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March 12, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 12 March 2022

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General Debate

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mikenmildagain

Happy World Day Against Cyber Censorship!
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March 12, 2022 8:00am
- dubya
  
  You should post that one on The Standard and see what Lynn Prentice does, Mike.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:53am
  - Colville
    
    Ahhhh good ole Lynn.
    The boy with a girls name and self proclaimed Worlds Best SysOp.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:34am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I think I get enough fun here without venturing out to other branches of the clogosphere. It’s like having a favourite pub where the staff know you and there’s a reliable mix of crazy, and semi-crazy patrons, with a bouncer to keep things mostly under control.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:37am
Warren

Clare Trevett, Fran O’Sullivan, Janet Wilson and Katie Bradford all in the News giving Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister their expert advice on what she has to do to get the public back in her camp.
Please can these past there used by date Journalists explain why it has taken just about four years for them to change their views and opinion as Jacinda Ardern has not changed in her high and mighty I know better view of what our country needs.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/political-poll-ardern-labours-plunge-to-luxon-national-world-reacts/W3MWG3BJQSPHOZWI5L3N7JAG7U/
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March 12, 2022 8:00am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Now you know who are the main recipients of the $55M bribe!!! Surprised to see Audrey Not So Young in the advisors list. She is number #1 Labour cheer leader. Red Claire leads the list.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:28am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Betcha her upcoming trip to NY includes a job interview at the UN with an early start date.
  Hopefully Robertson will take over as temporary PM. Labours vote will diminish. When your Min of Fin and the economy tanks no matter what the cause you will be blamed by the citizens.
  
  Of course it could be Michael (what should I do now Dear) Wood. The result will be much the same.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:32am
  - pdm
    
    If Grunter becomes PM will they leave the Finance Minister position vacant? He is hopeless but there are no other credible options in Labours parliamentary ranks.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:19am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      New Zealand’s first openly gay Prime Minister too, even if only via the back door.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:25am
    - GazzaW
      
      Maybe two of the brighter lights in the Cabinet -David Clarke [Clark] or Phil Twyford?
      
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      March 12, 2022 2:04pm
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    This what I call “day dreaming”. If Cindy resigns any time before next election, I will vote Greens for the rest of my life.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:19am
    - Frank the tank
      
      So we are going to see lots of Chloe posts in 6 months time then SCS? You know she doesn’t bat for your side right?
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:49am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Do the unions feel that aotearoa is ready for a gay PM?
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:32am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Yes they are. But who said Cindy is a gay?
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:58am
  - Phronesis
    
    Michael Wood deserves to be known as Michael “river of filth” Wood for the rest of his political career. Just like Hillary “basket of deplorables” Clinton.
    
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    March 12, 2022 1:05pm
  - wilderbeast
    
    Wood as PM, that truly would be gold. Just about the dimmest and least inspiring individual I’ve ever seen. The only thing even vaguely dynamic about him is his nasty ideological blindness.
    
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    March 12, 2022 1:55pm
    - AitchW
      
      He certainly looks an oleaginous character on tv. Chinless wonder, probably the perfect replacement for Adern from the right’s point of view.
      
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      March 12, 2022 3:28pm
- Souvlaki
  
  Amy Brooke in the Spectator always worth a read:
  
  https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/03/is-jacinda-ardern-megalomanic/
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:50am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    I have developed a visceral hatred for Ardern.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:26am
    - The Other Enoch
      
      You’re late to the party.
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:11pm
    - Lexicon
      
      I’ve never hated any politician in particular, but there’s something about this one that repels every fibre of my being.
      
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      March 12, 2022 1:43pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      On a personal level I don’t “hate” her. Hate is a strong word. Having said that I hate her politics and can’t stand listening to her patronising evasive double speak.
      
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      March 12, 2022 8:37pm
- bjools
  
  From the article
  “National has rated higher than Labour in the latest 1News-Kantar poll for the first time in more than two years,”
  To me, this seems to be the first time the media are acknowledging that there was a time BEFORE covid-19.
  and
  that she was screwing it up then.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:11am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Wait for the $55M bribed MSM to swing into action. Ready for attack on Luxon and National in the next few days…..Alison Mau will be planning a crap piece on how the high inflation is due to years of bad governing by National gummits.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:25am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Especially for women, natch
      
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      March 12, 2022 8:15pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  “The world is still talking about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern” – yes, but in a “can you believe what that stupid little wannabe totalitarian girl has done NOW?” kind of way.
  
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  March 12, 2022 3:56pm
Tomtoddy

Arrogance and obsession are a toxic combination. The Auckland Council and its out-of-control offspring Auckland Transport are maintaining their ill-conceived, anti car, pro pushbike campaign, gradually strangling the city. With a bit of help from Covid they have wrecked the inner city – it is now Deadsville. They are running plans to lower speed limits on hundreds of roads based on the nonsense that speed kills. They believe cars are a menace, gas guzzlers wrecking the environment and somehow they speed up at times running over people. They have these fancy stats showing how many people get run over at 30kph and how many more are knocked down at 50kph. No robust analysis – just selective numbers to support their case. Cars kill, not drivers. What?

Out Papakura they are letting developers build housing with streets barely able to take two small cars and with no garage and no off street parking. “You don’t need a car. It’s only 5 kms to the railway station, a nice bracing walk”. Subsequently the streets are jammed packed with cars parked at all angles and spots making it a hazard for kids dodging around them.

The one lonely cyclist who uses the Gt South Road through Takanini is complaining to the Ferald about a lack of continuity in the cycleway. He wants the promised $4 million spent to improve his “safety”. As a regular user of the Gt South Road I have only ever seen one cyclist between Papakura and the Southern Motorway. One road lane was removed years ago slowing cars to build cycleways that never get used.

These clowns, determined to stop cars, have no shame, no conscience, no concern over spending vast sums of rate money on cycleways that never get used. They gaily announced on two mornings on Richmond Road between 8am and 9am, eight cyclists used it each day. On two mornings between 7.30am and 8.30am, four and six cyclists used it. Over the four days, eight people cycled on the footpath or the road. Not a single cyclist was seen using the citybound cycleway at the West Lynn shops when a Ferald photographer was there between 8.40am and 10.20am on Thursday.

“We have allocated another $35 million for cycleways in the leafy suburbs for those privileged 8 cyclists and the councillors in the southern suburbs are yelling for more money so they can have their cycleways. I cant see many South Aucklanders getting out of their Grand Cherokees, pulling on lycra to ride to work. Can you?

But we are saving the planet, doing Gaia’s work and making Auckland the world’s most liveable city. Yeah, right.
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March 12, 2022 8:02am
- Rumblestrip
  
  Auckland is not alone – Dunedin is also infected with an anti-car lobby who seem hell-bent on destroying the central city
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:06am
  - Southern Raider
    
    I saw a Stuff “journalist” on twitter this week refer to Dunedin as the “Socialist Republic of Dunedin” and I don’t think he was joking and truely supported that
    
    Says it all about Stuff and Dunedin
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:32am
    - wilderbeast
      
      Pretty much true of all the cities, except Tauranga. The entitled urban lap top class will destroy NZ. They have no understanding of the working class and they only visit the regions to go ski-ing and do drunk wine tours on cycles.
      
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      March 12, 2022 1:59pm
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Dunedin – the Labour slum is beyond redemption bro.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:26am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    And Wellington, their brain-dead Council is going to spend another $226m for more cycle-ways, to increase the total to 147km. The current cycle-ways, which have already caused chaos and carnage in Island Bay, only cover 23km today.
    
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    March 12, 2022 4:29pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    I think the problem is ratepayers not getting out and voting in council elections. It’s mainly the woke/green loons who do!
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:39pm
- RockyJ
  
  My theory is that the strategy is to improve patronage and thusly revenue for its public transport system. Studies show people only switch to public transport when the roads are so gridlocked using a private car is impossible.
  Cycleways are really there to create gridlock, not to transport cyclists.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:10am
  - graham
    
    Oh, that’s not just a theory, RockyJ. It is most definitely a documented strategy.
    
    I could give you many examples, but just one is this NZTA report on traffic calming:
    
    https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/userfiles/transport-data/Traffic Calming.pdf
    
    Effective from September 2014
    
    Traffic calming
    
    Introduction
    
    Traffic calming describes a range of techniques used to manage road users and the road environment to ensure speeds are appropriate to the local environment and the safety of other road users. When implemented correctly, traffic calming offers advantages to active road users, promotes modal choice and helps manage travel demand.
    
    Just in case you’re not sure, page two spells it out:
    
    Benefits.
    
    Residents in neighborhoods with good street environments tend to walk and cycle more, take pubic transport more and drive less than comparable households in other areas. One study found that residents in a pedestrian-friendly community walked, cycled or took public transport for 49 percent of work trips and 15 percent of their non-work trips, 18- and 11-percentage points more than residents in a comparable car-oriented community.
    
    In the long term, traffic calming can support land use patterns that reduce private car use and dependency such as more local shops and services.
    
    NZTA are quite open about wanting to get people out of their cars. In their mind, a “good street environment” means one where people walk, cycle, and use public transport, as opposed to a “car-oriented community”.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:51am
    - graham
      
      Sorry, the link is broken for some reason. Try this: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/userfiles/transport-data/Traffic%20Calming.pdf
      
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      March 12, 2022 9:57am
      - RdM
        
        Reading late in the day, – thanks for the link!
        Wow, they really did write “pubic” instead of “public”!
        
        Residents in neighborhoods with good street environments tend to walk and cycle more, take pubic transport more and drive less than comparable
        
        The 4-legged beast?
        ;=})
        
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        March 12, 2022 6:49pm
    - Ehlana
      
      do you really think it is wrong for people to be able to walk, cycle and use public transport safely?
      
      Not everyone can drive – some are too young, too old, too ill, injured or disabled. Some can probably no longer afford the petrol. How would you provide for their transport needs?
      
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      March 12, 2022 3:18pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        It’s perfectly OK for people to get about in any manner they choose.
        
        That includes driving a car, bus, ute, truck, Reliant Robin, or riding a skateboard, unicycle or hover-board for all I care. As long as they have the choice.
        
        What’s not OK is for faceless bureaucrats blocking the roads and otherwise making it difficult for drivers to navigate, in order to push them into the type of transport that faceless bureaucrats themselves would never use.
        
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        March 12, 2022 4:34pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Welcome to our nightmare, where the technocrats and bureaucrats have taken full control. They are totally insane with power these fools.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:11am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I see you your AC cycling bias and raise you WCC lunacy
  
  LGWM report says ditch traffic, plant trees
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/128018250/new-report-for-lets-get-wellington-moving-urges-capital-to-ditch-traffic-plant-trees
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:12am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Try panmure.
  
  No money to upgrade the existing bridge.
  
  But plenty to build a new bridge and a new road network just for the occasional bus.
  
  Meanwhile old Bridge and existing road network overloaded with cars.
  
  The nonsense is astounding.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:15am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Agree. While having those massive cranes and earth workers on site it must surely have been cost effective to expand the existing three lane bridge to 4 so that it could match the number of lanes approaching the bridge from each side. We talk about Road to Zero, but I wonder how many car accidents caused on that bridge through forced lane reduction are ignored by AT
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:34am
- CJames
  
  Not much different to Wellington where Lets Get Wellington Moving want to rip up major roads and make parks. What a misnomer in their title. And what about all the failing water and sewerage pipes?
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:15am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I was stunned to learn that the council plans to build a pedestrian crossing across the main road to the airport at Evans Bay. Just stunning stupidity. If a pedestrian crossing is required, it needs to be a bridge.
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:23am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Similar situation in Tirau
      We spend, literally, billions on new Expressways to save 20-30 minutes and the the Tirau Council has put a crossing over the road.
      Now during the holidays it’s a 20-30 minute queue to get through the town.
      Just stupid
      
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      March 12, 2022 8:48am
      - Southern Raider
        
        Simple solution. Build a bypass around Tirau and then wait for all the shops and associated businesses to close and unemployment in the town sky rocket
        
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        March 12, 2022 9:36am
      - All_on_Red
        
        SR
        We used to stop there for a coffee and snack break
        Now we don’t
        By the time you get past the Crossing, we just keep going
        
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        March 12, 2022 10:15am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Let’s be honest, many people won’t use the bridge either at 100m up and down, they will just become jay walkers /cyclists.
      
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      March 12, 2022 10:18am
      - bjools
        
        Fines?…why should car drivers be the only one fined?
        
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        March 12, 2022 11:21am
    - bjools
      
      For years, I have wondered why they put a pedestrian crossing next to a round about.
      Round abouts are to facilitate the flow of traffic, then when someone crosses the road, an automatic traffic jam is caused.
      My point, the councils have always been bad in this area, they have just taken it one step further….to the ridiculous.
      
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      March 12, 2022 10:22am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Also the council “consulted” on their pedestrian crossing. The submissions were overwhelmingly negative. And they are going ahead anyway. ?
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:06am
    - Ehlana
      
      A bridge would need to be accompanied by an elevator, to cater for people in wheelchairs, pushchairs, etc. The combination of stairs and lifts takes up quite a bit of space on either side of the road – is there enough room for it?
      
      And lifts need monitored security cameras to make them safe, ongoing maintenance and, of course, power. Are there enough pedestrians to justify it?
      
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      March 12, 2022 3:22pm
  - Ruawai
    
    Time to nominate people for councils around the country who are pro getting people to move around cities the most effieciant way not the most ideological way.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:38am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Remember when all of the news footage coming out of China in the 1980s featured thousands upon thousands of cyclists? Local councils’ vision of the future is apparently late twentieth century communism.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:30am
      - Nickc2
        
        In the meantime, China has given away Rickshaws and Bicycles and substituted busses, taxis, and privately owned motor vehicles. Who would have imagined that 30 years ago?
        However, in Lil-Olde-NZ, we have taken a quantum leap backward and are currently in the process of substituting our privately owned motor vehicles for Bicycles all because of a feeble-minded Govt beholding to Left-Wing Radicals (the Greens) and a World-Wide scam called Climate Change/Global Warming which doesn’t apply to China.
        
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        March 12, 2022 12:52pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Read the other day that Welly wants to increase the number of cysle ways by about 3 x
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:18am
- Benedict Yu
  
  In Christchurch, we have the insanity of vast money being spent on cycleways while many inner city streets are an undulating patchwork mess.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:19am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Seems like Labour and CCC are well on their way to successfully making cycling more attractive than driving.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:20am
- cmm
  
  They always use the excuse that the reason only one person uses it is because it is broken. Fix it and suddenly thousands of people will use it.
  
  Yeah right!
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:21am
  - Rich Prick
    
    Never happened in Island Bay despite the $17m thrown at it. At best, the cycle way is a resting place for wheelie bins in a southerly.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:10am
- glowworm
  
  With the exponential rise in the cost of fuel, like the increases yesterday, we might, in the near future, be talking about spending money on creating car lanes on the sides of bikeways!
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:44am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  Just watched a woke wank tv ad for the “road to zero road fatalities” all the usual public servants claiming their contributions to the end safety of an accident caused by a driver avoiding a possum.
  
  When I learned to drive we were told to drive straight over the possum, dog cat duck…
  
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  March 12, 2022 6:31pm
iMP

Haha, the Chch city library (Maori name here that no one uses) automatically door-opened on Waitangi Day. 400 people used it, issuing their own books and CDs. Not a staff member in the building. Less Govt is More. Go you unharassed unbureaucrat-ised Free citizens!
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March 12, 2022 8:02am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I go to the library a couple of times per month. It is very nice. I have no idea what the Maori name is.
  
  Next year the impressive sports and recreation centre will open. It will have an exclusively Maori name “Parakiore”. I guarantee it will rarely be used.
  
  The only successful Maori naming I recall is “Te Papa”. The reason is obvious. It three syllables and easy for people with English as a second language to pronounce.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:16am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    In Spanish it means “The Potato”
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:19am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Isn’t ‘kiore’ the maori word for rat?
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:16am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      No it doesn’t. if anything it means “the father”.
      
      Patata is spanish for potato. Patatas bravas is a great tapas dish.
      
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      March 12, 2022 4:39pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The Māori name of Chch library is Tūranga.
    
    I know this, because Tūranga is one of the Māori names for my city – Gisborne… and quite a few entities are named after it:
    e.g. Tūranga Health
    
    Few people outside Gisborne would know that the city was known by Pākehā and Māori alike as Tūranga until 1870, when it was renamed in honour of Colonial Secretary William Gisborne, who had no local connection.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104460592/putting-history-in-its-place-the-move-to-mori-names
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:16am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      So why is it the name of the Christchurch library?
      
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      March 12, 2022 9:22am
      - Mike
        
        Shared ancestral connections, in this case, but many places and things can have the same name, eg, Victoria or Wellington.
        
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        March 12, 2022 9:42am
      - John Pakes
        
        Ask the library perhaps?
        
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        March 12, 2022 9:48am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I’ve no idea…
        
        The etymology for its Gisborne name – is something to do with a standing/stopping place (for the mythical ancestor Toi & his canoe).
        
        But William’s Dictionary gives the following meanings for Tūranga:
        1. in disorder
        2. perplexed
        3. fatigued.
        
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        March 12, 2022 9:58am
      - Jack5
        
        Mike’s …Shared ancestral connections …
        
        As in Mikenmild and Mike.?
        
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        March 12, 2022 10:59am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s not difficult to look these things up:
        https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/turanga/turanga-our-name/
        
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        March 12, 2022 11:52am
  - iMP
    
    So what we’re saying is the Chch City Libraray is actually the Tauranga City Library? Oh, sorry “ Turanga.”
    
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    March 12, 2022 12:34pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      No, what ‘you’re’ are saying is a load of nonsense.
      
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      March 12, 2022 1:23pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Well milky, “you’re are” an expert on nonsense, I’ll give you that!
        
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        March 12, 2022 4:41pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Tauranga means literally ‘safe anchorage’ – so yes, I guess people could plant their arses on a chair & feel safely anchored. 😉
      
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      March 12, 2022 1:23pm
- cmm
  
  I chat to the local librarians when I go there (Vax passes meeded at the moment so I don’t).
  
  People self-check out and self-check in books and pay their fines (since discontinued) by EFTPOS. People use the computerised calatlogue system themselves.
  
  The library part of the librarians’ jobs has mainly been reduced to:
  * Putting returned books back on shelves.
  * Fetching books from shelves when they have been ordered at a different library.
  * Issuing new library cards etc.
  
  Most of the time they’re helping people with their internet stuff.
  
  Yet many, if not most, have post grad qualification in library science or the new edgy information science.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:20am
  - peterwn
    
    I knew a librarian at an overseas library. Librarians did purchasing, cataloging, research for users etc. Library assistants did fetching, issue, returns and shelving.
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:35am
  - Biscuit
    
    Oh, agreed, cmm…
    
    My mate’s daughter is the Head Librarian in my little hamlet.
    
    More degrees than – slight exaggeration – I have had hot dinners…
    
    Her daily tasks are not too dissimilar to those you outline.
    
    But…
    
    She tells me that the thing she does MOST often to help her customers is to hand over the key to the usually-locked (and, hence, spotless!) toilets in the joint as and when customers’ bowels need voiding…
    
    Sheesh, even a former fish ‘n chips wrapper struggling to maker her way in the world (ooh, who springs to mind?) could do THAT!
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:05am
  - pdm
    
    The other day I made the following suggestion to the Hastings Library as they photographed my Vax Certificate frthe second time in about three weeks.
    
    I asked why they did not link the vax certificate to my Library Card sothat once recorded it stayed on record. By the response I got it was all too difficult for them to comprehend.
    
    Actually too difficult for me too but surely the Council employs enough IT people that they could have that sorted in about half an hour.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:18am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Maybe next time ask them what is the point of a vax passport when it gives protection from neither infection or transmission? It should be an interesting answer.
      
      29 7
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      March 12, 2022 9:23am
      - Mike
        
        The library staff, and powerless service staff everywhere, must love dealing with you.
        
        10 22
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        March 12, 2022 9:44am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Mike – I’m not allowed into the library so those poor “powerless” staff don’t have to tell me “befehl ist befehl”. They’re protected from the evil people like me.
        
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        March 12, 2022 11:16am
    - rouppe
      
      The Air New Zealand app has that. I refuse since it is normalizing that authoritarian behavior of Ardern
      
      15 3
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      March 12, 2022 10:54am
- Jack5
  
  Christchurch librarians are helpful, knowledgeable, and speak English.
  
  The torrent of Maori at Christchurch libraries comes from Wokies who are bosses over the staff. It’s so in-your-face it’s insulting.
  
  If the Leftist bureaucrats at the top truly want to promote Maori language they should offer dual language services, not pidginise English and try to bully customers into a new tongue.
  
  The electronic book system and online reading of titles doesn’t match Amazon electronic books in readability. In America (and maybe some other countries) you can use your Kindle to access library books, but sadly not in NZ.
  
  Generally, people must be reading less as other entertainment such as Netflix and Sky expand.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:51am
  - Joely Doe
    
    The torrent of Maori at Christchurch libraries comes from Wokies who are bosses over the staff. It’s so in-your-face it’s insulting.
    
    I just reply to all messages in woke speak, using my own lost language – Irish.
    It really is a beautiful language and when written, is quite incomprehensible.
    I write hello in Irish Dia dhuit and regards in Irish mise le meas, as well as sprinkling a few words in emails to my local High School principal when questioning basic errors over school mandate policies – teenagers becomes déagóirí, families becomes teaghlaigh and so on.
    
    I just point out that I am reconnecting with my family heritage (along with the EU passports) and due to the thousand years of oppression at the hands of different marauding invaders, I refuse to be cowed.
    
    She doesn’t like it.
    I think she is worried that I will break into an Irish Ceili whenever our daughter is presented at Prize Giving ceremonies, as one particular family is wont to do, in their own fashion.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:25am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Brilliant Joely, keep fighting the good fight.
      
      May the road rise up to meet you.
      May the wind be always at your back.
      May the sun shine warm upon your face;
      the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we are ever able to meet,
      may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
      
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      March 12, 2022 4:47pm
  - Black with a Vengeance
    
    I suppose you would you rather Turanga have been called…
    
    The Joseph Thomas Memorial Library
    
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Thomas_(surveyor)
    
    Wut wut ol chap ?
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:05am
    - Jack5
      
      I prefer as a title “Christchurch Libraries,” or the words the organisation uses in in its web address: “Christchurch City Libraries”.
      
      We’re not dealing with something on the scale of the Library of Congress, the British Library, the National Library of China, or Bibliothèque Nationale de France. But note those plain, descriptive names.
      
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      March 12, 2022 7:55pm
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        Turanga like Te Papa is 3 syllables and so much nicer to say and hear.
        
        It’s inclusive of our first nation peoples and that is nothing but good.
        
        Everyone can wear their ignorance as a badge of pride and call it whatever they like what but it’s name of record is Turanga and it’s the place to be.
        
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        March 13, 2022 7:55am
- Black with a Vengeance
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I go to Turanga here in Otautahi, Te wai Pounamu, Aotearoa every week.
  
  So now you know at least one person who uses the name you might want to dial down the racist undertones.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:56am
  - Jack5
    
    But I bet you read English-language books, ?BWAV?
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:30am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      …and watch subtitled Chinese movies, listen to French hiphop, enjoy Dutch art, Arabian architecture etc etc.
      
      Your point being ?
      
      4 23
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      March 12, 2022 10:49am
      - Jack5
        
        Subtitled in what, ?BWAV?
        
        Samoan? Maori?
        
        C’mon, I bet you even dream in English.?
        
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        March 12, 2022 11:41am
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        I still don’t get what your point is.
        
        Yes I read books written in English and write too.
        
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        March 12, 2022 6:04pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Well, he colours them in, anyway.
      
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      March 12, 2022 4:49pm
  - Matt Long
    
    “At least one person” see cycle lanes above.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:52am
  - graham
    
    Black with a Vengeance, I have no problem with you or anyone else using those names.
    
    But the simple fact is, probably 99.9% of people in New Zealand don’t have a clue what those names mean or where they are. If you stop people in the street and ask them where Otautahi is, I rather suspect that 99 out of 100 will stare blankly.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:00am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      So you’re calling for greater education of 99.9% of people in New Zealand on Maori words and meanings.
      
      Stopping people in the street and informing them of the indigenous Maori reference is a great idea.
      
      I’ll tautoko that!
      
      2 28
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      March 12, 2022 10:44am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “Stopping people in the street and informing them of the indigenous Maori reference is a great idea.”
        
        That sounds like a great way to win friends and influence people ?
        
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        March 12, 2022 8:44pm
    - pdm
      
      graham – I think you mean 99.9999999%
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:24am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      Beats quibbling on the internet over semantics.
      
      Get out a bit more, talk to real people about real shit and watch shit get really real.
      
      I’d suggest a good pair of running shoes too…lol
      
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      March 13, 2022 8:00am
  - glowworm
    
    Beautifully spoken. But I don’t think there are any intended racist undertones in the comments above?
    
    I think the point of this conversation is that Te Reo is perhaps being abused by the woke left. For example, to obfuscate and damage the meritocracy in the institutions.
    
    People should be allowed the freedom to communicate in any way, and not be judged, (as you perhaps just have) or forced to use any language.
    
    As language is a tool used for communication, evolution will ensure that the most effective and efficient language is maintained.
    
    All that said, I think Te Reo is quite a beautiful language and we should be proud to use it, within reason, here in NZ.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:08am
    - Cassandra
      
      I’m sure Maori is a fine language but using it when the audience doesn’t understand it is rude and tokenism. Especially when it’s just a Maori version of English. The Te Pati bit of Te Pati Maori is not Maori! By all means use Maori when you like but just as we are asked to respect Maori then also so should English be respected. And if you address people in Maori who do not understand it then don’t think you’ve communicated. Or that you’ll be regarded as other than an arrogant or ignorant slob.
      
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      March 12, 2022 10:42am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        “The Te Pati bit of Te Pati Maori is not Maori!”
        
        Well, I’m sure that will give one of its MPs, David Waititi, conniptions. Not to mention our old mate Brown with a Grievance.
        
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        March 12, 2022 4:54pm
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      I suspect he/she/they only added the Maori dig for the upticks…
      
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      March 12, 2022 10:46am
    - rouppe
      
      If you want to communicate with someone, you should communicate in a way that is culturally appropriate.
      
      For me, that is English.
      
      23 2
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      March 12, 2022 10:58am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      “I think the point of this conversation is that Te Reo is perhaps being abused by the woke left. ”
      
      You think?
      
      Of course that’s what’s going on. The juvenile left who’ve infested the institutions are just trying to piss people off (who aren’t onboard with their pathetic culture wars) with their holier than thou grandstanding.
      
      They COULD simply always put both Maori and English labels side by side. They COULD always provide translations both ways. That would piss the least amount of people off.
      
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      March 12, 2022 8:50pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    I have no respect for anything I am forced to embrace. And calling me a racist for rejecting something simply reinforces my resolve to reject it.
    
    31 2
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    March 12, 2022 11:25am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      Oh you mean like Pasifikan rejection of Colonization.
      
      If you’re the immovable object, and decolonization the irresistible force, then best of luck to you.
      
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      March 13, 2022 8:04am
  - bjools
    
    Maybe it’s you who…”might want to dial down the racist undertones.”
    or maybe, considering Able Tasman….we should name it
    Bindingspositie in Christchurch, Zuidereiland, Nieuw-Zeeland
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:25am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      Gosh, that’s a bit harsh.
      
      To my untrained ear, it sounds like it needs de-nazifying…
      
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      March 13, 2022 8:07am
- cas
  
  Our library is brilliant, so are the librarians ( one has helped me twice recently over problems with Pressreader) and no vaccine pass is required.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:44am
artemisia

The current government tells us daily it relies on expert advice. Certainly there is a massive truckload of well paid advisers lining up to offer said advice.

But are the advisers any good?

Dr Oliver Hartwich recently launched stinging criticism across Treasury, Reserve Bank and Productivity Commission. Summary at the below link, with a link to the video of the presentation.

Alternative summary – GIGO.

Challenges, threats, and severe risks abound. But does New Zealand have the institutions to handle them? Does the government have the necessary capabilities?

The core economic agencies in Wellington do not inspire confidence…..

Without competent institutions, policymakers are flying blind at a time when they most need high-quality advice.

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/new-opinion-185/
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March 12, 2022 8:04am
- Gravelroad
  
  What is the purpose of the Productivity Commission?
  What has it produced?
  
  24 2
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  March 12, 2022 9:41am
  - Matt Long
    
    To stifle productivity, see also Get Wellington Moving.
    
    27 3
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    March 12, 2022 9:53am
    - Ehlana
      
      If Wellingtonians have problems with their movements, I recommend drinking water and eating fibre-rich fruit, vegetables and cereals.
      
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      March 12, 2022 3:28pm
      - bjools
        
        not with the way our sewer system works.
        
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        March 12, 2022 8:04pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    They recently came up with the brilliant idea that new immigrants should be required to learn Te Reo and that way they would dbe much more productive…. no shit!
    
    30 2
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    March 12, 2022 10:12am
  - Jack5
    
    The chairman of the Productivity commission, Ganesh Nana, is among the 1100 who signed a petition attacking the seven scientists who, in a Listener article, challenged claims that Maori knowledge is science.
    
    In the list of signatories (headed by Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles) is: “Dr Ganesh Nana, Productivity Commission Te Kōmihana Whai Hua o Aotearoa.”
    
    The attack on the seven scientists has been condemned by many international scientists and academics.
    
    The seven, from Auckland University, were: Kendall Clements, Garth Cooper, Michael Corballis, Douglas Elliffe, Elizabeth Rata, Emeritus Professor Robert Nola, and Emeritus Professor John Werry.
    
    They raised concerns about an NCEA working group’s proposed changes to the school curriculum that would give parity for Maori knowledge with other bodies of knowledge, specifically science.
    
    They objected to a new course description: that it “promotes discussion and analysis of the ways in which science has been used to support the dominance of Eurocentric views (among which, its use as a rationale for colonisation of Maori and the suppression of Maori knowledge); and the notion that science is a Western European invention and itself evidence of European dominance over Maori and other indigenous peoples.”
    
    The seven academics said that although indigenous knowledge may play some role in the preservation of local practices and in management and policy – it “falls far short of what can be defined as science itself”.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:35am
    - artemisia
      
      I know a few of those 1100 signatories. Including a couple who regularly pontificate on social media. Not interested in engaging with them, apart from the odd eye roll, maybe a sly mention of Maori science time to time.
      
      The list of 1100 names is out there and hopefully will be glanced at when the signatories apply for jobs or accreditation to eg Royal Societies.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:58am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        WRT the Royal Society of New Zealand, they’ll be welcomed with open arms by those racist idiots. Our RS tried to kick out the 2 or 3 of the distinguished and brave professors who were members.
        
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        March 12, 2022 4:57pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The productivity commission is another bureaucratic nightmare inflicted on taxpayers by Rodney Hide. smaller than the ‘super city’, to be sure, but possibly an even more stupid idea.
    
    5 11
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    March 12, 2022 12:06pm
    - Matt Long
      
      Both were taken over by Regressives, it doesn’t matter what the organisation or its proposed function, being captured by Regressives ensures that it will be destructive until it is disbanded or the people are replaced by constructive and able people.
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:19pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It must be very convenient for you to believe that.
        
        2 10
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        March 12, 2022 1:30pm
    - Jack5
      
      That is a shock, Milky.
      
      Are you sure it wasn’t the work of the doppelganger Dr Rodney Jekyll rather than of Mr Rodney Hide?
      
      8 2
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      March 12, 2022 12:31pm
- GJM
  
  Having had the misfortune of being on a number of industry advisory committees with MBIE, and had other dealings with them since, they are utterly incompetent and any good staff leave. It was like a revolving door.
  In my technical field, which is at the heart of some of our building regulations, the complete lack of talent is plainly obvious. I also wonder what they do all day, since there has been no progress on a number of significant issues for years.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:09pm
Charmaine Hawke

An interesting read and a very clear eyed assessment of both our PM and potential future PM who when he had a chance to shine bottled it.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/03/is-jacinda-ardern-megalomanic/
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March 12, 2022 8:05am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Excellent article. It needs shared widely.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:56am
- Loddenthinks
  
  I assume that question was rhetorical.
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:58pm
Mr_Blobby

Is it just me or is the rate that the wheels falling off the covid train, increasing.

So what’s the plan again, it looks like there is no plan, again.

The prime minister in witless protection.

Ministers that look like possums caught in a headlight.

Covid survivors walking around wondering was that it, what was all the fuss about.
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March 12, 2022 8:08am
- Matt Long
  
  The Narrative is obvious, despite the feral protesters and anti vaxers St Jax was able to save the lives of 50 million kiwi’s through mandates, lockdowns and MIQ making an otherwise deadly plague a mild cold like illness for everyone who got their boosters.
  Submission to coercion makes us safe and gives us freedom, all praise St Jax and her faithful dwarf Lux.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:00am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  “Covid survivors walking around wondering was that it, what was all the fuss about.”
  
  Reality always breaks through eventually. Truth is merely the given state of things, while the lies are an active distortion and misrepresentation of that state.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:42am
cmm

Ignoring CV19, MIQ and all that for a moment…
If someone was to offer you an all expenses trip to Ukraine for a holiday would you go?
You might, or you might not, but a considerable part of the decision making would be around your personal safety going into a war zone. Probably most of us would turn the offer down.

If someone was to offer you an all expenses trip to South Africa, part of your decision making would be around your personal safety as South Africa is known for crime. But most people would probably go.

Now here’s where it gets weird. The death rate from murder in the last two weeks in South Africa has been about 50% higher than the death rate of civilian casualties in Ukraine.

This is a very good example of how our feelz brain malfunctions.
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March 12, 2022 8:09am
- ClanMcleod
  
  It’s a great example of how the mainstream media is used to control narrative and sell the chosen story of the day.
  There’s always a narrative control going on, it’s rarely fact based or balanced.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:13am
  - kowtow
    
    Yer but today’s ODT editorial is yet another defence of their agenda driven fake news purveyance.
    
    And guess what , it’s Trump’s fault . Who writes this crap some commie first year arts student ?
    
    ‘ Frankly, there has been a lot of rubbish spouted about journalistic agendas and bias, buoyed up by the “fake news” and “alternative facts” line promulgated by former United States president Donald Trump and his ilk.’
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/some-people-don%E2%80%99t-truth
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:59am
    - Gravelroad
      
      The Otago Daily Times cannot now be described as “mainstream”.
      It has clearly picked a side.
      
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      March 12, 2022 9:52am
      - cmm
        
        Let me fix that for you:
        
        “The Otago Daily Times can now be described as “mainstream”. It has clearly picked a side.”
        
        You have to go outside MSM to find anything balanced these days.
        
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        March 12, 2022 10:05am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  According to reports overseas the Russian Army has lost more men in the last 2 weeks than the Yanks did in 20 years in Afghanistan
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:20am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Which “reports”. The mainstream media is riddled with bullshit. Getting reliable data out a warzone is a nightmare at the best of times. Vague assertions as in your post do not add anything. Supply some form of link to support it.
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:58am
    - bjools
      
      The range of stats re Russian deaths is massive.
      Smallest number is 4000, highest…..12000.
      From Mr Google
      There were 2,401 United States military deaths in the War in Afghanistan. 1,921 of these deaths were the result of hostile action.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:29am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    As if Putin cares.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:46am
- glowworm
  
  It is a pretty good example. Myself, I’d be tempted to go out of curiosity. I am a greater risk taker than most – but only when I’m able to use my wits to control for most risks.
  I suspect the story on the ground, talking with the local people, and witnessing things with my eyes, might be enough to pivot my preexisting imprinted MSM thoughts on the current situation.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:36am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    I’m struck by the number of frantic western journalists wearing flak jackets and doing pieces to camera in Kiev (sorry, “Keev”), while in the background Ukrainians are casually going about their day seemingly not having received the memo that they are in a war zone.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:47am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yeah, nothing bad happening there at all…
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:08pm
- MCōs
  
  Ukraine is about the same size as France and for now at least most of the country is unaffected by the fighting and Russian bombardments, as far as I can understand.
  I doubt Russia has the capacity to occupy the whole country.
  I expect their aim was/is to capture key cities, facilitate a regime change and rely on ambitious locals to do their dirty work out in the regions.
  Obviously the locals have thus far had different ideas.
  I’m picking Putin is trying to hang on until there’s a backlash in America (& allies such as us) against rising fuel costs, inflation etc
  NZers ain’t going to abide $4 petrol for the sake of a country they’ve only just become familiar with. (We didn’t want to speak out on behalf of the Uighurs & risk retaliation from China)
  
  I’m picking whatever happens in Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s days are numbered before he’s killed, if not by the Russians then by his own side in a power grab.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:37am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Petrol and other costs were rising long before Ukraine got invaded.
    And given Zelenskys popularity I doubt he will be deposed by anyone on ‘his’ side
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:29am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Everything about Zelensky is a result of stage craft. He is about as astroturfed as a BLM protest/riot, and probably by the same people.
      
      “Ukraine’s new president-elect made no public speeches, held no rallies and gave no press conferences. And now he’s about to be in charge of a geopolitical hotspot. What could go wrong?”
      
      https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/24/ukraine-president-virtual-campaign-226711/
      
      “Until this weekend, his main experience in politics was playing a schoolteacher who becomes the president in a satirical television program. He ran with no party affiliation. Until two days before voting began, he had no clear team of expert advisers—not even on foreign policy and national security, the president’s key constitutional responsibilities. And, remarkably, Ukraine’s nearly four-month-long election campaign did little to provide answers as to who Zelensky is and what he truly thinks.”
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:51am
      - marcw
        
        Heh, much like our glorious leader then.
        
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        March 12, 2022 12:02pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s not unknown for democracies to elect leaders with no relevant experience. See: Trump, Donald.
        
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        March 12, 2022 12:10pm
      - bjools
        
        Yes mike, Jacinda …not only inexperienced…at anything….but incompetent.
        
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        March 12, 2022 8:07pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Sounds remarkably similar to any one of a couple of dozen US interventions in the last 70 years.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:20am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      The CIA was literally created to influence events, directly or indirectly, and to undermine popular sovereignty in foreign nations for the benefit of Washington. But they’re “our” guys, so that’s OK.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:54am
- Loddenthinks
  
  The first thing you need to understand is that all numbers and any other “information” that come out of Ukraine are almost certainly 100% BS. You can’t rely on any of it, except perhaps the date and time – and even then I’d check. Twice.
  
  I think a better analogy is to look at the “Covid death” figures from Australia, posted elsewhere on KB today, and compare them with the real death numbers from all other causes.
  
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  March 12, 2022 5:14pm
G152

If its from the media its a lie.
If more than three media source the article its a conspiracy.
And whjen the media claims to be factual and unbiased its a sick joke
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March 12, 2022 8:22am
ClanMcleod

So Judge Dominic Flatley has ordered an 11 year old boy to be vaccinated against his will. On what planet is this acceptable?
The boy’s parents disagree on vaccination. The father wants him to wait a year or two to be able to decide for himself. The judge asked the boy who said he would rather wait until he is 13. So the boy clearly indicated he didn’t want to get vaccinated.

According to the judge:

“When I discussed that with him he was not able to tell me why.”

“He talked about being able to get some more information maybe by way of looking online and talking to other people who had had the vaccination. He referred to this as research.”

“I am not wishing to be critical of [him] in any way, but that does not amount to proper research and would not provide him with information that he could rely on in order to make the most informed decision in his best interests.”

Why is that not “proper research”? Because it doesn’t fit with Ardern’s single source of truth? What an arrogant piece of work.
One parent said no and the boy said no. That is all that should matter. It is sad the parents can’t agree, but there is no scientific benefit to children being vaccinated. The mother only wants to get him vaccinated because he might get excluded from school activities. Yet another of Ardern’s repulsive pieces of “leverage” to “encourage” people to get jabbed.
The longer this goes on the more nauseating it becomes.
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March 12, 2022 8:25am
- cmm
  
  If there was overwhelming proof of a massive benefit (ie. life or death stuff), then sure, intervene.
  
  The state intervenes in extraordinary circumstances (eg. overriding parents who refuse blood transfusions for a kid that needs it).
  
  But there is no massive benefit for a vaccination of an 11 year old, especially in the age of Omicron.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:33am
  - Sacha
    
    A young person can be offered the choice as to whether it accepts a blood transfusion or not. It is crucial that they have an understanding of the alternative outcomes to their decision. Over the years I had three who had very definite opinions, about the outcome – life or death. They were intensively interviewed by a social worker and psychiatrist. Two of them chose not to receive transfusions and we cared for them over time until they died, and the other contradicted his parents and had the transfusion. His parents accepted the decision – I do not know the long term outcome.
    They were brave 13/14 yo. They knew what they wanted in their futures and were willing to take responsibility for their decisions.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:58am
- Nickc2
  
  Maybe if the boy said he was studying to be a DJ, he would be exempted from all Ardern and the Judge’s dictates and free to come and go and do as he pleases. If he needs medical advice, he will no doubt have Clarke Gayford on speed dial.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:36am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Don’t 11 year old kids have rights too? He’s being forced to accept a medical procedure which is against the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:51am
  - Nickc2
    
    Of course the Judge wouldn’t know that.//
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:59am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Exactly. The judge’s order is illegal coercion which could not survive a legal appeal.
    
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    March 12, 2022 2:14pm
- Clownworld
  
  I read this in Europe and sharing stories of what is actually happening in New Zealand now is simply…shameful and embarrassing.
  
  People here cannot believe little old NZ a small piece of paradise has descended to the depths of authoritarianism and corporate communisms.
  
  Some people say they didn’t realise NZ was a banana republic.
  
  This judge is symptomatic of why NZ is fast becoming a very bad woke joke. Remove the state control and give power back to parents and the individual.
  
  Where was the judge’s sense of balance, in saying the risk is so minor to the minor, that perhaps best to wait until they are an adult to make the decision unless both parents agree.
  
  If both parents want their children jabbed or not, it is their shared responsibility. If you can’t agree postpone the decision.
  
  In the last country I was in, announced all masks now are optional, and all restrictions are gone completely.
  
  Freedom is sweet.
  
  State control always smells bad.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:00am
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    You are correct. Easy to postpone the jab but you can’t unjab.
    
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    March 12, 2022 12:04pm
- Rich Prick
  
  What next, a judicially ordered prostrate examination? Have we really surrendered our freedoms this far?
  
  31 2
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  March 12, 2022 9:16am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Am guessing you would prefer to be examined while standing up @Rich Prick?
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:59am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  I’ve seen a final year degree research dissertation where the research referencing matchs the 11 year old’s methodology – lauded I understand by the said Judges profession for it’s research quality. However this Judge considers the methodology as this:
  “I am not wishing to be critical of [him] in any way, but that does not amount to proper research and would not provide him with information that he could rely on in order to make the most informed decision in his best interests.”
  
  Me thinks Mallard/ Parker may well of been correct concerning fringe elements.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:26am
- The Housekeeper
  
  Poor kid. He should have said he would prefer to wait for the drug trials to be completed so he could make a truly informed choice.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:28am
- Jim
  
  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has the courage to defend the truth about vaccinating children against C19.
  Watch it if you have children or grandchildren, and tell me if this isn’t what we all should expect of NZ health care professionals:
  https://youtu.be/TWPXRRVsAGk
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:42pm
- MCōs
  
  The parents wanted the court to make a decision, which the judge did.
  I’d have thought if the boy indicated to the vaccinators he was there against his will they wouldn’t proceed.
  
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  March 12, 2022 6:48pm
Lee C

Eleven years old?

Are we ruled by savages?
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March 12, 2022 8:28am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Apparently we are.
  I forgot the link to the article in case anyone wants to check it in disbelief for themselves.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-judge-orders-boy-11-to-get-vaccinated/5KI4IE52U3B4JOMZTOGLXZHQ44/
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:33am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Frightening.
    
    What F***** research is an 11 year-old boy meant to do?
    
    Is he expected to understand scientific papers at primary/Intermediate school level.
    Can he even spell vaxinashun or Fizzer?
    
    Is this another example of a Judge completely divorced from the life of ordinary folks?
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:22am
    - Taieri
      
      Is he expected to understand scientific papers at primary/Intermediate school level.
      ———-
      
      Greta does. Or so they say…
      
      21 2
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      March 12, 2022 9:45am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Scoldilocks the magic goblin of doom has no need for science, she can ‘see’ CO2 in the air. .
        
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        March 12, 2022 10:51am
      - MCōs
        
        I went over all sorts of scientific info with my kids when they were a few months old about a bunch of vaccines.
        
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        March 12, 2022 6:55pm
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      He, or anyone else, isn’t required to do any research (although there is ample data telling us that vaccination is effectively pointless): we all have a fundamental right to bodily autonomy, and therefore control over what goes into it, as affirmed in the BoRA.
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:01pm
  - bjools
    
    If the boy dies or suffers serious side effect from the vax, (rare but has happened) will the judged be charged with assault or murder?
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:40am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Surely the decision can be appealed?
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:38am
      - bjools
        
        Would hope so.
        
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        March 12, 2022 11:51am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Or ignored. I’d like to see them enforce it. I presume the mother would have to sign the consent form.
        
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        March 12, 2022 2:17pm
- Jim
  
  Yep Lee, this was the free West?
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:43pm
krazykiwi

.
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March 12, 2022 8:28am
Morry45

From Plato…
“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”

It seems apt!
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March 12, 2022 8:29am
- bjools
  
  My 2 cents
  Politics is a spectator sport
  Democracy is a participation sport/ job…
  Get involved, donate to the party you agree most with, join, effect the policies, support (with your time) your party and local candidate, run for office.
  The problem with Labour/Greens is they never actually do the job, whether in govt. or opposition.
  They are ALWAYS playing politics.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:56am
Nukuleka

I challenge anyone to read the article on the Herald website (it’s not paywalled) about one Quinn Patterson murdering a mother and daughter and not shed a tear. It’s heartbreaking.
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March 12, 2022 8:30am
krazykiwi

Here’s fun line in a paper I just read:

[The] mRNA vaccine produce statistically significant changes in cell nucleus due to histone alterations.

No one told you this, right? Safe and effective, and you’ll be protecting granny, right?
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March 12, 2022 8:31am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What is a histone? ?
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:38am
  - krazykiwi
    
    I confess to resorting to Wikipedia on that same question [hangs head in shane]
    
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    March 12, 2022 8:42am
  - Biscuit
    
    It’s a slightly more masculine version of a hertone, Benedict…
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:07am
    - pdm
      
      Biscuit you have far too much free time on your hands.
      
      Take the cat for a long walk.
      
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      March 12, 2022 9:21am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The proteins that wrap around the DNA in our chromosomes.
    They can turn genes on and off.
    
    Disclosure: I learnt my biochem/ cell biology/genetics in the 1970s…..
    
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    March 12, 2022 9:42am
- cmm
  
  But, but, but,… mRNA is RNA-based. It does nothing to interfere with DNA. Right? Right?
  
  Of course the mRNA must interfere with the operation of the cell. That’s how it works.
  
  Unfortunately fiddle with something to get the effect you want and you often end up getting a whole lot of effects you don’t want (eg. messing up support structures for DNA). That’s called unintended consequences of which there are many when you fiddle with any system.
  
  It is ridiculous what bad disinformation has been put out from day one and continues to thrive. HCQ is dangerous? What? A drug that has been in use for 50 years with billions of people given tens of billions of doses over that period. It might or might not be effective, but it certainly isn’t dangerous.
  
  Note: by dangerous or not, I don’t mean you should chomp them like lollies and that they have zero side effects. What I mean is that they are very well understood and can be well managed. ie. their risk profile (which is low) is well understood.
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:43am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    The body and cells are ruled by more than just DNA, there is also epigenetics, encoded in proteins and other mechanisms in cells that influence how our DNA function, and which can be altered in an enduring manner by outside agents like vaccines.
    
    18 2
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    March 12, 2022 8:59am
- RdM
  
  I’m temporarily using Startpage
  
  https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?query=histone
  
  It uses Google servers without tracking, it says.
  
  Anyway, plenty of results there.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:38pm
Southern Raider

Man driving a Ute tries to pull over to let heavy traffic following him pass – good citizen

During the pulling over manoeuvre he clips a motorcyclist who was riding way to close. He pulls over and gets out of the Ute to check on the rider – good citizen

60 to 70 Tribesman gang members than beat the shit out of the Ute driver (good citizen) so badly he’s nite in critical condition. But Labour defends gangs and the Police will do fuck all.
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March 12, 2022 8:35am
- surfing
  
  Police strategy is to permit crimes in progress, and follow up when safe to do so.
  
  Cowards.
  
  26 2
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  March 12, 2022 10:23am
  - MCōs
    
    The police wouldn’t have had the manpower available to tackle those people.
    They had to pull in personnel from all over the country to clear out the much less dangerous people occupying the front of parliament and still it was a close run thing.
    
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    March 12, 2022 7:05pm
cjn

cmm. As somebody said about the war in Flanders in 1914-18 “but the noise, my dear!” I believe it would be more noisy in Ukraine therefore would chose South Africa if pushed. Just as I would risk a holiday in Jerusalem or New York for the pleasure of the art galleries. The death rate is only one consideration.
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March 12, 2022 8:39am
Jack5

The great nickel short …

“Big Shot,” Xiang Guangda, of China, still thinks he can come out on the right side in his vast short position on the London Metal Exchange’s nickel market.

He is trapped in a “short squeeze” after prices for the metal more than tripled on the exchange at the beginning of the week. At the moment he is down billions of US dollars.

Xiang, through his Tsingshan Holding Group, the world’s biggest nickel producer, has short contracts on 150,000 tonnes of nickel.

“Shorting” is a way of betting that market prices will fall. Roughly, it entails borrowing a security or contract to supply. This is then sold on the open market with the object of buying it back later for less money. If the market price doesn’t fall the speculator is trapped.

The London Metals Exchange suspended nickel trading from 8.15am on Tuesday after what it says were extreme price moves during thin trading. It cancelled all trades from midnight Tuesday morning. For the duration of the suspension, the exchange has also stopped releasing contract prices.

Chinese and international banks have provided credit lines helping Tsingshan meet the calls that are made against short contracts when prices move strongly against them. Bloomberg reports that Xiang still thinks the price for the metal will fall and that he will make money on the contracts. These ultimately can be settled in deliveries of nickel to the exchange’s warehouses, or by cash equivalent, but Tsingshan nickel is lower grade than that on which the contracts are based.

Nickel prices have been rising for weeks on fears about supplies from Russia, but Bloomberg says Xiang has little interest in international news.

Xiang’s business began about 30 years ago making frames for car doors and windows in Wenzhou. Then it pioneered mass production of nickel pig iron, a lower-grade, cheaper alternative to pure nickel for stainless steel. He has large nickel production facilities in China and Indonesia.

Tsingshan is producing nickel in Indonesia for as little as $US10,000 a tonne, and Xiang has begun hedging with short LME contracts and futures when the metal rose above $US20,000. Nickel topped $US100,000 a tonne on Tuesday before the LME suspended trading.
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March 12, 2022 8:39am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  It’s gonna make a great movie.
  
  Said Bunker Hunt. Not.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:50am
Southern Raider

If you want to understand why Labour should never have been in power then look at their list MPs. Jacinda, Robbo and Hipkins at the top are bad enough. Their Cabinet like Poto and Carmel are even worse, but

Look at the non sensical stuff list MPs like Marja (I got free MiQ pass for my Netherlands holiday) post on social media. She is constantly on Twitter but comes across like she is two bottles in on a bender. She tries to defend Labour but doesn’t understand any of their policies. Just saw her retweet about Hamish Rutherford and someone called her out about what her comment meant as it didn’t make sense at all. She replied “I’ve forgotten what I was trying to say and I was multitasking as I’m too busy”. What the fuck as Marja ever done?
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March 12, 2022 8:43am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Apparently one can now book to receive Novavax. I can’t say that I’ve seen any effort from MoH to publicise this. You would think they would be keen to reach out to those who open to vaccination but not keen on Pfizer. It’s almost as if they don’t want to reward those who criticised their earlier efforts.
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March 12, 2022 8:50am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Alternative explanation: they haven’t had enough time to organise a marketing campaign. //
  
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  March 12, 2022 8:51am
- Sacha
  
  I was a Novavaxer – but by the time it arrived, the Pandemic was already waning so why bother. Would it be effective against the Omicron? Who knows? And should I believe anyone who claimed it was?
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:09pm
- kowtow
  
  Talking of which , how is it OK for the Media pardy to constantly pursue that mayor who doesn’t want the jab ?
  
  Surely we live in an age where one’s personal health choices are just that and no one else’s business .
  
  Or don’t we.
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:18pm
- Jim
  
  Contract T&C ???
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:48pm
Black with a Vengeance

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Putins colonization of Ukraine seems to be trucking along again after getting bogged down by the fiesty natives.

His approach reminds me of The Invasion of Parihaka…

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/occupation-pacifist-settlement-at-parihaka

…though to be fair, Parihaka, unlike
Donbas, didn’t have Azov battalions.
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March 12, 2022 9:09am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Glad to hear they didn’t have a neo Nazi battalion. Not a good look.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:04am
  - Black with a Vengeance
    
    Native Minister John Bryce. The Whanganui farmer had fought in the campaign against Tītokowaru (see 9 June) and viewed Parihaka as a ‘headquarters of fanaticism and disaffection’.
    ______________
    
    Sounds a lot like de-nazification of Donbas though.
    
    But yeah, no nazis in Parihaka, just indigenous Maori using non violent protest to highlight their disposession and disenfranchisement.
    
    Incidentally, would you have called the colonial government of the time right wing or left wing ?
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:56am
Swifty

Anyone else noticed how much David Clark and others have talked a low about the great benefits of competition in the grocery market and how all sorts of wonderful things accrue to consumers where competition is strong?

But that no such conversations are ever had with respect to our children’s education where the state monopoly is firmly entrenched and vested interests refuse to allow any change?

There’s a word for this sort of conduct from the NZ Labour Party.
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March 12, 2022 9:09am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Exposing the hypocrisy of the Left. Good article; accords with my recollections.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128014207/lets-be-clear-protesters-in-1981-used-violent-tactics-too
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March 12, 2022 9:18am
- ClanMcleod
  
  I would just like to say, the protesters at Wellington at no point instigated any violence. That was a deliberate action over a week by police, to raise the temperature with repeated provocations. The flailing we saw at the end was a culmination of that, almost certainly with the assistance of some agent provocateurs. The absolute core of that protest was absolutely non violent.
  Ardern (and Luxon) refused to give any quarter or to even consider listening to those with absolutely valid grievances. The only way out of this for Ardern therefore was forced removal of protesters. The only way they could do this and for her to salvage any shred of credibility was to make it look like “violent thugs” had taken over. Hence the accusations of faeces throwing, “acid” and other “atrocities” which didn’t happen.
  This was a well orchestrated, manufactured event by NZ government forces.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:13am
  - chukar
    
    Now the PM wants to talk with protestors, in particular Groundswell!
    There was huge opportunity for all political parties to communicate with genuine protesters at the front door of Parliament.
    The politicians chose then not to talk and gave them a kicking instead.
    Now they want to talk, why ?
    Perhaps divide and conquer is the plan?
    Certainly any invitee to the talks should treat the invitation with suspicion .
    Trust in these politicians has long gone!
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:40am
    - info@cruzpro.com
      
      I’m guessing that the polls showed the government in a bad light. The survey showed a lot more support for the demonstrators than the government expected.
      
      This is why Ardern is now willing to meet with Groundswell.
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:18pm
    - kowtow
      
      Poor polling can concentrate a pollie’s attention .
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:24pm
  - Black with a Vengeance
    
    The government, or agents of the crown, as they should be noted, has some form in these areas.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:59am
  - bjools
    
    I would just like to say, the protesters at Wellington at no point instigated any violence.
    I take issue
    I as at Vic Uni. when they were making body armour out of paper mache teaching tactics against police….
    They had permission to march down the water front then up to parliament, but NOT up Lampton quay.
    Which was opposed by ALL business’ in Lampton Quay.
    The PLAN was always to confront the Police …on Lampton Quay.
    
    5 4
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    March 12, 2022 12:04pm
    - bjools
      
      Just realized, didn’t make it clear, I was talking about 1981, Springbok Tour.
      
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      March 12, 2022 2:37pm
  - GJM
    
    The NZ Police have previously formed in stitching people up such as putting evidence in a garden when it suits them, then denying it.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:21pm
- nathie
  
  “Exposing the hypocrisy of the Left. Good article; accords with my recollections.”
  
  Please let me add to that: Exposing the hypocrisy of the Left, the Labour Party particularly Ardern and Robertson for not engaging with the protesters and demeaning them, former protester Speaker Mallard, the Parliamentary Press Gallery (except for NewstalkZB’s Barry Soper), TVNZ, Stuff, NZME (except for Heather du Plessis-Allan). Good article; accords with my recollections.
  
  Yes I recall the glass on the pitch at Gisborne, the aerial bombardment of “flower bombs” (fancy if someone did that during the recent Parliament Protest – the pilot would have been deemed to be committing a “terrorist attack” on the Beehive – fortunately no-one did though as it wouldn’t be acceptable – just pointing out the hypocrisy as in 1981 the Left and prevailing media coverage deemed the protest pilot then as a “hero”)!
  
  Nonetheless a good article by Alastair Reith, pointing out the double-standards in play.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:34am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Flour bombs, not flower bombs.
    
    Gary Knight was not floored by a floral posey.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:54am
Maggie Pie

Remember I posted the vid last week out of Kiev, of that girl throwing a home-made bomb at a Russian tank …..and catching her own hair on fire?

Well similar things are happening in South Auckland 🙁

Iraqi national, Fatima Ibraham, appeared in the Manukau Court charged with threatening to kill one woman, causing grievous bodily harm to another, and ASSAULT WITH A MOLOTOV COCKTAIL against a third!

Then it turns out she was actually in a relationship with one of them.

The big question is, what is she doing in this country anyway….and who the f**k let her in?
As my partner said “Wonder what she circled on the Immigration form under the heading ‘SEX’

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1502101364004040706
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March 12, 2022 9:23am
- Nickc2
  
  Who’s our Minister of Immigration again? Oh, that’s right, he’s the Minister I/C of establishing our new Ministry of Propaganda (Te Minitatanga Whakatö)
  That’ll be another success story – NOT!
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:32am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  If she’s an Iraqi National then she should be booted out.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:55am
Rodney Hide

Our MPs and the commentariat have been fulsome in their praise of the professionalism of the police at parliament in dealing with the protesters.

Here is a 68 year old bystander going to assist a young woman being beaten on the ground by a police officer with his shield. I would hope I would do the same. A young officer then punches the man twice to the head wearing riot gloves rendering him unconscious.

I would be grateful if a commentator could explain to me why I am wrong to be shocked by such police brutality and our MPs’ enthusiastic support for such police action.

https://youtu.be/Qid45_xawVw

Thank you

Rodney
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March 12, 2022 9:23am
- Jack5
  
  Stand for one of the Christchurch electorates as an independent, Rodney.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:27am
  - Steve Todd
    
    Independent candidates don’t do well under FPP, Jack. Rodney would be wasting his time and money, and he knows it.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:15am
    - Jack5
      
      Rodney is an exception: a rebel rouser, and who knows when one MP might make a majority for a coalition.
      
      Have we had a single independent MP under MMP? The Maori Party is a double act. They seem to benefit under Ardern’s media bribery, and Rodney wouldn’t.
      
      However, I doubt his spirited stirring could be ignored, even by owned or subsidised media.
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:55am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Not that much of an exception; certainly not now.
        
        Rodney has been out of parliament for 10 years. The last independent to win under FPP, Winston Peters in 1993, left National in late-1992, then retained his seat at the following by-election (17 April). In other words, he struck while the iron was hot.
        
        Besides, Rodney is now 65, and is no doubt enjoying life with his wife and their three children. He had 15 good years in parliament, during his “political prime” — 39 to 54. No way would he even think about returning there now.
        
        I note this is the second time you have put up this suggestion. Give it up, Jack. It’s not going to happen.
        
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        March 12, 2022 12:36pm
      - Jack5
        
        Steve T’s ….It’s not going to happen.
        
        When did Rodney Hide hire you as spokesman, Steve?
        
        Rodney’s the same age as Churchill was in 1940. Cincinnatus was retired and pottering on his farm when Rome called him in and made him Dictator – and he became a legendary hero.
        
        We have only ACT among the smaller fish on the Right. Let’s get a Right-wing minnow or two on the scale of the Maori Party. What is wrong with, instead of a two-person party, one or two independent electorate MPs?
        
        The MMP system is supposed to be about representing minorities. Let’s make a few on the Right.
        
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        March 12, 2022 2:54pm
      - Mike
        
        Rodney had a shot at leading a minor party and made a hash of it, Jack. Can’t see him having much support now, even from likely Act voters.
        But maybe the ex-pollies who comment here could form a geriatric party to rival NZ First.. David Garrett, Wayne Mapp, Barry Brill, Rodney Hide. A Kiwiblog Party?
        
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        March 12, 2022 4:49pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Put yourself in his position, Jack. It’s a different world now, where second-time-around fathers (especially) want to be present in their (young) children’s lives. Churchill became prime minister after 39 years in politics (with a couple of short breaks). There’s no comparison between Rodney and him.
        
        Yes, MMP is indeed “supposed to be about representing minorities”, which the parties ensure (as best they can) by placing minority candidates in winnable positions on their Party Lists.
        
        But MMP does not provide for Independent candidates. If an independent candidate* were to win an electorate seat, overall party proportionality would be determined across 119 seats, not 120.
        
        * or a candidate of an unregistered party
        
        FPP contests involve candidates who are on a Party List containing one name, or who are independents (of whatever description). With exceptions that we know about, electorate winners in New Zealand will either be the National candidate or the Labour candidate.
        
        The last independent candidate to be elected to parliament at a general election was long-time Independent member for Nelson, Harry Atmore, in 1943. (Clifton Webb (Kaipara) stood as an Independent National candidate; National from 1946.)
        
        For all intents and purposes, independents do not win single-seat parliamentary elections. They need multi-seat STV for that (as we see in Ireland). Therefore, for Rodney to win an Electorate seat, he would have to be “gifted” one by National. The only seat in contention would be Ilam, which I’m sure National will fight tooth-and-nail for next year, to win it back from Labour.
        
        So, I say again Jack, it’s not going to happen, however much you might wish it.
        
        (Also, Rodney has not responded to you, either last time or today, even just to express appreciation for your confidence in him — “Thanks, but no thanks.” I think you can draw at least one conclusion from that: he just doesn’t want to go there.)
        
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        March 12, 2022 5:02pm
- Rich Prick
  
  That is disgusting. I imagine the IPCA will have its hands full. Fortunately I have no reason to interact with Cindy’s enforcers, but that sort of thing does nothing to endear them.
  
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  March 12, 2022 9:44am
- ClanMcleod
  
  It was one of many horrific actions by police that day and the previous Thursday.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:15am
- krazykiwi
  
  Repugnant. I saw the same brutality from a different angle. What was clear to me from this any many other similar incidents is that the police were dishing out in-situ judgement, delivered with wonton violence. I want to see this badge-wearing thug convicted. A short custodial sentence would be appropriate.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:19am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    And possibly 5 minutes with somebody his own age and size.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:24am
- nathie
  
  And notice the cowardly Police officer falling back behind his colleagues trying to put distance (hide) from what he did.
  
  Yes I get that tensions were high, split second decisions are made when things are frenetic, but it is obvious the elderly protester was trying to pull back the riot shield off the woman protester on the ground (perhaps the Police could have shoved him away rather than attack him).
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:41am
- kowtow
  
  The pollies and commentariat were wrong in their fulsome praise , as was the police commissioner claiming the operation was ‘world leading’
  
  A stuff article noted on the morning that a s/sgt insisted a reporter delete his photos. is that legal ?
  
  many police were sent into the operation without proper protective gear , and now have the injuries to show for it ( at the hands of those very strange out of place looking fat fellows who were chucking the rocks)
  
  More than a couple of instances of police getting isolated out of the cordon and sweep lines ( poor leadership , training or discipline)
  
  “Borrowing” fire brigade equipment to use for crowd control . That is evidence of ill equipped , untrained and incorrect use of taxpayer property .Indeed the fire service has grave reservations ’bout that too.
  
  And yes the isolated but clear cases of police brutality against individual protesters that was unnecessary , excessive , and unprofessional ie the guy striking the grounded woman with shield and much more eggregiously the one two haymaker to the head that downed the elderly gent.
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:35pm
- Black with a Vengeance
  
  My sons flatmate tried to step in. That brought a response of violence from the police. My son said ‘nah that’s not on’. 3 of them picked him up shoved him into a van and carted him off to the cells.
  
  He got let off as he was coming home from course, seen the riots, checked them out, got too close to the action and had witnesses that said they were all about to leave in compliance with police requests.
  
  He doesn’t think much of the police now.
  
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  March 12, 2022 3:11pm
Tony Stuart

Outstanding piece from Kate MacNamara in this morning’s Herald summing up her series on the Government’s splurge on Covid communications. Sadly most won’t be able to read it, as it’s paywalled. If ever there was a piece of public interest journalism that should have been free for all, this is it.

So here are a few excerpts:

Through the pandemic, the public has been watched closely. The Government has paid advertisers and influencers to persuade us (including on NZME platforms). Mobility data has been scrutinised, and police enforcement tallied. Polls have been commissioned and research into our views and propensities commissioned.

The work has happened across many departments (DPMC, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) which makes overreach hard to see.
But sometimes it is glimpsed, for example, through documents released under the Official Information Act.

That’s how something called “social conversation analysis” came to light last year.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has answered a handful of questions about these “regular social media listening reports” which appear to constitute a kind of mass surveillance through social media.

DPMC spent $133,894.50 on 52 of them in the past financial year.

The work, still ongoing, is done by a New York-headquartered company, with no New Zealand office.

We don’t know what sites this company is scraping information from, or, indeed, what mechanism it is using for data collection and analysis.

Without more details, New Zealanders are simply paying to eavesdrop on themselves.

Hipkins says the topics canvassed are all Covid-19 related, but we’ve had to take his word for it.

I asked DPMC to release the reports under the OIA in early December last year.

In January, the department extended the timeframe for responding, and then missed its own deadline two weeks ago.

Last week, Hipkins said I should expect a response “shortly”. There’s been no word since then.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/kate-macnamara-governments-covid-pr-spin-machine-murky-transparency-need-dismantling/UUOAH6HVZRPNBL3MBGQDDIP7XY/

Last year, I spent considerable time unravelling the $134,000 in public relations spend the Cabinet approved in 2020 to shape and control the information that the public was fed about Covid-19 vaccine purchasing.

That steep price bought the full-time work of one public relations specialist over some four months (Karl Ferguson).

His work involved plenty of unremarkable public relations effort. But it also produced vaccine announcements and key messages that were carefully timed and choreographed to flatter Government ministers, including in the midst of the 2020 election campaign.

Weekly reports to ministers, including the Prime Minister (released under the OIA), catalogue considerable efforts to gain positive media coverage. And unsurprisingly absent in any of the contributing work were thorny details like the belated Cabinet funding for vaccine purchasing that delayed a first meeting with Pfizer for more than six weeks.

In this context, 21 “Covid commentators” were selected for repeated advance briefings, arranged by Ferguson, ahead of the public announcements of vaccine purchase agreements.

Most were academics, selected by officials because of the likelihood they would be sought out for comment by the media.

The Prime Minister’s office says the briefings were an effort to promote good science and parry falsehood. But keeping us safe from “misinformation” can serve a remarkably flexible array of ends.

It is hard to know if any of these commentators were nudged by the briefings to speak more favourably of the vaccine procurement work than they otherwise would have. But it seems clear from Government documents that it formed part of the purpose.

It is at the very least unwise for a government to draw the independent voices of civil society so close to the mechanism of its own politicised spin.

And lastly this:

In 2020, the Department of Internal Affairs hired old Saatchi & Saatchi NZ adman Kim Wicksteed to draw up a report on the task of communicating the Three Waters Programme and provide a marketing and communications strategy.

The DIA won’t say what it spent on Wicksteed’s advice (I put the question to the department’s media team; the department, without consultation, thanked me for my OIA request, and, on follow-up, refused to provide answers to the original questions in an ordinary course timeframe because an OIA process was underway).

But the cost is likely additional to the $4m for the Three Waters “public information and education campaign” the Cabinet approved in December, 2020.

“Unlike the public service campaigns that require an information first approach, we need to frame the challenge and get the country supporting these reforms … this will require inspirational, emotive marketing…” Wicksteed recommended.

Read More
Government communications spending increases 50 per …
Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Did scandal-mired former Health …
Covid 19 Delta: Pfizer waited over 6 weeks for first …
Government ‘waited until election week’ to release …
We know this marketing as propaganda and, true to the strategy, the advertising component of the campaign warned of “nasties” in the water, and presented among its cartoon images a slime-covered child swimming, a sick duck and other dirty, unhappy creatures, handily sidestepping any connection between the Government’s professed cause of “safe and reliable water services” and its plan to remove water assets (control is an important test of ownership) from local councils and ratepayers.

The ads were knocked back by the Public Service Commission, which warned they risked advocating Government policy rather than explaining it. But it is wholly unsurprising Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta stoutly defended them in the name of safety.

Ms MacNamara has done an outstanding job researching this expenditure by our open and transparent government. It’s just a shame that her employer has not been as transparent, and has hidden her work behind its payroll, all in the name of subscriptions.
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March 12, 2022 9:39am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It would be good to get the names of the 21 Covid Commenters.
  
  It seems then we may be able to locate the source of the misinformation and disinformation that has been plaguing us.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:29am
  - oldfella
    
    these are the names according to the article:
    • Ian Town, Ministry of Health
    • Professor Sue Crengle, Otago University
    • Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris, University of Auckland
    • Professor Nikki Turner, University of Auckland
    • Associate Professor Nikki Moreland, University of Auckland
    • Professor David Murdoch, Otago University
    • Dr Matire Harwood, University of Auckland
    • Professor Ian Frazer, The University of Queensland
    • Associate Professor James Ussher, Otago University
    • Dr Graeme Jarvis, Medicines New Zealand
    • Dr John Taylor, University of Auckland
    • Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
    • Professor Graham Le Gros, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
    • Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles, University of Auckland
    • Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Ministry of Health
    • Professor Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland
    • Professor Michael Baker, Otago University
    • Professor Michael Bunce, Environmental Protection Authority
    • Gail Marshall, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
    • Dacia Herbulock, Science Media Centre
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:08am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Some fami-liar names there
      
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      March 12, 2022 11:59am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Txs…
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:40pm
  - marcw
    
    This from part 3 of MacNamara’s comment:
    
    “In response to an Official Information Act request, MBIE provided a list of the commentators who received advance briefings on the Taskforce”
    • Ian Town, Ministry of Health
    • Professor Sue Crengle, Otago University
    • Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris, University of Auckland
    • Professor Nikki Turner, University of Auckland
    • Associate Professor Nikki Moreland, University of Auckland
    • Professor David Murdoch, Otago University
    • Dr Matire Harwood, University of Auckland
    • Professor Ian Frazer, The University of Queensland
    • Associate Professor James Ussher, Otago University
    • Dr Graeme Jarvis, Medicines New Zealand
    • Dr John Taylor, University of Auckland
    • Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
    • Professor Graham Le Gros, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
    • Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles, University of Auckland
    • Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Ministry of Health
    • Professor Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland
    • Professor Michael Baker, Otago University
    • Professor Michael Bunce, Environmental Protection Authority
    • Gail Marshall, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
    • Dacia Herbulock, Science Media Centre
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:17am
- Ehlana
  
  I don’t think we can have it both ways Tony. Either private subscribers fund media, which is then independent and can write articles like this, or the government does and we complain about spin.
  
  Back before the internet, you had to pay to get a good newspaper. Why not now?
  
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  March 12, 2022 3:39pm
Southern Raider

I think (and hope) that Labours slide in the polls are only just starting. Listening to talkback yesterday they were asking for callers who voted Labour last time to say what they plan to do if an election was held now. It was almost unanimous that these callers thought Jacinda was a fresh approach, they liked her empathy, thought she would drive social change to support those at the bottom more etc and now they all regretted it and said she was PR over delivery.
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March 12, 2022 9:42am
- nathie
  
  Yes I was astounded to hear even during ZB’s early afternoon show a number of former/Labour voters expressing their displeasure against the PM (and no I’m not going to listen to MagicTalk whilst it is still in “holiday programming mode” with their daytime hosts talking about best rock concerts ever, or what to cook for dinner ffs).
  
  These callers finally noticed that Ardern does not accept responsibility, does not ever admit to being wrong (even when it is clear she is) and seems out of touch. Someone even said Grant Robertson is the same (oh dear)!
  
  But what I picked up upon though was that most of these people were not “tribal” Labour or National voters. They vote on what they see at the time and if someone else comes along (eg like Luxon or Seymour) and says the right things then they have their vote.
  
  Hence perhaps National’s (and Labour’s) moves to placate the “info-lite” middle ground from time to time. Oh how politics ain’t easy (if one was within the beltway)!
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:57am
Maggie Pie

Sad for New Zealand when Foreign Media are now referring to Jacinda as……
the KIWI MUSSOLINI 🙁

https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1501328072355811333
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March 12, 2022 9:43am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  We all know what happened to him
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:06am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Unacceptable destruction of a perfectly good piano.
    
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    March 12, 2022 10:23am
    - kowtow
      
      They were shot .
      
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      March 12, 2022 12:45pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        True. That’s what happens when one takes historical guidance from Basil Faulty 🙂
        
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        March 12, 2022 5:29pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Well, I must admit it’s refreshing to see some honest commentary from a media outlet. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thank you.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:51am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Who can’t even make the trains run on time
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:00pm
Southern Raider

I’m predicting Labour is in absolute turmoil this weekend trying to work out what to do. As much as I had to say it, if they listened to Chris Trotter and Bomber Bradbury they may have a chance by dumping the woke agendas and focusing back on the working poor.

However true to form Trevor is on Twitter posting graphs showing NZ had much fewer Covid deaths than the 20 over countries listed.

They just don’t get NZ is over Covid and I really hope they waste all their political power and energy focused on trying to replay their supposed Covid victory right up to the election
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March 12, 2022 9:46am
- oldfella
  
  maybe Labour should NOT listen to Trotter. Unless they really do have a death wish.
  http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2022/03/2023-one-to-lose.html
  As one of the commenters on his article wrote:
  ‘Let the Right inherit the whirlwind that’s coming.’
  Don’t you mean shit all over the place, then step back and let someone else try and clean up the mess?
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:16am
  - artemisia
    
    An opportunity for a different government to cut back wasteful and separatist services. If fast learners, they will take a leaf and there will be a slogan including the phrase ‘6 years of Labour wasting your taxes’ and be wheeled out relentlessly at every opportunity. Followed by a relevant and undeniable example from the long list prepared earlier.
    
    Like cost per wallaby killed.
    
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    March 12, 2022 1:06pm
Rusty

Still very little news coverage from our media on the problems in our supermarkets,

Shortage of staff and delivery drivers, half empty shelves etc,

Why is this happening in NZ when 90% of the workforce is double jabbed?
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March 12, 2022 9:49am
- krazykiwi
  
  Why? Simple. We were duped.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:24am
- Rich Prick
  
  The double jabbed workers are having to isolate while infected. Meanwhile, the uninfected unvaccinated are prohibited from going for a coffee with friends. Welcome to Cindy’s clown world.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:26am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Because it doesn’t matter how many times you get jabbed, you’ll still get covid. You can go to the pub and socialise and won’t be segregated from the rest of society, but you’ll still get covid and still pass it to others.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:53am
  - Nickc2
    
    And now it’s been revealed how many actually died of Covid, what’s the point of all this crap our Govt is piling on us?
    Yet, Labour Stalwarts are bemoaning the fact they are so behind in the Polls and sliding further. To you lot, I say “open your eyes and ears, your lust for power at all costs and the Maorification & Socialism of NZ has been exposed at last eh.
    
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    March 12, 2022 11:19am
BeaB

Stuff are shameless. They don’t even try to hide their bias. Two main opinion pages in this mornings Waikato Times. One letter rambling about politics on both sides is accompanied by a photo of Luxon at the National podium with the caption ” letter writer’s hopes for an effective opposition party under Christopher Luxon is certainly fading”.
Next page features a long opinion piece on the dark arts of PR and spin. The large photo? Luxon again even though he isn’t even mentioned in the article.
Surely the Queen of Spin is Ardern, bolstered by the vast sums her government spends on PR.
Yeah. Nah. Let’s have another hit on Luxon and National.
Let’s not upset the Golden Goose.
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March 12, 2022 9:52am
- kowtow
  
  NZME too.
  
  Today’s Weekend Herald , Claire trevet while there’s stuff about the latest poll , the thrust of the story is Ardern / labour and how it’s too soon to say Ardern’s goose is cooked , is accompanied by a huge cartoon of Luxon offering the electorate ( depicted as a salavating dog ) being offered a tax cut ,and caption “Paxlux dog” , works everytime.
  
  The cartoon should have been of the media Pardy being offered the millions Ardern gave ’em for their lap dog loyalty .
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:41am
- Nickc2
  
  I posted yesterday that now the Govt run MIQ scam for 70+ DJs to be given Critical Worker status wrt to Quarantine facilities had been exposed, the Govt’s bought and paid for MSM would be tasked to redirect its efforts to another crisis (actual or perceived) over the weekend.
  It looks like BeaB’s post above is what their efforts have been directed towards.
  
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  March 12, 2022 1:06pm
Miritu

Can somebody help me understand how there can be such differing perspectives on events at parliament grounds on 2 March. MSM paint police actions as largely heroic. Our host and most politicians appear to agree, yet the following article by Jane Morgan reveals a troubling and very different picture which I urge everyone to read…
A Very Dark Day for New Zealand
https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/03/12/a-very-dark-day-for-new-zealand/
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March 12, 2022 9:53am
In Vino Veritas

I posted a day or two ago that Vice President Harris was going to Europe to save the world.

Unexpectedly, she has been mocked mercilessly for producing a word salad and being unprepared.

Harris discussing the Ukraine crisis during a Q&A with reporters at a Security Conference in Germany:

“I mean, listen, guys, we’re talking about the potential for war in Europe, I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about. It’s been over 70 years. And through those 70 years … there has been peace and security. We are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe.”

That’s right folks, the VP of the USA thinks there have been no wars in Europe for 70 years. This is the woman that will be leader of the free world when mad Sleepy Joe steps down……
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March 12, 2022 9:56am
- oldfella
  
  Vino, I recall Cindy said something similar recently, but can’t find the quote.
  Two lefty leaders who frequently come across as thick as bricks.
  Pity one of them belongs to us.
  
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  March 12, 2022 10:18am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Ardern said the situation in Ukraine was “the closest thing to war that my generation and many generations will have seen”.
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/02/the-closest-thing-to-war-for-a-generation-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-concemns-russia-s-illegal-invasion-of-ukraine.html
    
    Ardern’s ignorance of World events was discussed here on KB a couple of weeks ago
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2022/02/overlooked_a_few_wars.html
    
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    March 12, 2022 12:53pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Unfortunately, having Ardern as PM is the same as having an amoeba with eyebrows in the role.
      
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      March 12, 2022 10:40pm
I remember when

Dr Karly Birch: Newsroom:
In 1994 Ukraine signed the UN Budapest Memorandum with the US, UK and Russia agreeing to return the nuclear weapons it inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed.
The Memorandum assured that, in return for the Ukraine becoming a non-nuclear weapon state, these imperial powers would “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine” – words that were breached with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
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March 12, 2022 10:08am
oldfella

Chris Trotter gets a bit… unhinged(?) over at Bowalley Road.
++
… one thing is for certain: the genie of co-governance is well and truly out of its bottle and it is doubtful whether the New Zealand state any longer possesses either the strength or the will to stuff it back in. Were a right-wing government foolish enough to try, the resulting convulsions in the body politic would make the recent dyspepsia manifested in Parliament Grounds look like a delegation of Plunket mums.
This time the wretched refuse of the colonial capitalist economy would not attract the scorn of middle-class Pakeha social-liberals. This time they would be pitching their tents right alongside them. This time the New Zealand ensign flying alongside the Tino Rangatiratanga flag would not be at all confusing. This time it would be: “One flag for tauiwi; one flag for tangata whenua; and te Tiriti over all.” This time Labour and the Greens would not be scorning the occupation. This time they’d be taking the demands of the protesters directly to the floor of the House of Representatives. This time they would not be speaking for the state. This time they would be speaking for the future.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
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March 12, 2022 10:12am
- Redapplefalls
  
  Trotter has been circling the drain for a while now. I think Covid has unhinged him… being fat, unhealthy and in his 70’s probably means he’s feeling the chill winds of mortality blowing up his skirt.
  
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  March 12, 2022 7:08pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    Redapplefalls is one of the more respected political commentators here. Wonder what her(?) first name is? Age? Weight?
    
    The courage of anonymous keyboard warriors …
    
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    December 12, 2021 7:27pm
Gulag1917

Nuclear first strike.
Vladimir Putin’s statement on February 21st, 2022 was a response to U.S. threats to use nuclear weapons on a preemptive basis against Russia, despite Joe Biden’s “reassurance” that the U.S. would not be resorting to ‘A first strike’ nuclear attack against an enemy of America”:

Let me [Putin] explain that U.S. strategic planning documents contain the possibility of a so-called preemptive strike against enemy missile systems. And who is the main enemy for the U.S. and NATO? We know that too. It’s Russia. In NATO documents, our country is officially and directly declared the main threat to North Atlantic security. And Ukraine will serve as a forward springboard for the strike.” (Putin Speech, February 21, 2022, emphasis added)
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March 12, 2022 10:17am
Tony Stuart

The human face of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine; hundreds of Ukranians being buried in a mass grave in Mariupol; a mass grave dug by doctors

https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1502375304395898886
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March 12, 2022 10:19am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Reminds me of the “mass covid graves” in New York Tony. Aren’t you smarter than this?
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:26pm
  - kevn
    
    and the ship arriving in New York supposedly to take the mountain of bodies away. Somewhere. Else.
    
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    March 12, 2022 3:53pm
I remember when

NZ History:
New giant duck discovered in St Bathams in Otago:
Reseachers found a bone at St Bathams fossil site in Central Otago, the site of Lake Manuherikia, a perhistoric lake.
This lake has been calculated to cover from 3500 to up to 5600 sq kms.
A possibility for the duck becoming extinct is that there was a huge climatic change and tectonic geological evolution that dried up the lake and it became colder.
Aotearoa was a lot more forested in that era, with palm trees, eucalypt trees and cocnut palms, similar to a greenhouse-type environment and a warmer.

So how far back do we have to research before we remove a tree because it is ‘exotic.’
Greenhouse warming.
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March 12, 2022 10:21am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Aotearoa? But St Bathans is in the South Island! And if the lake was prehistoric, how the hell did it get a Maori name? In actual fact, the “lake” that is there is actually called Falls Dam (and it was created for irrigation). So whom ever wrote this is making shit up and trying to rewrite history. For anyone that wants the actual facts, you can go to the Hocken Library and it’s all there.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:42am
Maggie Pie

And Tatiana’s sister retweets from the safety of Poland……

https://twitter.com/UkraineNews0/status/1502285190592401410
4 3
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March 12, 2022 10:37am
Maggy Wassilieff

NSW/Sydney is experiencing another surge in covid infections…. now involving a sub-variant omicron

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-health-wants-return-to-masks-working-from-home-but-hazzard-not-keen-20220311-p5a3xe.html

I think we had better be prepared for a long period in the red traffic light system.

I also think Our Dear PM won’t be able to run with the “light at the end of the Tunnel” meme for much longer.

It will soon be time to line up for your 2nd round of booster.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-08/how-likely-is-a-further-covid-booster-for-australians/100804380
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March 12, 2022 10:42am
- ClanMcleod
  
  I’d rather die a horrible death by plague than do anything the fascist Ardern tells me to do. I despise her.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:13am
Maggy Wassilieff

A long read about the scientists /researchers/ experts who have been excluded from our Covid health response

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/the-fda-approved-kiwi-owned-pcr-test-technology-the-health-ministry-wouldnt-even-look-at
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March 12, 2022 10:47am
Swifty

Ever have the experience of visiting the local dairy and being short-changed? And not once but over and over? You think initially “oh well, honest mistake….” but when it keeps happening and the mistake is ALWAYS in their favour, never yours, then you come to know the truth of the matter.

I’ve had similar experiences with the local news media. Look at this from Henry Cooke, describing two economists. Notice anything?

“Stuff talked to two economists from the left and right to see what they thought the Government could do to ameliorate costs: Craig Renney, economist for the Council of Trade Unions, who used to work for Finance Minister Grant Robertson, and Dr Eric Crampton, economist for right-wing think tank the New Zealand Initiative.….”

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300539103/inflation-what-two-economists-think-the-government-should-do-to-tackle-the-high-cost-of-living

I’ve seen this countless times: he labels Crampton as ‘right wing’ but for Renney?

Nothing.

Honest mistake or deliberate bias?

I’ve taken notice over the last few years in Stuff especially how many times I see ‘right’ or ‘far-right’ used versus ‘left’ or ‘far-left’.

It just doesn’t compare, it’d be ten to one, with one major exception: while I see ‘far-right’ used often I NEVER see ‘far-left’ when it could easily and correctly be used to describe many Labour and Green politicians, for example.

And Stuff call themselves fair and objective, while taking millions from the NZ Labour Party.
23 2
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March 12, 2022 11:03am
- Swifty
  
  Sorry, could have worded that better.
  
  It’s how Cooke describes the NZI versus how he described the CTU.
  
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  March 12, 2022 11:06am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump tearing Biden a new arsehole over gasoline prices.
https://rumble.com/vx0l6v-trump-rips-biden-on-ukraine-and-gas-prices.html?
8 6
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March 12, 2022 11:06am
I remember when

Australian 2019 Death Stats vs Covid Deaths 28 Feb:
If we use the the 2019 Death Stats being the last year before covid and Covid Deaths to the end of February the differentials are:
90+ (+ 2.63%), 80+ (+ 6.42%), 70+ (+ 1.69%),
60+ (- 1.3%)
Median age of death for males 78 and females 84 in 2019.
Median age for covid deaths is 83.
In 2019 the 60+ death total was 83% of all deaths.
For covid to date those aged 60+ represent 92.5%.
Comorbidity in the region of 73% is mentioned.
So the science would appear to say that comorbidty and those eighty and over should be vaccinated, perhaps seventy plus .
After that ‘personal choice’ as there are a lot of other possibilities besides covid.
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March 12, 2022 11:19am
Maggie Pie

My partner’s just got back from MITRE10 MEGA.
Didn’t get what he wanted unfortunately.

He said he asked the big Maori dude what aisle he could find ‘Z Nails’?

Reckons all the guy did was give him a dirty look, shrug his shoulders and walk away.

Hardly the reception he expected considering their TV adz 🙁
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March 12, 2022 11:29am
- Nickc2
  
  He would probably be met with same result if he approached Cindy’s Maori Caucus and asked any of them what they were doing to resolve our massive debt problem (or anything else for that matter).
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:24pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I think you’re right actually.
    The problem with my partner is how he approaches some people.
    I’ve tried telling him before that not everyone appreciates the silly Billy T. James voice and eyebrow raising thing.
    
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    March 12, 2022 2:05pm
- kevn
  
  At least Bunnings have masked up staffers/actors doing their TV ads.
  
  9 1
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  March 12, 2022 3:49pm
- glowworm
  
  He probably reads kiwiblog and owns a big black ford ranger with chrome bull bars Maggie ?
  
  5 0
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  March 12, 2022 6:03pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    LOL!!
    
    1 1
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    March 12, 2022 7:54pm
ClanMcleod

Has someone else posted about the WHO plan to apparently take over world pandemic responses? If so apologies. But is anyone else concerned that a body (who’s biggest funder is Bill Gates) is attempting to give itself the power to control health around the whole world?

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/28/1059025751/who-seeks-a-new-treaty-on-handling-future-pandemics-it-could-be-a-hard-sell

Apparently they are meeting in the next few weeks, demanding more money from countries and laying out their plans. Along with the UN, we are moving rapidly towards that NWO the crazy hippies warned us all about 30 years ago. National sovereignty has been eroded, people like Ardern, Morrison, Trudeau, Merkel and others are known to be plants from the likes of Schwab’s WEF.
None of this is “conspiracy theory”, the plans and ambitions are in full view.
Maybe some think this a a sensible idea, I can think of nothing worse than centralised control by unelected bodies with on concept of what the local environment is.
This is looking like part of the purpose of the whole covid circus. This looks like it’s been a primer for the above. It looks like Ardern is using it as a practice run for her real job at the UN.
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March 12, 2022 11:39am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Yes. I posted a similar link to the EU website the other day, archived below. Fighting this is (yet another) hill to die on, because it is the end of what little sovereignty New Zealand still retains.
  
  https://archive.ph/0jxMq
  
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  March 12, 2022 12:29pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    When I read this stuff, and let’s face it, it’s nothing radically new in term of nefarious intent, I look at our opposition and weep. They are utterly disconnected with the reality of our dissolving sovereignty, and instead fiddle at the edges with tax reform. Like it’s 1960 and it’s sharp politics.
    
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    March 12, 2022 3:15pm
Warren

This is becoming a weekly occurrence in New Zealand Cities and Towns nowadays with Three violent crimes committed in the North Island over the last 24 hours .
Man found in critical condition after altercation on Waikato Expressway, Motor Bike Gang involvement believed to be the cause.
Man found stabbed on Palmeston North footpath on Saturday Morning.

Is this the and caring New Zealand that Jacinda Ardern wants because it seems gang and criminal just please themselves in these crimes knowing they they won’t have to worry about the consequences.
Pm
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/it-was-scary-witnesses-fear-for-their-safety-as-bike-gang-drives-on-wrong-side-of-the-road/JRVACTZWYZ2RA5DOLLM7HW4LNA/
24 1
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March 12, 2022 11:41am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How long before these folks will become NZ’s Sturmabteilung?
  
  11 4
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  March 12, 2022 1:07pm
- kowtow
  
  Here is sum fing the Ngats could play on , but will they.
  
  But apart from the media reporting these incidents in passing , they won’t give it the attention required .
  Nor will they daily villify the gangs .
  None of this is happening on the polite lawns of parliament , but ordinary decent NZers are the victims.
  
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  March 12, 2022 3:04pm
I remember when

The price of ecocide: Govt urged to support criminalisation: RNZ:
Ecocide would join the International Criminal Court’s four core crimes, which include crimes against humanity and genocide.
If mass environmental destruction, ecocide, was declared a crime it would mean individuals could be investigated for carrying out intensive coal mining or deforestation.
Stop Ecocide is a global movement and has 19 branches world-wide.

We used to talk about a ‘free world’ which now seems likely to be replaced by a ‘free the world of.’
It’s a media tsunami of small groups of people, who don’t mention, but obviously intend to try to destroy capitalism.
Without any ideas, or thoughts, about what the replacement will be in their new utopian world.
The ever increasing removal of the need to think about problems for ourselves – they’ve solved it.
18 2
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March 12, 2022 11:51am
Maggie Pie

EWWW!!

One of the girls from tennis retweets…..

‘This is either a sign of nervousness….or maybe something more serious?’

https://twitter.com/TumaiTawhiti/status/1502414398836551682
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March 12, 2022 1:34pm
Maggie Pie

And we all know how much SooZe likes talking about herself 😀

https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1502389245771935749
14 4
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March 12, 2022 2:08pm
- Nickc2
  
  The Pink Poofy-Kat strikes again.
  
  10 2
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  March 12, 2022 2:21pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I care about you Maggie Pie
  
  (send your retainer to the usual address, txs)
  
  11 2
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  March 12, 2022 2:21pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Biden losing his rag, he is lost in space.
https://rumble.com/vx4xnz-biden-loses-it-suggests-americans-are-dumb-for-thinking-he-caused-inflation.html?
9 2
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March 12, 2022 2:17pm
- bjools
  
  Govt. spending in every country and throughout history inflation and economic hardship, has been caused by govt. ridiculous spending.
  eg the Romans built a Colosseum.
  
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  March 12, 2022 2:52pm
Nickc2

A very interesting question posed to the British Sisterhood. How would the same question be answered by NZ’s sisterhood?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10604039/PLATELLS-PEOPLE-sisterhood-pick-AK-47-protect-nation.html
* Upticks: YES,
* Downticks: NO
* Explanations: OPTIONAL
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March 12, 2022 2:32pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  1 downtick from me
  
  I’d report to the nearest hospital for dunny-cleaning duties.
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:05pm
- nathie
  
  Heh, maybe there’s a third option:
  
  “YES … but only if the instructors are sisterhood-tick certified, have ‘i luv cindy’ emojis on the twitter profiles, have ‘cancelled’ people they disagree with …. but most of all NO (experienced) ‘old or white’ guys involved with the training”???
  
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  March 12, 2022 4:05pm
Jack5

A man who killed another in a coward’s-punch incident and was sentenced to 18 months prison appears again in Invercargill Court charged with a new coward’s-punch attack.

This time the victim, hospitalised with head injuries, is recovering, the judge said.

The puncher for this second attack gets seven months’ home detention and is ordered to pay the victim $1000.

The justice system is more interested in saving criminals than in protecting citizens.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/128031801/convicted-killer-sentenced-for-another-onepunch-assault
22 1
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March 12, 2022 2:41pm
- Joely Doe
  
  Fuck I hate the ‘justice’ system in this country – it borders on corrupt.
  
  The first attack saw him sentenced to 22 months –
  
  In 2016, Palmer pleaded guilty and was jailed for 22 months for the manslaughter of 40-year-old Matthew Coley. Palmer, 16 at the time, punched Coley once, he fell back on the store window of a Night ‘n Day and died as a result of the blunt force injury
  
  The second was the same offence –
  
  Tyrone Palmer punched a man’s head in what the judge called an unprovoked attack. The 20-year-old victim was knocked unconscious, he fell back onto the footpath and suffered a brain bleed.
  
  So the only real difference here is the resulting death vs injury? The offence is the same but luckily for the prick – he didn’t kill anyone this time.
  
  He even managed to get a Get Out Of Jail Free card after discovering he was actually part-Māori on his mother’s side, and had been learning te reo Māori, tikanga as well as doing a voluntary Māori-based parenting course for a staggering 50% reduction in his sentence
  
  Did the judge offer to tuck him in at night too?
  FFS.
  
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  March 12, 2022 5:13pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Is this Psaki or Jaspinda?
Diversions and not answering the question.
https://rumble.com/vx17sk-psaki-panics-face-plants-when-asked-if-biden-owns-an-electric-car.html?
9 2
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March 12, 2022 2:45pm
bjools

I don’t often comment on Race relations but
This man is worth a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J–frF7-ROU
Paraphrased quote
“Let us not polarize on the basis of race or religion. But let us polarize on the basis of decent people vs indecent people”
9 1
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March 12, 2022 2:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Oh, the ironing.
https://thepoliticalinsider.com/electric-car-ceo-elon-musk-urges-biden-to-increase-oil-and-gas-production/?
11 3
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March 12, 2022 2:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump about Merkel and Russia.
https://rumble.com/vx0jv5-trump-reveals-little-gift-he-sent-to-germanys-merkel-over-russia-deal.html?
8 4
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March 12, 2022 3:53pm
Swifty

Farewell Nurse Gladys Emmanuel:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QmDZkxl9fw4
9 2
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March 12, 2022 5:17pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Good rant. America has RINOs, the guy is not one.
https://rumble.com/vwxz9r-here-we-are-again-chip-roy-erupts-on-house-floor.html?
4 3
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March 12, 2022 6:44pm
- Mike
  
  Are you enjoying the antics of those Yanks who are all in for Putin, Steve?
  It’s great sport, isn’t it?
  
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  March 12, 2022 6:53pm
Fisiani2

National reach 39% in the polls and Labour panic.
When National reach 41% Labour will try to smear.
When National reach 43% Labour will try to bribe
When National reach 45% Labour will spend spend.
When National reach 49% we will wonder why it is only 49%.
People who believed that Labour would build 100,000 houses are no longer gullible.
People who believed that Labour would end poverty are no longer gullible.
People who believed that Labour care are no longer gullible.
People who believed that Labour would stop gangs shooting people are no longer gullible.
People who believed that Labour would make things better will never believe them again.
Save New Zealand. Vote for grown-ups.
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March 12, 2022 6:45pm
- Ian Boag
  
  So National will promise to do something to ..
  
  end poverty ….
  build 100,000(or any number) of (affordable) houses
  stop gangs shooting people
  convince people they care
  
  a hard one
  
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  March 12, 2022 7:10pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Can America get worser?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6CD4ZnI868
3 4
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March 12, 2022 6:59pm
Maggie Pie

Just been srelaxing in the Itsu’s…. enjoying a glass of 97′ Fonseca, Cranberry-Crackers with Bloo Cheese & Honeycomb, while watching 1Ewes.

Then on came that…. ‘Road-to-Zero’ ad.

What a load of puerile crap!!

My partner was saying he heard ‘Waka Kotahi’ forked out in excess of 3 million taxpayer dollars on that shit!!
Obviously someone’s larfing all the way to the Bank.

Enuff is enuff – surely?
9 2
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March 12, 2022 7:24pm
lazza

Quote:

“On a personal level I don’t “hate” her. Hate is a strong word. Having said that I hate her politics and can’t stand listening to her patronising evasive double speak”.

I’d put it this way.

Cindy has “lost the room”. She lost me years ago.
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March 12, 2022 9:46pm

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