      But you want unquestioning enthusiastic agreement so kk and reid are your guys.
      
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      January 22, 2022 5:13pm
  - rouppe
    
    No, not nothing.
    
    We can’t get many things due to supply line problems. Do something about that.
    
    We have fruit rotting on the ground and farmers not planting because they can’t get pickers. Do something about that.
    
    Need more ideas? OK.
    
    We have needy people in KO housing being terrorised by feral scum. Do something about that.
    
    You’re more likely to catch a stray bullet than to catch Covid in West Auckland. Do something about that.
    
    Let’s go Brenda!
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:46am
  - cmm
    
    Just do something, anything.
    
    That is not a SOLUTION. It is just hoping.
    
    There are REAL things they could be doing that would really help is encouraging people to improve their immunity/health through:
    * Improving Vit D/Zinc levels.
    * Better eating
    * Exercise
    * Reduction of obesity
    
    Those would have massive health benefits for CV19 outcomes and, more importantly, beyond that.
    
    Yet we have not heard one peep about that from the podium of truth.
    
    Now THAT is criminal dereliction of duty in my book!
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:01am
    - tf78
      
      All that same advice was given 100 years ago for the Spanish Flu, nothing has changed virus- wise, so why don’t same recommendations apply. Well, I’m sure it’s to do more with crashing the Western World’s economy for the great Reset, than about anybody’s wellbeing. If was remotely about our health, treatments would have been provided as a matter of course.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:30am
      - Man Among the Ruins
        
        Exactly. The issue isn’t that they are doing all of the wrong things in a bungled attempt to reach their stated goals, it’s that their actual and unstated goals are not the same as their stated goals.
        
        If the unstated goal is to destroy the private economy and concentrate wealth in the hands of oligarchs, introduce a centralised state-controlled digital currency, and control the movements of entire populations and their access to this digital currency via an ostensible “vaccine passport,” then they are well on the way to doing so.
        
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        January 22, 2022 11:10am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The government could do many helpful things. Unfortunately they have demonstrated that everything they touch turns to shit.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:01am
    - Paulus
      
      But the latest opinion polls say that Cindy and the Greens would get back into power again.
      But no Cindy, no power !
      
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      January 22, 2022 10:24am
      - artemisia
        
        Being Prime Minster is a tough job even in the best of times. Which we don’t have. Ms Ardern has cemented her reputation as MVP for the most part, so far, and the Party will be highly reluctant for her to leave the job or the House.
        
        She will have plenty of offers when she does step down or out.
        
        Decisions. Stay to next election and risk defeat being laid at her door. Because MVP. Or step down earlier on a high note in time for Mr Robertson to get his feet under the table and achieve his dream. And his CGT.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:43am
      - tf78
        
        I think no longer they’re a “shoe in”.
        
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        January 22, 2022 8:54pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Ironically, the three suggestions you made would all be better than urging people to get jabbed and boosted, and uttering the lie that “vaccination is our best protection against Omicron” is demonstrably wrong. I mean, when the CEO of Pfizer admits as much, publicly and on the record, even Covidiots such as yourself must concede you’re wrong.
    
    I was trying to work out how you managed to stumble on three initiatives all better than what the government is doing (or no less bad, at least) and was reminded of the old saying “even a blind dog occasionally finds a biscuit.”
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:03am
  - Lee C
    
    Two years in and you’re asking what the Government should have done or do.
    
    Totally clueless.
    
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    January 22, 2022 11:09am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Sycophants are terminally clueless. It’s part of their DNA. Watching them flailing around would be amusing if accumulating damage was not so serious.
      
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      January 22, 2022 2:10pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    I don’t need appeasement, John. But I want, I deserve, and I am paying for something I’m not getting – competent leadership. While you and your ilk continue to prostrate yourselves at Ardern’s altar, things will continue to deteriorate.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:05pm
    - Mickey
      
      And your right to choose the medication you want to use.
      
      Why can’t the govt make ivermectin available as a prescription?
      
      I’ll tell you why, the pfizer contract that the govt signed stipulates that until nx million doses have been purchased no alternative medication may be used, specifically ivermectin!
      
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      January 22, 2022 7:51pm
  - Mickey
    
    Yes, ivermectin would be great!
    
    IT WORKS!! Better than any vaccine!
    
    Just ask India!
    
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    January 22, 2022 7:42pm
- MCōs
  
  Israel is only 67% of the population double dosed (we are 79%) and is far behind Australia, for example, in deaths per capita.
  Of course that depends on how you measure ‘deaths’.
  Infections are now anybody’s guess, but Israel tops the NYT list.
  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html?referringSource=articleShare
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:26am
  - MCōs
    
    5.5% of the population of Israel has had four doses.
    While it didn’t prevent infections omicron those infected in the trial had only slight symptoms or none at all.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-17/israel-trial-suggests-4th-dose-not-warding-off-omicron-infection
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:54am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      Wholly unvaccinated people and without any other complications typically have “only slight symptoms or none at all” though. This is a major reason why I am unvaccinated.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:15am
      - Ra Henare
        
        MAR:
        What? You taken up reading science fiction again?
        
        Unvaccinated, slight symptoms or none at all.!!
        
        Did you skip the chapter on hospitalization and deaths? Higher likelyhood for unvaxed.
        
        By all means make your choice.
        But rather than a badge of honour(your attempt)
        Maybe it shows your reluctance to use logic and reason while you prefer the preening of Ideology?
        
        Just a thought 🙂
        
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        January 22, 2022 3:34pm
      - Man Among the Ruins
        
        No science fiction is necessary. My qualification was not simply “unvaccinated” as you seem to miscomprehend, but instead I said that “unvaccinated people and without any other complications” usually have only slight symptoms, sometimes none at all. This is a fact, notwithstanding your convenient misrepresentation of what I actually claimed.
        
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        January 22, 2022 6:49pm
      - Mickey
        
        Ra Henare, did you actually read what MATR said?
        
        He said “without complications”, i.e. comorbidities.
        
        Have a look how many of the 50+ people who died WITH covid in NZ had comorbidities?
        
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        January 22, 2022 7:56pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      The stench of desperation is getting stronger.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:28am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      Unvaccinated People infected with omicron have little or no symptoms either so what’s your point.
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:58pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Has the bloke that was shot on his driveway while isolating with Covid still been counted as a Covid death?
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:01am
- Scott
  
  Having followed government advice and got my first shot, I also followed government advice and got my second shot. Now the government has contacted me and advised me to get a third shot.
  I’m thinking “no”?
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:35am
  - Inandout
    
    Scott, and to make matter worse Robbo has said at present he has no funding for the 4th dose. This shows the borrowing taps have been turned off by the lenders.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e01b7e36bab940e1380bc9d5d11a0217b5575676061efb74d216d55dd373cb43.jpg
    One day we shall discover where the untold billions printed in the last two years have gone..perhaps when we have a Royal Commission.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:44am
    - cmm
      
      They will always lend more. The interest just goes up.
      
      This is what happens when you give the job to polsci students.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:10am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      One day we shall discover where the untold billions printed in the last two years have gone
      
      Not in my life-time, I reckon.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:31am
      - Nickc2
        
        The facts will only be let come to light once all those concerned are deceased and it won’t be a Labour or Green Govt that releases the information.
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:14pm
    - kowtow
      
      Where the billions have gone ?
      
      Into assets such as property , shares and crypto .
      
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      January 22, 2022 10:20am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      More to the point, why is Robertson taking about a “4th dose”? Probably for the same reason that they never talked about a 3rd dose until they wanted you to have it, so as not to scare the horses.
      
      This shows us that either a) despite claims that the vaccine was well-tested prior to roll-out, they clearly keep finding out (via real-world testing on the public) that it is not at all “effective,” as the “science” assured us ; or, more likely based on the last 2 years of constantly encroaching control, b) they are and have been rolling out the pre-determined plan in increments, allowing the population to acclimatise before issuing further demands for compliance.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:23am
      - Nickc2
        
        Agree. All these additional doses are corrections/updates to the first dose, not add-ons.
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:17pm
    - artemisia
      
      Middle of 2021, when those covid billions were burning a huge hole in Minister Robertson’s pocket, the government splashed out. Some would say recklessly. For example –
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125804670/jobs-for-nature-roles-cost-200000-each-report-shows
      
      I’m sure an update from the Finance Minister will clearly show that it’s all good now and the number of wallabies, wilding pines and weeds has probably reduced.
      
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      January 22, 2022 12:49pm
  - kowtow
    
    I’m very much in that mind too.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:58am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      I haven’t had any, and I feel more and more vindicated by the day.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:25am
      - Fletch
        
        Same.
        
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        January 22, 2022 11:59am
      - bronny1
        
        Yeah I’d quite like a refund of my taxes for not taking it!
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:55pm
  - MCōs
    
    Suit yourself.
    My wife & I both got third shots. Now we have convenient excuses for anything that goes wrong.
    ‘I can’t mow the lawns. I’ve got a sore back from the vaccine.’
    ‘It was alright yesterday when you were doing handstands with the grandkids?’
    It was the same when I wanted her to move the Sky dish.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:02am
    - cmm
      
      … and no doubt when Omicron comes to town you’re going to blame the unvaxxed.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:08am
      - mandk
        
        Too true.
        
        I’m fully expecting to be blamed for the vax not preventing infections.
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:23am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Of Course…
        Our Dear PM told us the virus seeks out the unvaxxed..
        
        ” the virus is literally finding unvaccinated people,”
        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/10/coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-urges-new-zealanders-to-get-vaccinated-to-avoid-lockdowns.html
        
        All the little babies and child-care toddlers will now be incubators and super-spreaders of the virus.
        
        Perhaps we should confine all parents and siblings of unvaxxed toddlers to their homes for the next 5 years.
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:37am
- 2ic
  
  “And the advice from our government? ‘Get boosted’. That is criminal negligence.”
  
  And todays advice will become tomorrow’s mandate.
  
  Any guesses on what’s going to happen when your 6-month Vax Pass expires?
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:55am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Isn’t that a bit silly? Every person in Israel will get omicron whether vaccinated or not. Just like every person in New Zealand will get it. Case numbers are now irrelevant. It is only hospitalisations and deaths that are a meaningful metric.
  
  BTW I have been puzzling over a hospitalisation trend. In the UK, the numbers of hospitalisations are now declining rapidly. In fact daily case numbers have also peaked. But in the USA, hospitalisations remain high.
  
  John Campbell (the UK health educator, not the New Zealand guy) reported that in the USA, the government picks up the bill for all uninsured COVID patients admitted to hospital. So if someone presents with a heart attack but has COVID, the hospital collects the COVID bounty. ?
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:59am
  - cmm
    
    That bounty is part of what causes them to swab every patient/corpse whether they have symptoms or not.
    
    Person comes into trauma with a bullet hole and dies within an hour they get swabbed. If they turn up a positive PCR that’s an extra few grand.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:13am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    The US system has been incentivising covid “cases” from the very beginning. Someone admitted to hospital was worth over $3000 in medical insurance. If they were intubated it jumped to over $30,000.
    Many died from intubation. Like many died because they were elderly and had health problems and were jammed into rest homes to “free up” beds for covid cases. In both cases it was malfeasance.
    The numbers, particularly in the first year, are completely meaningless. It was and is a casedemic.
    
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    January 22, 2022 11:41am
  - bronny1
    
    It’s a more obese population than the UK?
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:56pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    BY
    Can we tone down the “everyone will get Omicron” hysteria.
    
    Maybe you have been watching to much John Campbells videos??
    
    Everyone will NOT get Omicron for a number of reasons. Natural immunity being the strongest.
    Check whats happening at your home(Taiwan). Omicron is not sweeping the country.
    
    IF you believe everyone in a remote Kibbutz will catch Omicron then I suggest you dont understand population density/subsistence farming/self reliance farming.
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:41pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  KK, are you not going to get boosted?
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:04am
  - krazykiwi
    
    I am a pureblood. So no, no I won’t. Most of my family are double jabbed. None of them are planning on taking juice dose three.
    
    BTW, I don’t get your downtickers. Yours is a reasonable, polite question.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:14am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      The case for two shots was always tenuous at best; how anyone can now seriously contemplate a third is beyond all comprehension. As for allowing their children to get it – pure insanity.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:28am
      - Jim
        
        100%
        
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        January 22, 2022 5:23pm
    - Chuck Bird
      
      KK, as I have said previously I will be using AstraZeneca for my booster as I have had a persistent skin rash as a result of the two Pfizer jabs.
      
      It is for some reason that I do not know an extra hassle to use AstraZeneca. I have to go to my doctor and get a prescription for AstraZeneca.
      
      As for the downtickers I see you have two.
      
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      January 22, 2022 12:39pm
      - MCōs
        
        I got a persistent skin rash too.
        Turned out to be the laundry detergent. Once we changed to a better brand everything was fine.
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:19pm
      - Stellaboxer
        
        I guess it’s like changing cigarette brands because the one you’re using is making you cough.
        
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        January 22, 2022 4:06pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Interesting that I’ve yet to see someone in ICU saying that they should have not been vaccinated, but quite frequently anti-vaxxers in ICU “repent” to the media.
  The normal dribble here is only worth taking notice of because the usual predictions are often completely wrong and therefore a reliable guideline.
  2 years ago herd immunity was going to win the day. Apparently, no one has woken the cows, and the sheep have been too busy bleating to even consider doing a bit of herding on the side.
  I do note however the confidence of the officials in Palmy that they are properly prepared. That, straight after old whistle tops Luxon claimed no one had been preparing. Going to be an interesting few weeks.
  Meanwhile, the Government maintains confidence or perhaps builds confidence, as all the opposition does is criticise it for not doing things fast enough or complaining about things that have already been done hoping that no one will notice.
  The Jury is out for me on why restrictions didn’t get put in place to prevent so many omicron cases from arriving at the border. Seems it could be a gamble, then again, confidence might have restrained that move. The Palmy case is suggested as possibly being dormant during the 5 negative tests, or below measurable levels.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:12am
  - septic skeptic
    
    That theory about dormant Omicron is about as credible as the immaculate conception.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:43am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The Palmy case is suggested as possibly being dormant during the 5 negative tests, or below measurable levels.
    
    NZ seems to keep having these “improbable” ways that the virus escapes MIQ.
    
    A couple of years ago:… the virus was hiding out on frozen goods,
    then it was lurking on rubbish lids,
    then it was smeared on a lift button…
    then it was jumping over a glass barrier…
    
    now we have folks who incubate the virus 3times longer than other people elsewhere in the world.
    
    Such bad luck, eh?
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:44am
    - cmm
      
      … and don’t forget sneaky.
      
      But somehow, the most likely vector, aerosol transmission, is always discounted because that would mean facing reality that a lot of the theatre does not work.
      
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      January 22, 2022 2:28pm
      - bronny1
        
        It’s a very clever, tricky virus dontcha know
        
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        January 22, 2022 3:00pm
      - Fight4NZ
        
        Everyone knows it moves by aerosol transmission. Why do you say that’s discounted? The MSM even have the aerosol expert on to explain it.
        
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        January 22, 2022 7:45pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Everyone knows it moves by aerosol transmission.
        
        Well, funnily enuf..
        Our Experts didn’t know the bleeding obvious..
        
        I think if you cast memory back to 2020 and 2021,
        you will find our Min of Health and Uni experts (including the DG of Health) put up all the improbable ways the virus escaped into the community :
        viz:
        1.https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-investigation-into-frozen-food-risk-at-auckland-cold-store/RVBKESCWD72CIV5BDN3YSD4A5U/
        
        2. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/123019917/health-ministrys-rubbish-bin-spread-covid-theory-not-likely–health-expert
        
        3.https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424077/catching-covid-19-in-lift-shows-how-sneaky-virus-is-microbiologist-siouxsie-wiles
        
        4.https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300390323/covid19-crowne-plaza-atrium-barrier-extended-sealed-as-leak-inquiry-continues
        
        It was not until May 2021 that the World Health Organization acknowledged aerosol transmission of Covid-19 virus.
        https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/a-welcome-step-who-acknowledges-aerosol-spread-of
        
        We’ve had a bunch of dozos running the covid show.
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:23pm
  - bronny1
    
    $55m will buy you lots of articles about repenting anti vaxxers but reporting about people that died of the jab or have life altering heart issues are not allowed in MSM.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:59pm
- Ra Henare
  
  KRazykiwi: Just a small correction of fact.
  
  Israel. ONE of the quadruple vaxed countries in the world.
  You really do need to get out more KK and not just rely on Western media.
  
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  January 22, 2022 3:26pm
- Fight4NZ
  
  Conveniently overlooking the hospitalisation rates which are notably lower in Israel.
  As a novelty here’s a look at facts
  https://youtu.be/v5Pa3abjxoA
  Salient points:
  Omicron cases high
  Short lived with peak within a couple of months
  Hospitalisations low including Australia where relying on vaccine
  Vaccines effective for minimising symptoms
  NZ has to unlock borders
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:10pm
CJames

There is a very good essay over on Spiked about the failures of the British modellers that is very applicable to NZ. About how despite giving forecasts/ predictions that vary by an order of magnitude, they always overestimate the doom. And yet they still maintain credibity in political and media circles, despite their proven incompetence.
“Follow the Science” is nothing more than drivel used to drown out anyone who points out their errors. Until that stops and politicians make real decisions including economic impacts, we are doomed by their stupidity.
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January 22, 2022 8:01am
- CJames
  
  Here is the link for those that don’t already have Spiked on their shortcut list
  https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/01/21/the-catastrophe-of-the-covid-models/
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:05am
- kowtow
  
  Politicians fear the Media .
  They’re prepared to destroy the economy ( on which everything relies) in order to avoid headlines accusing them of murdering grany.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:07am
- CJames
  
  And here is proof of the lack of credibility on one still not denting his “expert” status
  ttps://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/459966/miq-s-purpose-would-change-with-omicron-spread-baker
  Another attempt to push for a hermit kingdom with sealed borders despite Omicron already being here.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:09am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    I’ve posted this a few times but in case you missed it. Here’s Baker’s paper from a decade ago in which he pees his pants, dreaming about turning NZ into a hermit kingdom in a land far away, with unicorns and pixies. We have the fairy princess and the magic sprinkles. Let’s go Brenda.
    
    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0178732#sec016
    
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    January 22, 2022 12:09pm
    - Jim
      
      New funky glasses and trendy shirts at the ready for the PR blitz
      
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      January 22, 2022 5:25pm
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  The use of extreme predictions from the experts has been a deliberate campaign of fear and sensationalism. While it boosts readership, sells more news, it also shuts down people’s cognitive abilities.
  
  Many of us who refuse to live in a spirit of fear have switched off the news, stopped listening to the dire predictions and tried to just get on with life. But those that aren’t able to do this are being cruelly treated by our media and political leaders. Their fear is an anchor holding us all back.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:19am
  - Man Among the Ruins
    
    I stopped watching the news about 6 years ago. I won’t even follow a link posted here to a Stuff article. It’s clear they are there to propagandise, push an agenda and shape perceptions of reality towards (usually concealed) goals, so I cannot see the rationale of listening to anything they have to say.
    
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    January 22, 2022 11:37am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    It’s been happening for 20 years or more. SARs, Swine Flu, bird flu and all the others. There is a whole profession of pandemicists who have been pushing this for decades. They are loving this right now. This is their moment in the sun, they are thriving on this moment. Making money, getting media attention, lauded, awards, relevance.
    We need to get rid of the Pandemicists. It is well written about here.
    
    https://eugyppius.substack.com/p/the-pandemicists-must-be-stopped
    
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    January 22, 2022 12:16pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    A very good critique of the Ferguson model which was also referenced by Hendy and Plank here. It was ridiculed, absolutely slaughtered by true experts in computer coding.
    
    https://dailysceptic.org/the-imperial-model-and-its-role-in-the-uks-pandemic-response/
    
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    January 22, 2022 12:24pm
  - Fight4NZ
    
    Your talking about the virus and the antivaxxers?
    
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    January 22, 2022 7:57pm
- Peter S
  
  I suspect that the base issue is an underlying misconception on the part of the modelers of what they are actually modeling.
  
  This is something I have discussed with an epidemiologist. My contention is that modeling it a “problem” is fundamentally wrong. The reality is that the model needs to be looking at it from the perspective of success on the part of the virus.
  
  Sounds odd, but that change allows you to view the model in terms of what 100% successful looks like (for the virus), with every other influence having a negative impact on the ability of the virus to spread.
  
  Modeling as a doom scenario runs the risk of treating outside influences as amplifiers, which can cause predictions to spiral into the ridiculous in the way we have seen.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:21am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Models that ignore the costs of their actions are useless. I can crunch numbers all day but would they help decision making by others?
    Those using a model output have to understand how limited it is and that they take responsibility for its use. Economists are used to using multiple models. Decisions need to be based on the whole picture.
    Once we had a competent Public Service who could evaluate the big picture and keep amateur Ministers out of trouble and NZ along with them.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:29am
    - bronny1
      
      Yeah bit what competent person would work for them now? I might as a contractor but would have to double my already high hourly rate to make up for the requirement to shut up
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:02pm
    - Peter S
      
      Agreed.
      The other thing that people alow themselves to forget with models that mix incomplete measured data with estimations is that the result is a bit like a bed of nails where some nails are iron and others rubber.
      Useful for getting an overview, but likely to be at least uncomfortable if not downright dangerous to put too much weight on.
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:59pm
- Taieri
  
  “Follow the Science” is nothing more than drivel used to drown out anyone who points out their errors.
  —————-
  
  There’s nothing scientific about modelling. Basically, it’s just an “what if” exercise.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:30am
  - cmm
    
    It depends on the models.
    
    The laws of physics are mathematical models and are very precise. We can predict the tide in 1000 years time down to a few seconds. We can tell you when Haley’s Comet is going to come around again.
    
    Your GPS receiver is packed with mathematical models. With RTK we can position a GPS receiver accurate to 2 cm or so.
    
    But models of pandemics are bullshit. People just tweak the values until they get the results they want.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:18am
  - tf78
    
    Taieri, once again you put junk data in, you get junk results out. It’s all about keeping people in fear and under control.
    
    It’s worked, in that regard remarkably well.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:47am
  - Jim
    
    It’s like betting predictions, but if your track record sucks you get fired unlike these government shills
    
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    January 22, 2022 5:28pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Hendy, Plank and the other NZ modelers who got 6 million dollars from the government, referenced the moronic Ferguson/Imperial College multiple times in their advice to the NZ government. That’s where Brenda got her 80.000 dead in NZ from. She didn’t pull it out of her posterior like she did with the Kiwibuild numbers.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:51am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Dont forget Microsoft had a hand in utilising their Models for Covid, and especially so in NZ.
    
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    January 22, 2022 1:43pm
- cmm
  
  It isn’t following the science, it’s following the scientists’ trough and egos.
  
  This has been a career highlight for all the new household names: Baker, Hendy, Pink Rincess etc. They’re getting the rock star treatment.
  
  When this is all over they’re going back to a world of shuffling around the corridors in beige cardigans.
  
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  January 22, 2022 2:31pm
Souvlaki

Can I offer some gratuitous advice to Luxon and his minders? Please stop banging on about your wish to master Te Reo.
This voter at least is unimpressed , and this wish of his should be the very LAST focus given the shit we are in! ?
I expect to be pilloried for this view…but ” I aint bovvered”!
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January 22, 2022 8:07am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  AGREE
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:08am
- kowtow
  
  Clearly these people are following advise from someone behind the scenes who’s telling them that this wokery appeals to the centre ( thickos) and softens the image of the Ugly/ Mean Tory. Makes them more ‘acceptable” to the media jackals etc
  
  Well it don’t work . if you try to out left the left , you just become the left . Labour Lite .
  
  Funny thing is the Nats had two real Maoris at the top , who’d have been better than the two teams of whitey wets who rolled them.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:13am
- artemisia
  
  Sympathise Souvlaki, but what if it is a small part of a strategy to regain the middle? Because there is a strategy for sure.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:16am
  - Colville
    
    Agree.
    they are going af the center and as we all know that is where it will be won.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:51am
    - kowtow
      
      And that’s also where everything worthwhile is lost .
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:23am
      - Colville
        
        it’s not Luxons fault he he is fighting the election in an MMP environment
        
        without the center National will NEVER be elected.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:28am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Spot on Colville. Elections are not won and lost at the margins.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:35am
    - kowtow
      
      Hey guys , seriously .
      
      take a lesson out of Don Brash’s Orewa speech , as well as the many referenda around the country that were held re race seats on council , not to mention the polling on renaming the country , the unease over 3 waters, and all those other race issues bubbling along .
      
      You guys might think you appeal to the centre , but there’s a huge constituency out there that you’re ignoring with this ‘Kia ora , I’m Chris from marketing and I go along with Aotearoa’ .
      
      You might win a few votes from easily impressed thickos , but you’ll lose the right and the thinkers and the folk who care about the constitution.
      
      Or doesn’t that matter?
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:28am
      - Colville
        
        Brash lost.
        learn from that.
        
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        January 22, 2022 12:09pm
- Gravelroad
  
  If someone wants to learn a second language for whatever reason – good luck to them.
  But I just don’t care.
  The fact that Mr Luxon wants to learn Te Reo is his affair, but it has nothing to do with any ability to lead a political party. And if he genuinely thinks it does, then he is misguided.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:18am
  - kowtow
    
    The stuff article made it very clear , he claimed to be doing it to connect with ordinary people ( who) and to show “inclusiveness” ( wot’s that) .
    Also to change the National party culture .
    
    So it’s very far from being personal or even logical.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:26am
    - rouppe
      
      I used to work for Westpac bank. The CEO jumped onto the inclusiveness bandwagon.
      
      He set up a load of “Employee Action Groups”. One for gay, then rainbow then LGBGT-blah-blah. One for women. One for Maori. I lost count. They didn’t do anything other than provide a way for those who wanted to be involved to not work. He fronted the Women of Influence awards.
      
      Great PR for him. No real effect that I could see. He retired earlier last year. I remember seeing something from him on LinkedIn afterwards going on about how pay parity was still very much a problem that needed leadership. Something like that.
      
      Only thing I could think was he was CEO for a decade. If there was a problem not solved, he should have taken a closer look at himself.
      
      Moral of this story. Inclusiveness isn’t what people see. Inclusiveness, like leadership, is what you do when nobody is looking.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:00am
      - tf78
        
        rouppe and yet they still can’t be bothered opening their doors for their customers.
        
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        January 22, 2022 9:50am
      - kowtow
        
        tf78/rouppe
        
        The banks are total @#ckers .
        
        All this “inclusiveness” for all and sundry except their deposit holders.
        
        Branches closing everywhere , life very hard for those who don’t do internet banking etc
        
        The actors on their tv ads don’t reflect the demographic make up of the country either .
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:25am
      - Inandout
        
        rouppe, you will also note Westpac consistently came bottom of the customer satisfaction ratings. I left the CBA when they became Westpac. When I had a job that involved visiting every trading bank in Auckland I found the newly acquired Aussie ones lost their ‘friendliness’.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:48am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Indeed,
        “Inclusiveness, like leadership, is what you do when nobody is looking.”
        Our company motto is, Esse Quam Videri
        And for for a good reason.
        
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        January 22, 2022 10:53am
      - Man Among the Ruins
        
        How non-woke and un-PC am I? I literally chose my current bank based on the fact that they were seemingly the only one with a white couple and children in their advertisements.
        
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        January 22, 2022 11:43am
  - MCōs
    
    It’s my belief if you want to understand another culture it’s essential to learn the language, otherwise you only think you understand.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:42am
    - Kiwi Dave
      
      Does this mean
      
      1) the 80% of Maoris who don’t speak Maori don’t actually understand Maori culture?
      2) Maori culture is something practised by only the 20% who speak the language?
      
      These questions are not to deny the existence of Maori culture, nor disparage politicians who want to learn the language, but to query the reification of cultural generalities and dogmatically map them on to ethnic ‘groups’, the sort of thinking which partly underlies He Puapua.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:09am
      - MCōs
        
        A culture isn’t ‘practised’.
        It’s not like playing the piano.
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:23pm
      - Kiwi Dave
        
        For Mcos at 2.23.
        
        From the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary:
        
        2 to do sth regularly as part of one’s normal behaviour: [Vn] practise self-restraint 。practise ancient customs.
        
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        January 22, 2022 6:34pm
    - cmm
      
      MCos, I somewhat agree.
      
      There is a symbiotic relationship between a culture and its language: the culture makes the language and the language makes the culture.
      
      It’s a bit like asking which came first: the chicken or the egg. The reality is that they both take a long time to emerge together.
      
      A culture is a collection of ideas. Ideas can only be expressed in the symbols of a language, ie its words. Without those words the people cannot communicate the ideas and the ideas do not become part of the culture. If you understand a language it gives you access to the words and ideas in that culture.
      
      A complex culture (with cities, governments and complex trade, rule of law, science etc) requires a precise written language and mathematics. Without those, the culture cannot emerge.
      
      Likewise a culture that is not striving for complexity and advancement things has no need for a precise written language or mathematics, so they do not emerge.
      
      What we are seeing at the moment is a massive shift in “Maori Culture” as it embraces western education (when it does), western language etc. allowing Maori Culture to change its ideas and values. This is a long process that probably takes many generations.
      
      Mainly gone is the once-were-warriors Maori culture of old where lives were short, brutal and primitive and they fuse with Western cultural ideas tossing out things that no longer work (eg. cannibalism) and pick up new ideas instead.
      
      African languages, and culture, are going through a similar shift – as are India and many other parts of the world.
      
      The question really is this: does trying to preserve the old languages really help people or does it hinder their progress to a new, improved, fused culture?
      
      BTW: I could at one time speak 3 African languages fluently, but after almost 30 years in NZ I am now only fluent in one. Once in a while I listen to people speaking those languages on Youtube. They have all got less and less pure as the people assimilate western values and lifestyle into their culture.
      
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      January 22, 2022 2:56pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I have no desire to return to the tribalism and religious subservience of my forebears.
        
        My father had opportunities to return to Scotland for visits but had no wish to return.
        
        The mother-in-law and Father-in-law, on separate occasions, were invited to visit Russia, but both refused the offers.
        
        My F-in-law made sure he settled away from the bulk of refugees who arrived with him in NZ . He wanted to make his own way in life, unhindered by the mores and cultural baggage of fellow East Europeans.
        
        Ancestral languages, religions and culture may be precious to some people, but for other folk, they are of little relevance to their daily existence.
        
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        January 22, 2022 3:36pm
  - yossarian
    
    Exactly, Bill English was actually very proficient in Maori but never let on. Til one day he got up a spoke for quite a while in Maori, to the aghast of the audience, especially the pinko lefties.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:50am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Yes, it was at Ratana, in 2017. He’d studied Te Reo in his own time, and both surprised and delighted the folk there by giving a korero without notes, and from the heart.
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:44am
  - rockape
    
    I agree, even if some don’t like it Maori is an official language in NZ. Of course he should be able to speak some of that language if he is going to lead the country. And Chris if your listening , it would be a good ideal to learn a bit of sign language too!
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:20am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Yep learn sign language for the 25,000ish sign language “”readers”” in NZ.
      yea Nah
      
      Go woke go broke.
      
      In the 2018 census, 22,986 people (0.5%) reported the ability to use New Zealand Sign Language.[1]
      
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      January 22, 2022 4:04pm
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    As I said yesterday, every PM for the last 30 years has been able to give a whaikorero. To do so means taking some time over te reo. Not necessarily learning the language, but at least some familiarity with the structure and key words and phrases.
    
    While it may not matter to you, there is a significant percentage of the population who would notice if an aspiring PM was not able to return a greeting or say anything more than tena koutou katoa. That would be particularly so among voters under 45.
    
    So yes, it does matter politically.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:02am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      Thank god you’ve done your time, Wayne. Politics is about different and competing views, not doing what you think everyone wants you to do. Ya know, in the spirit of the much vaunted principle of “diversity” for its own sake.
      
      While they pretend otherwise lest the mob come for them, a majority of New Zealanders probably resent the constant bombardment of all things Maori, whether they are European, Chinese or Indian or anything else. I would applaud someone who had the self-confidence and fortitude to ask “why on earth would I learn an irrelevant language spoken only by a minority of a minority who will never vote for me?”
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:50am
- peterwn
  
  Are you are saying that you know more about politics than Chris?
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:21am
  - cmm
    
    There’s a massive difference between politicking and running a country, or any other organisation, properly.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:58pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Could be a simple inexpensive way for Mr. Luxon to capture some Maori votes away from Labour.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:31am
  - Colville
    
    Maori, youth, lefties. they are all there for the picking after the mess Cindy is making of the wuflu response.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:53am
  - DeepBlue
    
    And he would do well to know some Te Reo so he can lead and understand when it will be spoken to him frequently as PM. As well as at the many formal ceremonial occasions where Te Reo will feature.
    
    The alternative is to ignore the speaker, look like a stunned mullet and be ridiculed by the media.
    
    Does anyone think any less of Bill English when he gave his impressive Te Reo speech?
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:09am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Precisely. Our business was invited to do a display at Te Tii marae a few years ago; that’s the infamous “lower marae” where all the politicking goes on. On the day before Waitangi day we were invited to attend the early powhiri, before the politicians turned up. It was a wonderful experience, being welcomed into the meeting house, and I was glad my wife and I had done some Te Reo studies, as we were at least able to pick up the general theme of the korero.
      
      That was the year that Paddy Gower and Corin Dann both seemed really disappointed that there had been no political trouble on the marae that day, and they literally had nothing to report on!
      
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      January 22, 2022 9:50am
    - Taieri
      
      And he would do well to know some Te Reo so he can lead and understand when it will be spoken to him frequently as PM.
      ————–
      
      Te Reo is an official language, but, apart from the ceremonial occasions, is it also the actual working language of the government? Do the ministers and their advisers use it when conducting their everyday’s business? Do they talk in Te Reo during their coffee breaks (formerly known as smokos)? And finally, do they think in Te Reo?
      I doubt it very much.
      
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      January 22, 2022 10:06am
      - DeepBlue
        
        It’s all through Wellington, rightly or wrongly. You can’t move in many Government Departments without meetings opening and closing in Te Reo. If it is Maori issues, welfare, child, health, certain courts, schools it is well used. Then there are all the hui. The introductions and the waiata.
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:16pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    There are no votes for National in this.
    Maori activists want sovereignty not kind words in Te Reo.
    Maori are tribal Labour and vote Labour – always have.
    Disaffected Maori youth speak English. Do you think they are impressed by some white guy working in Kiora, Tamaki Makarau and whanau into a speech?
    A big proportion of the target audience now hates pidgin with a passion, me included.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:10am
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      A bald, white, male, millionaire who is the leader of a party they will never vote for speaking a few faltering Maori phrases will never, ever be enough: so why even bother? If anything, shows weakness and it turns off those who would otherwise vote for National. Like me.
      
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      January 22, 2022 11:53am
      - DeepBlue
        
        He doesn’t need to speak it, but he sure would benefit a little understanding of what is being talked about around or to him.
        
        6 1
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        January 22, 2022 2:18pm
      - Unity
        
        I totally agree Man Among the Ruins. National are never going to get the Maori vote. By trying to do things Maori Luxon will be turning many National voters off. I’m already completely turned off TV with all the Maori words interspersed everywhere. I have developed a ‘filter’ so I don’t hear them otherwise it just sounds as though they are blaspheming or speaking Pidgin English. It’s totally irritating and I haven’t got a clue what they are saying nor do I want to know. We all speak English and there are Maori channels for those who want to speak it. Please let us have at least one or two English only channels!!
        
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        January 22, 2022 2:18pm
- doggone7
  
  I wouldn’t pillory you for your view but wonder about saying that Luxon is “banging on about” his wish to master Te Reo. The topic comes up somehow and he says a few words. I wonder what percentage of the things he says are about Te Reo? And what percentage of those make news reports.
  
  Gravelroad thinks that a political party leader in New Zealand knowing Te Reo is misguided if they think learning it is advantageous to them being leader.
  
  I appreciate some will rubbish Luxon and vow to never vote for his party if he breaks out in Te Reo. I think there are likely to be many more who would give him kudos for learning the language and using it. Or not even notice except that it would be pointed out by naysayers.
  
  If he does learn it he’ll show he is capable of learning something. Amongst those putting him down for learning Te Reo will be many who are simply incapable of learning it because they are not intelligent enough
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:36am
  - Taieri
    
    learning Te Reo will be many who are simply incapable of learning it because they are not intelligent enough
    ————-
    
    I can speak and write fluently in 4 languages. Te Reo is not one of them. Perhaps I’m not intelligent enough, but somehow, I feel no urge to start learning it.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:11am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Simmer down.
      The posit was that people could learn because of their intelligence. Presumably they want to learn but cant.
      
      I am also multilingual but did take the time to learn Maori when I did a brief stint working with Maori on the East Coast.
      
      But I wanted to learn
      
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      January 22, 2022 4:12pm
- Philview
  
  He is being asked questions probably by journalists affiliated to the Labour Party. If he gives a wrong answer he will be demonised and within weeks he will be polling 5%.
  
  28 2
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  January 22, 2022 8:52am
- H. Upmann
  
  Souvlaki: it tells you everything in a nutshell about Luxon. The country is going to hell in a handcart but one of the first thing he speaks about after the summer break is how woke and PC he is.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:55am
  - DeepBlue
    
    No, it was a small part of a wide ranging interview.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:11am
  - stewmar
    
    The country is going to hell in a handcart but one of the first thing he speaks about after the summer break is how woke and PC he is.
    
    What utter crap
    
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    January 22, 2022 11:51am
- Nickc2
  
  I must admit, I was prepared to give Luxon the benefit of the doubt and for a while there, he had me won over. However, when I viewed that video where a member of the audience raised a question about the use of Te Reo, Luxon’s response lost me.
  If he’s the Great Salvation for the National Party, anyone’s god, help us.
  I also believe he’s got to stop referring to his experience as CEO of Air NZ. Managing people there was vastly different because most of them know what they have to do and go about it with minimal direction. In the real world that is NZ, most people haven’t a fucking clue what to do and even less how to go about doing anything.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:56am
  - RightNow
    
    The Great White Nope
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:31pm
- pdm
  
  I am with you souvlaki.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:17am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Luxon’s having a look at te reo may be useful. He should discover that the lingo is only fit for the marae and is essentially a fossil. The battle with Maori pronouns is a tough one. That will inform him of the foolishness of general teaching of te reo to the young. It will confuse them greatly.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:38am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Regardez mon visage – I. AIN’T. BOVVERED!
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:04am
- Bob
  
  Luxon is not the one ‘banging on about learning TeReo.
  The ‘banging on’ is by the media, and Fraser basement TROLLS trying to ridicule and undermine Luxon; a sure sign that Labour in govt is worried about Luxon’s real world rise, and Ardern’s real world slide.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:46am
  - Observer of Life
    
    Speaking of Ardern. Someone has told me she was boo’ed at Waitangi today. Is this true? If so.. finally.
    
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    January 22, 2022 7:57pm
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Ka pai Souvlaki
  
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  January 22, 2022 5:59pm
Yvette

Non–covid comment
Is this a hoax, or reporting a hoax –
Waitangi Day snub – Prime Minister in but National’s Luxon out of ‘superficial’ pōwhiri pre-recorded for TV special
The Prime Minister is at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds taking part in a pre-recorded pōwhiri intended to be used as a partial replacement for the usual Waitangi Day commemorations.

Jacinda Ardern will not be joined by National Party leader Chris Luxon when she is welcomed in a move that has sparked frustration from the Opposition.

… Former Labour Cabinet minister and Ngapuhi kaumatua Dover Samuels described the pōwhiri as designed to “imitate in a superficial way” a centrepiece of the Waitangi Day events.

… Dame Naida Glavish, the co-chair of the trust board, could be seen waiting to be interviewed by a crew from the Discovery network that now owns TV3. The Herald understands the trust board sought a media partner for its television package and reached an agreement with Discovery after being rebuffed by other broadcasters.

… Samuels said he supported the trust board’s decision to cancel the usual commemorations because of the pandemic but didn’t believe a pre-recorded pōwhiri and other stage-managed events captured the spirit of the day.
He said he had attended Waitangi Day commemorations for decades and was concerned the plan to pre-record important events turned it into a soap opera which could be used for political advantage.
“This is a script that is being written. It could be Days of our Lives. How much do we push the wairua of Waitangi Day aside. To me, it challenges the historical journey of the spirit of Waitangi Day.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/waitangi-day-snub-prime-minister-in-but-nationals-luxon-out-of-superficial-powhiri-pre-recorded-for-tv-special/LIN3BKGQ55LCB6Z2YKN4APQUPQ/

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes historic speech at upper marae at Waitangi
“So when we return in one year, in three years, I ask you to ask us what we have done for you.
“Hold us to account. Because one day I want to be able to tell my child that I earned the right to stand here. And only you can tell me when I have done that,” she said.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101171924/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-makes-historic-speech-at-upper-marae-at-waitangi

Isn’t there the “vast cultural mis-appropriation” in the now technically trashed Climate Commission Report, the “3 Waters” governance proposals which deny the Treaty itself, and the great upsurge of te reo on television news but now reduced to quick glib fleeting bridging comments teaching or inspiring nothing of the language, but these issues are insignificant manipulation attempts compared to the reality of still thousands of Maori children in poverty – not “child poverty”, but simple “family poverty”?

Does a pre-recorded pōwhiri at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds closed by “Dozens of police and security staff” earn Ardern “the right to stand here”? or is it a “stage-managed charade”?

Footnote – NZ On Air is administering the Public Interest Journalism Fund.
The $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund will support New Zealand’s media to continue to produce stories that keep New Zealanders informed and engaged, and support a healthy democracy.
From above, The Herald understands the trust board sought a media partner for its television package and reached an agreement with Discovery after being rebuffed by other broadcasters.
Why, exactly?
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January 22, 2022 8:07am
- DeepBlue
  
  Why? A partner to provide the tech and to pay for the coverage.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:13am
- KevO'Brien
  
  She’s “earned the right to stand there” and stuffed up the “wairua” (two waters) of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds?
  
  What’s Cinders grounded in?
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:48am
- Fletch
  
  I saw that a APB went out from the Hikoi of Trust people to gather to protest there yesterday, before it happened. Not sure how many of them made it out there.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:41pm
Morry45

Does Michael Baker (aka Dr Doom) never give it a break? Sheesh. It seems he is happy to lock up the whole country for ever, peoples livelihoods be damned!
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January 22, 2022 8:08am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Baker is a troll on our society. It’s time we all put him back under his bridge!
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:51am
  - pdm
    
    AS long as there is a TV camera there Baker the Troll will go willingly.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:19am
Pineapple Lumps

Why in the guise of a war on a virus has the biggest casualty been the NZ Bill of Rights? Over 50% of the rights and freedoms in the act have been impacted over the last 2 years. Politicians and media expertly use PR – distract, deflect, deny, divide – tactics to keep us from asking and providing us with answers to the real questions. It is not about whether you are pro or anti – the vacinne, Brian Tamaki etc. Stay focussed. This is about whether we are happy to let our rulers reduce so many of our rights and freedoms, and for how long we allow them to do this?

Unfortunately, as a nation we seem happy to be distracted, divided, lied to, and for our rulers to be held unaccountable. As long as this is the case things can only get worse. Anyone that sees through this must try to stand up and join those opposing and protesting.
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January 22, 2022 8:08am
- Bob
  
  guise of a war on a virus has the biggest casualty been the NZ Bill of Rights…..
  CORRECTION the biggest casualty has been the NZ economy and the future legacy for our grandchildren.
  The red flags of warning are waving already, but the media don’t want their attention drawn to them, and Ardern/Robertson don’t want to know about them.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:50am
Maggy Wassilieff

So National hasn’t been invited to Waitangi to do a preRecorded TV special.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/waitangi-day-snub-prime-minister-in-but-nationals-luxon-out-of-superficial-powhiri-pre-recorded-for-tv-special/LIN3BKGQ55LCB6Z2YKN4APQUPQ/

Might be time for National to tell the Waitangi Trust that as they are a party to Political gamesmanship and a sponsor of Labour Party broadcasts, then they should manage on their own.
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January 22, 2022 8:22am
- kowtow
  
  Oh well , with his lingo lessons, he’ll be able to moan to them in their second language .
  
  What’s the point of pandering , it gets you nowhere.
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:36am
  - Man Among the Ruins
    
    Yep. Luxon’s chief priority seems to be currying favour with the media mediocracies. He is more pathetic than I already imagined. The people he is pandering to don’t care, while he alienates those who would tend to support him. Why would his target audience shift their vote to National? The idea of instead strongly advocating for and aligning with those who will actually vote for him seems anathema.
    
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    January 22, 2022 12:02pm
KevO'Brien

150 yr old British Medical Journal gives it to Pfizer:
https://www.wnd.com/2022/01/top-medical-journal-release-vaccine-safety-data/

Full text is available.
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January 22, 2022 8:24am
Fishing in the dark

Just look at Sweden, they are the most intelligent, sensible lot over this entire COVID scam. They didn’t had govern without any fear, not any lockdowns, no vaccination craze, a vaccination which doesn’t work at all etc.
But only our Show Pony with full of kindness and hugging knows better than half the world.
Keeping the nation in prison, locking abroad living Kiwi out from their homes, ruined the entire country etc. Just wait until the shit hits the fan and then we will find out the reality of life.
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January 22, 2022 8:32am
- Albert_Ross
  
  I did take a look at Sweden., where they have had about a thousand times more deaths than we have. I see they have over 80% of the over-12 population vaccinated, that they are using vaccine passes and that restrictions on public gatherings are in place. Try this
  
  https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency-of-sweden/communicable-disease-control/covid-19/
  
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  January 22, 2022 8:44am
  - Fishing in the dark
    
    They are only issue recommendations, they trust in their people common sense and you still can leave the country and return without being locked away and without this silly go lucky MIQ carrousel.
    They treat their people as adults and not as dumb citizen.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:22am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    “About a thousand times more death than we have” what utter nonsense!
    
    Sweden had 98,124 deaths in 2020 out of a population of around 10.5m.
    New Zealand had 32,163 deaths in 2020 out of a population of around 5.2m.
    
    Sweden’s death rate was 9.3 per 1,000, New Zealand’s was 6.41 per 1,000. So less than half as many again as New Zealand – and by the way Covid didn;t skew these figures; the delta between death rates is much the same over the last 20 years. Try again.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:15am
    - Fishing in the dark
      
      Just about the costs to save a few Covid deaths, these costs are horrendous and in the same breath we have 1000’s more death’s on suicide, people which missed the life saving treatment or surgery etc.
      Failed businesses because of these useless lockdowns, not getting the required workforce etc.
      It is very easy to start the money printing machine and just ruined an entire nation.
      Increasing minimum wages, fuelling the inflation and so on until the poor people are poorer than before.
      More Child Poverty, more long term unemployment, more homeless, more crime, more gangs, more road deaths etc.
      NZ People just start to wake up.
      
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      January 22, 2022 12:52pm
  - RightNow
    
    Going by all cause mortality through to the end of 2021 I’d say Sweden did far better than NZ
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:37pm
Tasman devil

You’re a rooster if you don’t have the booster.
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January 22, 2022 8:42am
- RightNow
  
  And that’s the way I prefer it.
  
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  January 22, 2022 3:38pm
Lee C

He’s gone – Like a Bat Out of Hell.. https://youtu.be/k5hWWe-ts2s
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January 22, 2022 8:46am
Yvette

From the Guardian –
As Omicron rages around the world, Ardern deploys an old tactic – delay

A government report on preparedness for Omicron, leaked to Māori Television this week, highlighted concerns that intensive care beds were severely limited, with just one-third, or 108 ICU beds currently free. In several of the country’s 20 district health boards, there was no ICU care available.

… Epidemiologist Dr Jennifer Summers said .. there were “concerning gaps in New Zealand’s preparation for delaying and managing an Omicron outbreak” and Ardern ruling out lockdowns was “worrying”. “The health system will be under further immense pressure once Omicron enters the community [so] ruling out potential public health measures that could be used to minimise the impact of Omicron is short-sighted,” she said.

Ardern threw unpopular Capital Gains Tax out of the cot – never to be re-introduced while she is Prime Minister, because of its perceived vote-loosing public hatred. Now the same with “lockdowns” – banning them a political rather than medical science decision?

In the face of Omicron, opposition leader Christopher Luxon said, the government was “embarking on a second year of Covid complacency: a lack of urgency, a lack of a plan, and making things up as they go”.

Even as the country fights to buy itself a few more weeks, its remaining Omicron-free days may be limited. Soon, delay won’t be available as a tactic, Baker said, “given how rapidly Omicron will arrive and spread. That’s if it’s not spreading already – which it could be.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/as-omicron-rages-around-the-world-ardern-deploys-an-old-tactic-delay

A government report on preparedness for Omicron, leaked to Māori Television
What and where is that?
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January 22, 2022 8:47am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “The health system will be under further immense pressure once Omicron enters the community”
  
  That is not clear.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:21am
  - Taieri
    
    The health system will be under further immense pressure
    —————-
    
    The health system has been under “immense pressure” for as long as I can remember. And no one seems to be willing and able to do anything about it…
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:13am
    - artemisia
      
      Health is like education. Bottomless pits. Never enough resource, apart from managers. Plenty of those.
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:12pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Fear porn has worked so far, they won’t stop it now. It’s the only tool in the box for Brenda.
    
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    January 22, 2022 12:47pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s a bit like asking “did she fall, or was she pushed?”.
  
  Was the report leaked to Maori Television by a whistleblower, or was it selectively passed on by someone on the instruction of the PM’s comms team, giving the PM the opportunity to refute the report?
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:55am
NeverMindTheBollocks

If Jacinda was smart, she’d step out on to the lawn & marry Clarke today. Just announce that due to looming Omicron, she didn’t want to risk a big wedding. Imagine the ‘I too am suffering’.
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January 22, 2022 8:47am
- Biscuit
  
  She wouldn’t dare…
  Under the ‘Restraint Of Marriage’ clause in the Aussie magazine(s) put into the 666-paged ‘Terms For Our Forking Out Megabucks For Exclusive Coverage Of The Royal Wedding’ she would be taken to the cleaners if she either a) backed out or b) made any small adjustment to the agreed schedule.
  So, no, at (x)pm on the day in question she will front, teeth all freshly-brushed, hair all freshly-highlighted, and will strictly follow the Order of Service.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:13am
  - Matt Long
    
    As a state employee wouldn’t any such funds go into the consodated fund? Surely Comrade Ardern is eager to pay off the massive state debt her team have raked up over the last two years.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:30am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Where’s the $$$ in that?
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:22am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Womens mags.
    
    8 1
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    January 22, 2022 9:52am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Having publicly committed to activating the red light as soon as there is demonstrated evidence of community transmission (which could come as early as today), the PM has painted herself into a corner. Will she:
  
  a) make good on her promise to activate the red traffic light within 24-48 hours, or
  b) do everything within her powers to keep New Zealand at orange until a certain event, reported to be timed for next Saturday, 29th January?
  
  Let’s not forget that the 2020 commemoration service for the March 15 Mosque attack was only cancelled 48 hours beforehand, when the PM could no longer justify not taking more significant action against the looming Covid-19 situation.
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:01am
Warren

I am all for vaccines if they are proved to stop a virus from spreading worldwide , but when our Finance Minister says we might not be able to pay for a fourth shot of the vaccine because we are running out of money in the Covid fund with only 4 billion of the 67 billion borrow left I think we should be having a discussion on how this money was used before saddling our Children ,Grandchildren and future generations with billions of more debt.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-fund-could-not-fund-fourth-vaccine-dose-if-necessary-says-grant-robertson/KWWCIICJZMQPXLZJDDW3YBMSCY/
Was this money used just for the covid variances if not what was it used for and why should be the questions New Zealander’s should be asking of this Government.
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January 22, 2022 8:47am
- Benedict Yu
  
  It will take a Royal Commission to find out where the money went.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:07am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Royal Commissions don’t investigate decisions of the Cabinet.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:54am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      That is not correct. Royal Commissions can investigate anything in their terms of reference. What is the basis for your view?
      
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      January 22, 2022 10:27am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        They decisions of Cabinet have to remain with Cabinet, likewise Parliament. Otherwise you have an inferior body purporting to challenge or write the law. For the Supreme Court that’s no go area too.
        
        The application of the law may be challenged and conflicts as to its operations including existing Statutes. The limit is on challenging the right of the sovereign decision makers to act.
        The Courts will act to review the application as to it’s lawfulness but not to review whether the law should have made.
        
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        January 22, 2022 12:47pm
  - cmm
    
    But BY, who is it that sets the terms of reference for the commission?
    
    Rule number 1: put a fence around anything you don’t want dug up.
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:05pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      I believe it’s an Executive Council decision a.k.a Cabinet.
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:25pm
Loddenthinks

Headline on Newshub yesterday afternoon that shows we’re approaching peak stupidity. It was listed under “Most Popular”

“Expert explains the three ways Omicron may have emerged in the community”

So this “expert” is guessing, along with everyone else, and without even reading the article the average punter with a few functioning brain cells could name the three possible ways it may have got in.
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January 22, 2022 8:50am
Inandout

Thieves are attacking trains in LA for goods and leaving chaos in their wake. A Dem city of course.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/thieves-losangeles-traintracks-stolengoods/2022/01/17/id/1052734/
When lawlessness descends there is only one answer or else the jungle takes over.
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January 22, 2022 8:57am
- kowtow
  
  Looking at the photos you’d swear it was the Third World.
  
  20 1
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  January 22, 2022 9:19am
  - Nickc2
    
    Bumbling Beijing Biden’s Utopia?
    
    10 1
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    January 22, 2022 9:51am
- Loddenthinks
  
  A Dem city in a sanctuary state. Didn’t see that coming.
  
  18 1
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  January 22, 2022 9:52am
- cmm
  
  It has been that way for a long time.
  
  There are about 10,000 people living on Skid Row (yeas, a real place). Most of those survive by shoplifting to order (as ordered by their fences). They even have a special term for it (I forget it atm).
  
  Shoplifting is so rife that it is hardly considered a crime any more. All they are doing by stealing from the trains is cutting out the pesky middleman.
  
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  January 22, 2022 3:09pm
The Other Enoch

So, Chris Trotter is saying that Jacinderella will be gone by Christmas? Hip-hip-hooray! But just remember, you read it here first folks in a prediction that I made here very early last year. Let us hope that we are both right?
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January 22, 2022 8:58am
- lifesgood
  
  I’d prefer by lunchtime.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:30am
- Scott
  
  Can’t see Jacinda stepping down. Her poll numbers are still good. She has the podium of truth every day at 1pm. She has more power than any prime minister outside of wartime.
  She has a press that almost 100% follows her and agrees with her.
  She’s not going anywhere.
  
  Here’s the thing. The people of NZ have to shake off the fear, ditch the covid mindset and vote for her out.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:34am
  - kowtow
    
    As I’ve said before , when you see the number of people gladly wearing their face muzzles in public open spaces you can see how we’re in this pickle .
    
    My worry is that so many otherwise educated and relatively sensible folk have bought this.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:33am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      And the QR code scanning, totally brainwashed.
      As usual, I sign in ‘Donald Duck, Hollywood. No phone”
      
      11 1
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      January 22, 2022 1:48pm
      - bronny1
        
        I don’t think I have signed in at all other than once at the supermarket in 2020
        
        5 1
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        January 22, 2022 3:13pm
  - bronny1
    
    But she is hated by a proportion of the population, hated in a way no PM has ever been. And her insecurity can’t handle that. Everyone has to like her.
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:12pm
Benedict Yu

“Dr Rawiri Taonui told Stuff he had seen preliminary data for vaccination rates and was concerned. He said only half as many tamariki Māori in Auckland had been vaccinated in the first week of paediatric vaccinations, compared to Pākehā and tauiwi.”.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300501407/mori-leaders-say-government-is-not-prepared-for-omicron

I had to look up “tauiwi”. Turns out that is me ?.

Just as I predicted, there are now cries that Maori 5 – 11 year old vaccination rates are lower than those of other ethnicities. How surprising. ? The language is all about trying to find someone to blame for this. Rather than acknowledge that many Maori parents are simply choosing to not vaccinate their kids. Next thing it will be back to the Waitangi Tribunal. ?

It is worth noting that only 52,000 children in the 5 to 11 range have been vaccinated in the first week they have been eligible. That is about 15 percent of the eligible population. So it is way too soon to predict how many parents are going to get their young children vaccinated.

This rest of the article is pretty hilarious.

“… if the Government was serious about ensuring every New Zealander was ready for the Omicron wave, it needed to give beneficiaries an allowance, so they could afford to stock up on medicines and essentials.”

??

“Otherwise, he said the country risked a repeat of the 1920 Spanish Flu pandemic – where 20 times as many Māori died in the final wave of the virus.”

???????

Yes Omicron is like the Spanish Flu. ?
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January 22, 2022 9:07am
- Scott
  
  Did Dr Rawiri get admitted to medical school because of his excellent grades at school or did he get admitted because of a desire by the medical school to admit more Maori?
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:37am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    He is not a medical doctor. He has a PhD from the University of Auckland. His thesis is titled “Nga Tatai-whakapapa: Dynamics in Māori Oral Tradition”
    
    33 1
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    January 22, 2022 9:50am
    - MCōs
      
      So he’s no more a medical doctor than Dr John Campbell who people refer to on occasion. Campbell is a retired nurse.
      
      8 12
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      January 22, 2022 10:10am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        “Misinformation” MCōs. No wonder you struggle to understand what’s going on most of the time.
        
        No comparison between the two. Campbell isn’t a retired nurse. He’s a retired nurse educator. Quite a difference. His qualifications.
        
        Campbell received a diploma in nursing from the University of London and Bachelor of Science in biology from the Open University. He subsequently earned a Master of Science in health science from the University of Lancaster and a Ph.D. in nursing education from the University of Bolton.
        That’s a bit more than a “retired nurse”.
        
        Stop telling porkies.
        
        19 2
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        January 22, 2022 12:57pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        You saved me from replying. Such a comparison is absurd.
        
        13 1
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        January 22, 2022 2:56pm
- tf78
  
  These days, Maori have a lot of European/other blood so there’s no reason that I can see, that they would be anymore susceptible to Covid than anyone other nationality.
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If you are familiar with Psalm 2 (KJV):
  
  “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?”
  
  then you’re a heathen…..
  
  “He aha ka nana ai nga tauiwi, ka whakaaro horihori ai nga iwi?”
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:59am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It’s nothing like the Spanish Flu. That was beyond virulent and took my grandmother. That was one of the most vigorous acting flus in all history.
  
  Omicron is now being almost ignored in England. The Daily Mail reports are insignificant. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html)
  Don’t let epidemiologists, who never get out of their castles, ramp up your fear. One at least is still using Fortran and is famous for his excessive projections.
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:00pm
MCōs

I see old Meatloaf has died & there’s talk of covid-19.
That guy looked distinctly unhealthy forty years ago when he first hit the big time.
With a name like that he was never going to look like Mick Jagger.
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January 22, 2022 9:09am
- oldfella
  
  Just spotted this interesting tidbit in a story about Meatloaf’s death…
  Meat Loaf was a vegetarian from 1981 to 1992. In 2019, he tried becoming a vegan. He once said, “There have been vegetarians who wouldn’t speak to me because of my name.” In fact, he was a big fan of singer k.d. lang and wanted to meet her but he says she refused because of his name. He says he stopped being a fan after that!!
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:37pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  “Talk of covid 19.” Yep, like most other cases. “talk.”
  He died “with” covid. Meaningless nonsense, like all the others who died “with” covid.
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:10pm
Benedict Yu

“Labour has demonstrated our ability to manage challenges and change, and we will continue to demonstrate our ability to manage challenges and change when it comes to climate, housing, poverty and everything that we continue to face as a nation,” she [Jacinda] said.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300499698/covid19-jacinda-ardern-urges-labour-caucus-to-stay-humble-ahead-of-omicron-update

??????

So Jacinda thinks the Government has successfully managed “housing” in New Zealand. By enriching long term housing owners and pricing the next generation out of housing. Wasn’t this the exact opposite of what she promised in 2017?

I commented before that any politician in Taiwan who failed spectacularly would be shamed into resigning.

There is something sociopathic about a political leader who gets in front of an audience and boasts of ‘success’ in an endeavour which all objective evidence suggests is a horrifying failure. With that mentality, how can we believe anything she says?
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January 22, 2022 9:18am
- Nickc2
  
  how can we believe anything she says?
  In short, most people don’t IMO.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:44am
- tf78
  
  BY, I saw Biden do that exact same self-congratulatory speech just yesterday.
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:25am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING…

I see where ‘Meatloaf’ was an outspoken anti-vaxxer and anti-masker before dying from Covid.

Meat recently told a reporter….”If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled”.

Just saying.
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January 22, 2022 9:20am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  The man is much more likely to have died from co-morbidity factors.
  
  19 2
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  January 22, 2022 9:26am
- kowtow
  
  Funny old world , before the kungflu when rock an rollers popped their clogs early we all just harrumphed and put it down to their , cough cough , “lifestyle” .
  
  Now the bat flu is to blame . Just another not so subtle change in how the Media want us to view our world , through the eyes of a lab bat.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:28am
  - MCōs
    
    What exactly did Meatloaf have ‘kungflu’, ‘bat flu’, ‘COVID-19’ or ‘rock and rock lifestyle’?
    Who are these old rockers who you say have died of COVID-19?
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:11am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Here we go Cossie…… found the link 😀
      
      https://trib.al/rvLruTX
      
      6 1
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      January 22, 2022 10:47am
    - kowtow
      
      Er , where did I say any old rockers have died of kung flu ?
      
      And I didn’t say anything specific to the fatty rocker.
      
      You’re making stuff up.
      
      7 1
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      January 22, 2022 11:17am
      - MCōs
        
        “Funny old world , before the kungflu when rock an rollers popped their clogs early we all just harrumphed and put it down to their , cough cough , “lifestyle” .
        
        Now the bat flu is to blame .”
        
        Sorry, you said ‘bat flu’.
        
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        January 22, 2022 12:19pm
- emmess
  
  Who said Meatloaf died of Covid?
  
  https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/meat-loaf-dead-at-74
  https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/21/entertainment/meat-loaf-obit/index.html
  
  I can’t see that reported anywhere
  
  Anyway, RIP Meatloaf
  Absolute Legend
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:58am
- Master Mariner
  
  Just thinking ” Like a Bat out of Hell” should be Labours new “Theme” song.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:07am
  - Fletch
    
    “I would do anything for love, but I won’t get vaxxed…” ?
    Same.
    
    11 2
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    January 22, 2022 12:19pm
- Fletch
  
  The Artist Formerly Known As Mince….
  
  2 5
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  January 22, 2022 12:19pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  No, he died “with” covid. Even the Whoreald says “with” and you can bet 115 million dollars they would have said “from” if they thought it was.
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:12pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Just wait until the shit hits the fan

I expect we will get a very sanitized version of that reality.

Even when families are stuck at home trying to cope with their sick elderly and health-compromised kin, we’ll have our media droning on about how much better off we are than the rest of the world because Our Dear PM held the virus at bay and gave us a wonderful summer.
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January 22, 2022 9:22am
- lifesgood
  
  The weather gave us a wonderful summer.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:31am
  - tf78
    
    Mainly because they were all on holiday.
    
    16 1
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    January 22, 2022 10:27am
- KevO'Brien
  
  She left everyone hanging on “what’s next” and the traffic light on hold–not green,
  Meanwhile the MIQ and wedding planners were busy preparing another paying event.
  
  16 1
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  January 22, 2022 10:01am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    A paying event with Zero chance of cancellation
    
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    January 22, 2022 11:59am
lifesgood

I see a Curia poll is out. Beyond belief that Jacinda has made a gain. How believable are Curia polls? Just asking.
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January 22, 2022 9:31am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  The poll was done when she was on her extended holiday and therefore invisible.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:52am
  - lifesgood
    
    OK. I see this is David Farrar’s company so this is one I WOULD trust, oh dear.
    
    13 2
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    January 22, 2022 10:06am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      People were quite pleased that she STFU for a few weeks. Maybe they’re trying to encourage her?
      
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      January 22, 2022 1:14pm
- cjn
  
  Lifesgood: The National Party and ACT to a lesser extent is saying that the country is going in the right direction by closing the borders and ostracising the unvaccinated and the only difference in policy is that National would be more efficient and go harder faster and keep the unvaccinated out of the supermarkets logically both Labour and National supporters must answer that the country is going in the right direction. After last two years we should be totally cynical about data.
  
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  January 22, 2022 3:26pm
DeepBlue

Or maybe OM is in the community from another source like a Port or Airline worker…

Stuff reports “Genome sequencing of the new Omicron case in Palmerston North has shown no links to the MIQ facility, suggesting the virus was contracted before the person’s managed isolation stay, giving it an incubation period of more than 10 days.”
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January 22, 2022 9:33am
- rangitoto
  
  Or they caught it from someone else in MIQ who also tested negative.
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:45am
  - bronny1
    
    Or they caught it in the community.
    
    I’m 50% sure I had it last week.
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:16pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Nothing says “Trust the Science” like “You aren’t allowed to sue us” and “Sure you can see the data – in 55 years from now”
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January 22, 2022 9:43am
- KevO'Brien
  
  A top reason for my refusal of the “vaccines”. How could I give informed consent when the info is withheld? Our govt had a duty likewise to see that the info was there.
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:06am
- kevn
  
  @SteveO… Trust is long gone.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:32am
Yvette

Secret state report reveals swamped ICUs; Omicron will evade face masks
The government is bracing itself for an Omicron outbreak that will swamp the country’s health system and elude the precautionary measures which have prevented coronavirus transmission so far, according to a document leaked to Māori Television.

The document from the Insights and Reporting Team in the Covid-19 Group says while community cases are decreasing, Omicron in MIQ is on a tear [having great success over a period of time] and given the variant’s transmissibility, it’s likely it will eventually make it through the border.

■ The report highlights concerns intensive care beds are ‘limited’ across district health boards, with just one-third, or 108 ICU beds (36%) available now.

■ A chief concern is there is “no ICU capacity” at West Coast and Hawke’s Bay DHBs.

■ One of the biggest concerns of an Omicron outbreak will be the “impact on business continuity” according to the report. “It is likely that current isolation requirements for close contacts will lead to high rates of work absenteeism,” the report says.
https://www.teaomaori.news/secret-state-report-reveals-swamped-icus-omicron-will-evade-face-masks
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January 22, 2022 10:10am
- Yvette
  
  Further –
  Newsroom –Updated August 27, 2021
  Woeful vaccination rates were one thing but when it became clear according to Ministry of Health figures that the numbers of ICU beds had been reduced from 358 beds in July last year to 284 today, there had been no increase in ICU staffing for 18 months, and the NZ Medical Association’s call a year ago for a co-ordinated national ICU strategy had been ignored, the Government’s indolence began to look scandalous.
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/govt-needs-a-new-story-on-covid
  
  358 minus 284 is of course a reduction of 74 ICU beds.
  If, as the leaked document says, “108 ICU beds (36%) available now”, 1 / 0.36 x 108 gives a total of 300 ICU beds available nationally, so 58 less than in July 2020.
  So of those 300 ICU beds, 192 are apparently currently in use and 108, as the document says, are available now.
  We may be screwed
  
  New ICU beds approved for Covid battle will be ready mid-2022
  December 03 2021
  New Zealand’s capacity to fight Covid-19 will get a boost with more intensive care unit (ICU) beds, but they are at least six months away.
  
  The Government has announced funding for 12 new beds at Christchurch Hospital and two at Tauranga Hospital, while eight elective surgery beds in Auckland’s North Shore Hospital will be converted for surge capacity.
  
  There will also be four new high dependency (HDU) beds at Tauranga and two at North Shore.
  The money will cover only the costs of establishing the beds. It comes from $100m set aside to accelerate ICU projects as part of the Government’s Response and Recovery Fund.
  A $544m operating fund had been approved by Cabinet and was available for health boards to cover staffing of the beds with both ICU specialist staff and training for non-ICU nursing staff.
  
  The beds are due to be available by June.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/127168446/new-icu-beds-approved-for-covid-battle-will-be-ready-mid2022
  
  Yes, we may be screwed
  
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  January 22, 2022 10:36am
- kowtow
  
  The “health system’s” gonna be swamped anyway .
  
  Three wards in Daft Dunners’ hosp down with norovirus .
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:18am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Why is Maori News getting info the Pakeha are not?
  
  This govt is going to have to be pulled up NOW for this backhanded separation of NZ into Maori and Others.
  
  Haven’t we paid enough already under the Waitangi settlements?
  
  12 2
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  January 22, 2022 1:07pm
  - MCōs
    
    That news is available to anyone who can access the internet and can read English.
    
    According to this article less than $5bil has been paid out for treaty settlements up to a couple of years ago.
    https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/treaty-settlements-list
    In 2020 the government paid out $14bil in Covid related subsidies.
    
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    January 22, 2022 1:35pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      The article referred to in Yvette’s post above is dated 3 December 2021.
      
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      January 22, 2022 3:29pm
Southern Raider

Phil Goff (and by default Labour) seem to be nominating one of the most woke counsellors as heir apparent for Auckland Mayor

God help us
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January 22, 2022 10:12am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Highly qualified. Mid 30’s no world experience. member of the Labour Party and Gay. Ticks all the boxes apart from he is white.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:09pm
  - MCōs
    
    Who are you referring to?
    
    3 5
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    January 22, 2022 1:36pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Try and keep up Cossie……SHEESH!!
      
      9 1
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      January 22, 2022 4:36pm
Gravelroad

Just been to the supermarket.
Amazed at how the people have bought into the Prime Minister’s apocalypse soon marketing.
Trollies piled high with toilet paper, tissues, bottled water, tins of fruit and huge bags of flour, sugar and frozen stuff.
They seem to believe they will be under siege and unable to leave their houses for weeks.
I must have missed something because this panic buying is worse here than in the first lockdowns.
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January 22, 2022 10:34am
- kowtow
  
  They just followin’ Trev’s advice.
  
  Not to mention the general fear mongering goin’ on in the Media , again, right now.
  
  Where’s Cpl Jones when ya need him most.
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:20am
Hugh Jarse

Great to see Chris Luxon out and about and obviously getting good crowds wherever he goes. Also a good way to get around our objectively bereft media and get a clear message directly to the public. To my mind it’s a great sign of leadership to step up in very challenging times. I think the combination of Chris and Nicola will appeal to the 20-40 year olds and particularly the young female voters or future voters which is currently the PM’s happy hunting ground. However some comments/questions for National leadership from my perspective. What is Nationals vision and the strategic objectives underpinning that vision ?. If it’s there I am not clear on having seen it. The Labour led government are publicly only focussed on Covid-19, that’s it. They have nothing else. There is no clear strategy to managing their own goals, energy deficit, economic growth, social housing disaster, crime and gangs, health, pending industrial relations disasters, housing, inflation, debt, the economy and a fractured society thanks to their only recently exposed co-governance agreements with Māori. It’s a target rich environment out there. COVID-19 will burn itself out, the only thing a government has to do is react and try and minimise the damage along the way. They can’t control it as we have seen with Delta and now Omicron. Alongside the crisis management response, the more important strategies should have been our recovery ones and we aren’t seeing those from this government. Good people who have tried have walked away frustrated, Sir Ian Taylor, Rob Fyfe, the Mowbrays for example. I would like to see that National do actually have a strategy for working around the media and communicating in the lead up to the next election. It’s not over the top to say that the media have completely lost objectivity in their quest to keep who they see as the future of NZ in power, they are generally the same age, white, good earners, university educated, they belong to the same gene pool of minor NZ celebrities and puddle in each other’s ponds, they are bereft of any attempt at being unbiased. They can afford labour and green policies, unlike the blue collar worker as is now clear with the usual Labour policy outcome of high inflation. I would like to see a commitment to implementing a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid response with some draft Terms of Reference as soon as they win the next election. I would like to see a strategy for addressing our opening of the border and getting some form of tourism underway again, I want to see a strategy for how we will return our economy to a positive state, I want to see a strategy for how we are going to manage the debt that’s Ben racked up, I want to see a strategy for giving this country direction and and a positive outlook. Lastly I think National need to reconsider the current approach of chasing every passing Covid-19 car, I don’t think it’s effective and possibly it’s damaging. I think it’s a huge distraction trying to fight down in the detail of Covid response and suspect that Labour love it. Rightly or wrongly a fair percentage of the public think this government has done well in its response. I also want to see the shadows ministers come out and start speaking to their portfolios outlining what their strategic objectives are and how they are going to meet them. You only have 18 months National, if you don’t demonstrate the required level of leadership and vision you are gone and NZ can’t have another three years of the current level of incompetence and division. Rant over and the best of luck to Chris and Nicola, NZ needs you to be successful.
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January 22, 2022 10:48am
- Bob
  
  There is no point in NATIONAL releasing any strategy policies at present.
  1. the media would never report such in context, if they even reported National policy strategies; it is against the rules of the ‘public interest reporting that the media have sold their integrity to.
  
  2 Labour would take the thoughts and try to implement them; without having any comprehension of what the policy is intended to provide.
  
  3 publicly announcing said policies may cause Ardern to panic and call a ‘snap election’; while she still thinks that she is riding high in the polls, in the hope that electors would not have time to digest the proposed National policies.
  
  4 The end result would be the definite collapse of the NZ economy and way of life into COMMUNISIM.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:09pm
- Colville
  
  Agree.
  saw him in hastings… impressive speaker.. tended to go on a bit long when he could have moved on.
  but he will do well.
  I will likely still vote ACT tho
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:21pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvnsc706Sss

The Legal Ball Is Rolling….Can You Help?

Melanie & I engaged a very good Lawyer to proceed with Legal proceedings to retain my firearms licence, get our property back and send an impacting clear message to NZ Police that Kiwi’s will not take excessive abuse of power without a fight. Justice is not free in New Zealand, and neither is an excellent Lawyer. We are very thankful to Barrister Grant Fletcher for a generous discount for his time. [5:46]
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January 22, 2022 10:54am
curry4me

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

Top 10 Things That Are Destroying the United States (According to You).

Over the last month, I have been running surveys on Google Surveys and have been asking people what they thought was the biggest problem we face in this country and what is destroying our way of life in the USA. I listed 40 popular issues the United States is dealing with these days like health care, inflation, politics, media, social media, and a bunch more. I took the findings and brought them to the community tabs of World According to Briggs and asked you guys to ranks them. We had some good discussions going on. Surprisingly people for the most part were respectful. [12:34. Normally he does videos on the ten best cities in a given state. Or the ten worst etc.]
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January 22, 2022 10:55am
Maggie Pie

TWITTER TRENDING…

Don’t think Jabcinda would’ve been expecting this 😀

https://twitter.com/Wholamiamwhoiam/status/1484625805779279872

(strong language warning)
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January 22, 2022 11:10am
- lifesgood
  
  I get that they are yelling at Jacinda but what about?
  
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  January 22, 2022 11:48am
- MCōs
  
  I wonder who those people were doing the yelling?
  Surely not Citizens for Luxon?
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:31pm
  - RightNow
    
    Tangata whenua
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:49pm
Yvette

Cabinet weighs up best arrival time for Omicron
Ministers are discussing choosing the best time for the new Covid variant to spread in the community as the country’s health system braces for the worst. Some hospitals won’t cope if there’s an outbreak so Māori and iwi health providers are preparing to take services into the community

For now the biggest lever the Government has is the border and no decisions have been made on when it might open and how. But in an interview with Newsroom, Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said conversations are being had about whether having Omicron deliberately spread ahead of winter would be better.

“We are considering issues around – and there’s never a good time – but whether there is a time that’s better than others.’’

“We’ve got a range of different models. One of the big questions is once Covid-19 takes hold in the community, with a higher rate of vaccination for example, how long does it take before it hits the peak,’’ Hipkins told Newsroom.

“Those are the sort of debates the modellers are going through at the moment and those models will inform the decisions we make.”

That would mean intentionally letting the virus into the community but trying to do so in a managed way that doesn’t immediately overwhelm the health system, but allows for a greater demand on hospitals ahead of winter illnesses like the flu and other respiratory illnesses setting in.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cabinet-weighs-up-best-arrival-time-for-omicron

A Judas goat is a trained goat used in general animal herding. The Judas goat is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination – not always with a happy outcome
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January 22, 2022 11:15am
- KevO'Brien
  
  those models will inform the decisions we make
  
  Who is capable of making proper decisions? on the Health front isn’t that supposed to be Bloomfield’s job?
  Is Babyface an economist, health and demographics expert? Do they have any sound advisers as they have dumped treasury for MBIE?
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:13pm
Lee C

The economy going down the pan.
Food shortages.
Divisive ethno apartheid.
Tyrannical eg-maniacs in charge.
Media as government PR wing.
Childhood poverty.
House prices.
No ICU’s.
People trapped overseas for years.
Neighbour against neighbour.
Kids denied proper education for two years.

But never fear.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Here’s ‘Get vaxxed’ Luxon and he’s going to address the pertinent issues of the day.

Issues that ordinary Kiwis are losing sleep over.

He’s learning Te Reo in his spare time.
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January 22, 2022 11:16am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Don’t believe everything you see/hear in the media Lee. People who were at Luxon’s Napier event tell me his speech was wide-ranging, attacked a number of the Government’s key policy positions, and was very favourably received. The Te Reo response was an answer to a question from someone in the audience at Blenheim, but that’s all that’s been reported, along with the fact that the audience largely reflected Blenheim’s demographics.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:00pm
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    But he’s still a supporter of vaccine mandates and passports which is appalling. Especially when it goes against the advice of the Director General, MoH and WHO.
    
    Appalling weakness from Luxon which suggests more “Labour Lite” shit from National.
    
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    January 22, 2022 1:00pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Luxon, and Bishop for that matter remind me of that famous quote: “These are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others”.
      
      That Luxon supports vaxx apartheid is utterly disgraceful. He should hang his head in shame, as should anyone who is similarly supportive.
      
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      January 22, 2022 2:39pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    I asked my 30 something daughter (not a Jacinda fan girl) if she would she ever go to a meeting to hear a political leader such as Mr Luxon.
    She said she would if she knew about it (doesn’t read newspapers much) and she could get time off work.
    If you are going to hold meetings on a week day morning in a town like Blenheim then of course you are going to get the older people attending.
    Not much in the way of public transport there either.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:31pm
Cassandra

Luxon shouldn’t have any spare time, but if he wants to learn Maori then go ahead. But simultaneously do your job – we’ve heard very little about the important stuff from National and its leader. BTW I like “Let’s go Brenda!”
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January 22, 2022 11:37am
- Bob
  
  Cassandra it tis time for your to broaden your information sources; move away from Labour and Union newsletters, perhaps attend a few of Luxon’s well flagged events around the country.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:14pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  He is not allowed to be reported.
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:15pm
Fletch

Hmmm, up until today, this was the advice from the WHO about vaccinating children aged 5-11

There are currently no efficacy or safety data for children below the age of 12 years. Until such data are available, individuals below 12 years of age should not be routinely vaccinated.

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-can-take-the-pfizer-biontech-covid-19–vaccine

Now they’ve had a big meeting and the say they can recommend extending a reduced dosage to that age group. Yet still, the last paragraph –

The panel said the recommendation for use of Pfizer’s booster dose was only for certain priority groups and that it was not endorsing “unfettered” use in all ages.

“We simply don’t have evidence yet on the need for or the evidence on the performance of boosters (in children below 12 years of age),” O’Brien said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/who-advisory-panel-recommends-extending-use-pfizer-vaccine-5-11-year-olds-2022-01-21/

So I’m not sure why NZ has started doing it willy-nilly already even before this advice came out only today? To be honest, there still isn’t any data for that age group showing safety or efficacy. Pfizer didn’t run a big enough test on that age bracket. So what are they basing this decision on?
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January 22, 2022 12:06pm
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  TV said so.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:59pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Not just kids. There has been zero – ZERO – clinical trials on a three or more dose protocol. No clinical trials. No safety data. Those people rolling their sleeves up for D3 are being experimented on.
  
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  January 22, 2022 2:49pm
  - bronny1
    
    There’s been zero properly run clinical trials for a two dose regime to be fair….
    
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    January 22, 2022 3:35pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Yup. Pfizer unblinded their main trail at 90 days, but not before at least one trialist was dumped after a serious side effect manifest.
      
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      January 22, 2022 7:33pm
waripori

If anyone wants a real life demonstration of what sort of illness Omicron is they have it in Wellington Phoenix. They have had 17 players get infected this month and last night they won their first match in yonks. I reckon a decent bout of flu would have affected them more.

The reason Mallard is suggesting people stock up is not because they will be home sick. It is because the Government wont let any truck drivers work if they have met any of the hundreds of thousands of people who have met anyone who has ever had a cold. Shelves will be empty.

Incidentally , I reckon the reason Covid deaths look high in NSW is because everyone has had Omicron and anyone who dies from anything will be infected. Not because it is the virus that got them.
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January 22, 2022 12:13pm
- kowtow
  
  Have any Warriors been sent into ICU yet ?
  
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  January 22, 2022 1:38pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  That’s partly the reason. The main reason is that if there’s Covid in your home, you have to isolate for 14 days. Imagine how many people that’s going to:
  
  1) take out of the workforce, and
  2) rely on people from outside their household to do their shopping for them
  
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  January 22, 2022 2:15pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Where did the 14 days come from? By the time you are aware of the omicron it nearly over. I believe others have 5 days.
    
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    January 22, 2022 6:28pm
Tony Stuart

Another outstanding piece from Steven Joyce in the Herald today. Unfortunately it’s paywalled, but here’s a sample:

It has truly been a summer out of the box. Continuous days of near-perfect weather have helped put the trials of 2021 behind us. We’ve all enjoyed our times at the beach, lake, or in the garden.

Unfortunately, ahead of us the storm clouds are clearly gathering. We all know about Omicron, but a less talked about weather system is likely to have a longer lasting impact on our lives in 2022 and beyond.

The sad fact is that the world economy is facing darker days ahead. Despite appearing to have skated smoothly through the pandemic, the pressures have been building up. Ironically, the very medicine that has made the pandemic seem so economically benign has created the pressures we now have to deal with. Like much in life, in economics it seems you can take your lumps now or later — but you will have to take them.

The most obvious problem remains inflation. Pretty much everyone now accepts that central banks and governments overshot the stimulus response. Inflation is not transitory as was the collective hope of policymakers last year. In the US it has now hit 7 per cent, the highest level in 40 years. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has finally admitted inflation represents a “real threat” to the US economy. Not before time.

Back here things are not yet as bad, but we are doing our best to emulate our American friends. Inflation for the September year was just a tick under 5 per cent, with much of that occurring in the most recent six months. There is every chance we will be much closer to 7 than 5 by the middle of this year.

Inflation is bad enough, because it erodes the purchasing power of ordinary people and hits the poorest hardest. But the medicine needed to treat inflation presents its own significant problems.

In order to bring inflation under control, interest rates have to go up, and all the signs suggest a more aggressive set of rate hikes than many were envisaging even six months ago. In the US they are now expecting four interest rate increases this year, while here in New Zealand our largest consumer bank has just upped its expected interest rate increases by a further percentage point, and now expects the OCR to hit 3 per cent.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/steven-joyce-after-the-sunshine-comes-the-economic-storm/BEUAO4OGWS7ZLDFVUP2F3X6M4I/

The twin threat of inflation and interest rate rises should be sending a shiver down the spines of Kiwis. The cost of living increase is obvious now when you go to the supermarket, and it’s only going to get worse if there are supply chain issues when Omicron starts to spread. The rules for isolation around those who test positive and their household contacts are going to see tens of thousands of people taken out of the workforce, and that cannot help but slow down or disrupt the supply chain.

Interest rate rises too are going to hurt. They’ve been so low for so long, that many New Zealand homeowners have forgotten how expensive even modest interest rates make owning a property. Those who have borrowed heavily in a rapidly-rising property market will be the first to feel the pain.

And for the first time, Finance Minister Grant Robertson seemed to be getting an understanding of the looming economic downturn when he said yesterday that the $69b Covid budget was pretty much exhausted. Now is not the time to be adding to our debt, but it’s going to take a quantum shift for Robertson to have to reign in his spending.

Wouldn’t in be good if Steven Joyce was still in Parliament, proffering good financial advice?
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January 22, 2022 12:18pm
- waripori
  
  Is there any chance of Joyce having another go Tony? My recollection is he gave family as his reason for pulling the plug. Seems more likely he did not feel the party gave him a fair go when English stepped down. Simon Bridges would not be happy but this country is going to need all the sensible people it can find.
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:41pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I’m guessing it’s unlikely waripori, but I suppose you can never say never. I think it’s more likely that if Joyce was to become involved, it would be in some sort of advisory capacity, rather than as a candidate, or as the campaign chair.
    
    I recall him choking up during his valedictory when he talked about his son who is non-verbally autistic. It would be a big commitment to make to return as an MP. But the bloke still talks truckloads of common sense.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:21pm
- kowtow
  
  Blind Freddy can see the real rate of inflation is waaaay higher than the officials say it is.
  
  Can’t wait for car juice to hit $3 , then Ardern’s luvvies will really be squealling. And the Media will definitely turn .
  
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  January 22, 2022 12:48pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    You’re a little cheer-germ kowtow. Our business runs a fleet of around 20 vehicles, and a 15% increase in the price of fuel (to $3/l) would hit us hard.
    
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    January 22, 2022 2:22pm
    - kowtow
      
      Reading the tea leaves ,economically things could get very nasty .
      
      We can thank pollies of all hues the world over who’ve decided to print money and spend their way to ‘success’ since 2008 right up to now .
      
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      January 22, 2022 4:34pm
Yvette

Dr Siouxsie Wiles – from the University of Auckland – told RNZ the traffic light regime would be less effective at managing Omicron given the variant’s infectiousness.
“I’m really worried that the measures we have in place for red are just not good enough at stopping transmission.”
Wiles said in the case of an outbreak, authorities should immediately shut down certain venues and activities.
Read the full story here
11:30am – The Freedom and Rights Coalition is holding a number of marches and rallies across New Zealand protesting against mandatory vaccination and what they see as an erosion of people’s freedoms.
The event at the Domain has started and there looks to be around 1000 people there so far.
Other events are planned in Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Hastings.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/coronavirus-latest-on-covid-19-community-outbreak-saturday-january-22.html

… New Plymouth …

… in an interview with Newsroom, Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said conversations are being had about whether having Omicron deliberately spread ahead of winter would be better
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cabinet-weighs-up-best-arrival-time-for-omicron

Hipkins and Company may perhaps be praying more then than are Tamaki supporters or Brian is himself.
It would be surely so neat for Labour to be able to blame an omicron outbreak of Tamaki’s flock
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January 22, 2022 12:42pm
Maggie Pie

Ma called in earlier on her way home from NW.
Said she followed Trev’s warning and ‘stocked-up-large’ on essentials.
Spent nearly six-hundy buying every bottle of her fave Pinot that they had on the shelf….let alone everything else!

She was saying it’s the poor buggers who only have ‘Super’ to rely on she feels the most sorry for. Reckoned two tubes of Colgate-Optic-White would cost more than 10% of their weekly pension!
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January 22, 2022 1:27pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… That’s why your local NW man owns a big beachside place in Ohope.
  
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  January 22, 2022 4:14pm
Chuck Bird

Brian Tamaki is a soft target. Why do they not confiscate vehicles and arrest offenders?

Police report reckless driving at gang-related tangi on North Shore

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-report-reckless-driving-at-gang-related-tangi-on-north-shore/WZ543CO4EHU5KROTKYSRJYBQUM/
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January 22, 2022 1:44pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Talk about lazy journalism from Jo Moir – Political Editor – Newsroom

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cabinet-weighs-up-best-arrival-time-for-omicron

The article posted 6 hours ago on the Newsroom website carries the note – First posted May 21, 2021.

No-one in the world was aware of the existence of variant Omicron in May 2021…. It was first reported in November 2021.

Clearly the whole post is a rehash of something about
“Delta”. (remember that one…..).
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January 22, 2022 1:54pm
Max Mansplain

So today’s Hospitalisations figures sees a bit of a change…

0% Unvaccinated
87% Fully Vaccinated
13% Partially

Quick, get a booster… although I do have to add that there are only 8 people in hospital and zero in ICU.

https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/news-items/more-58000-vaccine-doses-given-yesterday-including-more-42000-boosters-43-community-cases-8-hospital
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January 22, 2022 1:55pm
Maggie Pie

Very few shops have ever asked to see my vaxx pass.
Mind you, most places I go into know me well enuff anyway.
Others obviously show some respect for anyone wearing a $220 ‘Balenciaga’ branded face-mask.

This is a bit of a larf…..

https://twitter.com/mycaptainplush/status/1484619619021524992
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January 22, 2022 2:27pm
- waripori
  
  You dont need a vax pass for retail Maggie. A $1.50 blue and white paper one is just as effective.
  
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  January 22, 2022 2:45pm
Handyman

Let’s not forget…
It is not up to us to protect the health system.
It is up to the health system (via the government) to protect us.
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January 22, 2022 2:51pm
Fletch

More Freedom Protests in Wellington and Auckland.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-anti-vaccine-protest-disrupts-central-wellington-auckland-aotea-square-protest-too/SGT2LC2762NGGP3FQHAMURCMHU/

They are supposed to be taking place in Christchurch, New Plymouth, as well.
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January 22, 2022 3:20pm
- bronny1
  
  Massive one in chch. Margaret from Merivale was just so upset apparently.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:40pm
fernglas

Siouxsie Wiles yet again betrays the nakedly political bias which she is prepared to bring to her so-called science expertise, by firstly denying what is obvious the world around, which is that Omicron is less dangerous than other Covid variants, and then by suggesting that the “privileged”, whomever they may be, will be able to avoid catching it by virtue of their privilege. She has unashamedly admitted that her science is informed by her politics, which makes her unfit to be treated as an expert, or indeed anything other than a charlatan.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-governments-red-traffic-light-for-outbreak-not-enough-dr-siouxsie-wiles/5F3OX7R5SF6VNTZO5CFQLYXJRA/
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January 22, 2022 3:31pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  What a prat. Giving opinions on stuff she has no scientific basis for whatever. Worse than Tamaki since at least he is arguing for freedoms while she is demanding they be removed.
  
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  January 22, 2022 6:50pm
- Taieri
  
  which makes her unfit to be treated as an expert
  ————
  
  She’s not and never was a Covid expert. She’s not a virologist, epidemiologist or a medical doctor, let alone pulmonary specialist. As you noted, there’s a name for someone who pretends to usurp authority in a discipline that he/she/undecided knows nothing about. It’s a charlatan…
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:01pm
Maggie Pie

JUST SAYING….

Even Arnie’s SUV looks like it’s on steroids.

https://mol.im/a/10429265
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January 22, 2022 3:57pm
- Graeme Hall
  
  looks more like a hearse. The Undertaker.
  
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  January 22, 2022 4:26pm
John Pakes

In a response to someone known only as Krazy Kiwi earlier I asked the question “what should the Government do?”
Someone known only as Man Among the Ruins has offered ” The Government should do very little and allow adults to decide for themselves.
Incredible. New Zealand is embroiled in a world wide health crisis that is devastating other nations and causing incredible pressure on hospital systems, causing death, and creating huge economic problems.
And Man among the Ruins suggests that the solution is anarchy?
Mind blowing, and thankfully he/her will never be listened to by the people who matter.
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January 22, 2022 4:06pm
- Mike
  
  They are nihilists who so fear and loathe the modern world that they wish it to burn down so that the surviving heroes can re-erect their imagined paradise on the ashes.
  
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  January 22, 2022 4:37pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Look what the UK has just decided to do
  
  High Street pharmacies in England to help people lose weight
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60081217
  
  During the pandemic, obesity has been linked to worse outcomes from Covid.
  
  Can’t see Our Government rushing to tell the overweight and Obese to undertake some weight management.
  
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  January 22, 2022 5:08pm
  - fernglas
    
    Given that obesity disproportionately afflicts Maori and Polynesian, any attempt to do so would inevitably be seen as racist.
    
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    January 22, 2022 8:38pm
  - kevn
    
    @Maggy… The UK have also discovered major alcohol excess is now a problem post lockdowns.
    Who wooda thort.
    
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    January 22, 2022 9:08pm
- bythesea
  
  you don’t have to guess.
  
  UK has completed the omicron transition and Australia is over the hump.
  
  Australia is a very good comparison study.
  Fortunately NZ avoided the stages where the police unleashed brutality against the populace in a vain attempt at eradication, so we can go straight to the bit where there is widespread infection and the hospitals care for the most vulnerable and four weeks later it’s mostly over.
  
  Doing this in summer would be ideal as everyone will be in tip top immunological health and infection rates should be a bit slower than in a winter scenario
  
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  January 22, 2022 6:41pm
- bronny1
  
  Where on earth did he say anarchy? He didn’t. He suggest that we should be treated like the responsible citizens we are.
  
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  January 22, 2022 9:42pm
Chuck Bird

Is Tucker right that the US is mad to pick a fight with Russia over the Ukraine? If the USA is squabbling with Russia then China will see that as an opportunity to invade Taiwan and further.

Tucker: They suddenly care about borders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQxPQ87t7Do
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January 22, 2022 4:46pm
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  Russia has a legitimate defensive interest in not having Ukraine as a member of NATO (i.e. under America’s direct influence), in much the same way as it would be similarly intolerable to the US for its rival Russia to have a substantial military presence directly across the border in Canada.
  
  The American regime is in steep decline and is nowhere near the hegemon it once was about 30 years ago, so if push comes to shove, it will have to let Russia have Ukraine and let China have Taiwan if necessary. In either case, there are only two scenarios: they will either draw a line in the sand and then not be able or willing to back it up (in which case they will be humiliated), or they will start WW3 by defending territories that are irrelevant to their interests. They already have the Baltic states under the auspices of NATO, so to try to also incorporate Ukraine for no good reason would be folly.
  
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  January 22, 2022 5:48pm
  - Mike
    
    You might be missing the bit where people in countries like Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and, yes, Canada get to decide for themselves whether they want the Russians telling them what to do.
    
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    January 22, 2022 6:29pm
    - Man Among the Ruins
      
      Maybe, but the real politik is that if the “people in countries like Ukraine and Canada” did in fact decide that their nation should become a member of NATO or to host the Russian military, respectively, (neither of which would be decided by the man in the street in either country), then by doing so they are going to be the locus of military action. They should therefore keep these consequences in mind during the hypothetical deliberations you imagine they will undertake.
      
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      January 22, 2022 6:58pm
      - Mike
        
        Your inclinations lead you to equate nations without considering the qualitative differences between liberal democracies and autocracies.
        
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        January 22, 2022 7:52pm
  - Nickc2
    
    If it wasn’t for the Biden Families’ financial gains from Ukraine, America wouldn’t be interested.
    Just imagine what could happen to the US Democrats if Russia unearthed documentation and witnesses to Hunter and Joe’s financial gains courtesy of Ukraine whilst Joe was VPOTUS under the Obama regime.
    
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    January 22, 2022 10:55pm
kowtow

From the Only in Ireland file ;

‘Gardaí have described as “very sad” a bizarre incident in Carlow where two people dragged a recently deceased elderly man into a post office in an apparent attempt to collect his pension.’

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40790703.html
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January 22, 2022 4:47pm
- Mike
  
  Waking Ned Devine come to, er, life?
  
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  January 22, 2022 6:30pm
CAKE FACE1

Alas, CAKE thinks “Aotearoa” has gone beyond a tipping point, to a place where our future prospects are dire.

In a democracy, there is a certain amount of levelling out between the haves and the have nots. You want to have enough redistribution to keep your society fair and functioning, but not too much, such that there is a huge disincentive to be productive.

The issue becomes how many looters and moochers you have, versus how many productive people you have.

In my view, the growth in productive people and industry is anaemic. On the other hand, the growth of the looter and moocher class is relentless and exponential.

The Universities have pumped out enormous quantities of arts graduates, in bogus disciplines. These looters and moochers have become the new “elite”, as the bureaucracy is relentlessly expanded to employ them all. They are paid astronomical amounts, but add nothing to the productive ability of the country. These state workers believe that they are entitled to all the spoils of “Aotearoa”, but someone else needs to pay for it all.

Covid has laid bare the sheer size of the problem. The so-called “experts” coming out of the woodwork are the tip of the iceberg in terms of looting and mooching at the public trough. They all get paid massive salaries.

The sheer numbers of extremely well-paid bureaucrats are completely off the charts. It is a drag on the productive economy that simply can’t be afforded.

Of course, there is a vicious circle at play here. The underclass has increased in size massively in recent years, increasing the likelihood of a left victory. Similarly, the composition of middle class is beginning to be overwhelmed with highly paid bureaucrats, who could never earn their salaries in the private sector. As such, they will vote for the left until they die.

I suspect that if a miracle occurs, and somehow National and ACT are elected, even they won’t remove the deadwood. More likely, they will confine themselves to halting the expansion of the looter and moocher class, rather than cutting it back. The entitled bureaucrat voting bloc is just too strong.

The productive goose that lays the golden eggs is being tortured, and looks to be on the verge of death to me.

At least we have Cindy’s wedding to look forward to…
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January 22, 2022 5:05pm
Alan Wilkinson

There’s a glimmer of light in the trend to remote working post-Covid. Those who can surf that wave won’t be drowned in the woke flood waters.
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January 22, 2022 8:26pm

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