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July 19, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 19 July 2022

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General Debate

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Tony Stuart

109 gun crimes in Auckland alone in the month of May, and even though the truce between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez seems to be holding – just – there still seem to be incidents of gun crime every day:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-gang-warfare-city-sees-109-reported-gun-crimes-in-a-single-month/VERZANIUDJTL5VPP33O3KRHCFE/?utm_campaign=nzh_tw&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=nzh_tw#Echobox=1658168265-1

Meanwhile, there was a shooting in what journalists described as “gentrified” Grey Lynn last night. Watch the latte-sippers rage about that today!
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December 19, 2021 8:22am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Yes when the leafy burbs where the Karens live get shot up they will be squealing like stuck pigs. Good. Another reason not to vote for Cindy.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:29am
  - pdm
    
    Ooops sorry lastman – fat fingers got you a downtick.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:46am
    - info@cruzpro.com
      
      This seems to happen more often than it should. Perhaps the UP and DOWN icons could be separated a bit more.
      
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      July 19, 2022 8:51am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Or perhaps people could stop angsting over whether they get a downtick or not.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:04am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Exactly. A downtick simply means you disagree with the statement. It’s not a slur on the character of the commenter.
        Except in a few rare cases. 😆
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:09am
- Monty
  
  the news headlines this morning in the NZ Herald
  1. Outbreak of Gloom – why everything feels so bad right now
  2.Aucklands gun crimes doubled in May – more than three a day
  3. Housing downturn sees retirement village stocks slump
  4. Inflation data is ugly but has it peaked
  5.Armed “agitated” man critically shot by police outside his Grey Lynn house
  5. Struggle Street :Rents double swallowing incomes
  
  and so on – of course everyday the media headlines are cost of living, health crisis, housing disaster, crime (gangs), industrial action, worker shortages – this is the worst government NZ has had to ever suffer
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:45am
  - A Nonny Mouse
    
    I had aread of the “Outlook of Gloom article”
    This quote made me sigh and shake my head at the level of self-unawareness.
    ——
    Galloway says the tricky bit here is that the mind tends to focus on the negative when we’re in the middle of a challenging period.
    
    “This is called negative bias and suggests we human beings are hardwired to be more influenced by negativity than positivity,” explains Galloway.
    
    “People will be guided first by their feelings, emotions and intuitive responses. And then we use our brains to rationalise that.”
    ——
    The media is primarily pushing doom and gloom and negativity. No mention of a mea culpa in the article. The article is mostly a copy paste of a release.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:18am
    - Thought Criminal
      
      Seems to me like the media are running cover for Labour and saying things aren’t that bad and that it’s all in people’s heads.
      
      No wonder people don’t trust the media.
      
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      July 19, 2022 2:33pm
  - artemisia
    
    Those looking to buy in a retirement village usually need to sell their existing home first. These are taking longer to sell, and part of that is the pool of buyers has been smacked hard by this government’s policy on interest deductibility.
    
    Not to worry, that policy will be reversed with a new government next year but meantime some good buying opportunities.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:24am
- emmess
  
  How is that gun confiscation working out for you, Jacinda?
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:49am
  - kowtow
    
    It’s working out very well for her , abroad where she’s feted , back here , not so much.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:01am
  - stephen2d
    
    Quick, somebody ring Stephen Colbert!
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:22am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Legal guns are sorted by these scum, it’s the illegal guns causing the damage
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:45am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Another outstanding achievement for Ardern to add to her CV. It will make for some reading when she tries to get her place at the UN.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:49am
  - kowtow
    
    She’ll be able to frame the full two page spread by Audrey Young in today’s Party Political Broadsheet , sorry the Herald , about her 4 month successful whirlwind world tour .
    
    Accompanied by a centre panel of her beaming in photos with all the great and the good .
    
    Our tax money is well spent on the media , if you’re a Commo.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:09am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      A-Z A for ass, B for bulkshit . C for ? Filli in the gaps, D for dumb, E for each way, F for frighten useless, you get the point? There version is to try and restore her polls, but she has lost the people, she is done, a dead giveaway is being in parliament f two days since March, and being booed where ever she goes, no wonder she didn’t go to Tauranga, I hope the labour gut wins Wellington mayoralty, pests see if she stays away from Rongati
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:51am
      - James Stephenson
        
        O for a decent government.
        
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        July 19, 2022 2:23pm
- RoboRob
  
  Labour MPs are still denying there is an uptick in violent crime. The problem is you can only try and pull the wool over peoples eyes for so long. You can say inflation is not an issue but people can see the price rises. You can say the health system is fine but people see the cancelled operations.
  
  Labour has chosen to pretend things aren’t a problem. I think thats a mistake and their supporters will eventually get frustrated with that. It must be a major hit to Labour suppporters trust in the government.
  
  n.b. my last comments relate to ‘thinkng’ Labour supporters not hardcore supporters. It remains to be seen how many thinking supporters they have.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:59am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Of course that depends on whether or not a Labour party supporter can actually think – for themselves, that is, without being blinded by the bullshit & bluster. i.e. propaganda.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:13am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Same with health, I have never seen such a mess, but what does Little do? That’s right, turns on the nurses the vulgar swine
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:52am
  - Thought Criminal
    
    2+2=5
    
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    July 19, 2022 2:34pm
  - Thought Criminal
    
    Labour are gaslighting an entire nation.
    
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    July 19, 2022 2:35pm
- Jim
  
  Shocking indeed Tony.
  But has anyone else noticed the recent threat escalation in NZ public gun violence ?
  
  Last weeks terrible double homicide in West Auckland saw the need for authorities to post multiple armed police in guard outside the court building! What does that say?
  
  How’s it really going Chippy?
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/glendene-double-homicide-family-pay-tribute-to-father-and-daughter-allegedly-murdered-in-west-auckland/4DTNJ53GWN2COJZ4RJKHTGWGWM/
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:26am
- nathie
  
  So how about this? Whenever a particular gang discharges a firearm at a person or property (an illegal firearm for that matter) …. the Police & AOS then raid that particular gang’s gang pads … then do it a second time (a bit later) … then a third time.
  
  No doubt the gangs don’t like being disrupted like that, nor have the Police search their gang pads looking for illegal items. The gangs then might modify their behavior.
  
  I note the Police in the regions did something similar to this when they raided the Hells Angels in Manawatū, Bay of Plenty, Whanganui and Auckland.
  
  This article says the Police then found an illegal bar in operation at one of the gang pads, and took it away (which would be a real piss-off for the gangs loosing their bar)!
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300558683/hells-angels-member-admits-running-illegal-bar-at-palmerston-north-gang-pad
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300075905/large-haul-of-alcohol-seized-in-hells-angels-raid-in-palmerston-north
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:53am
- The Feed
  
  They got what they voted for.
  
  They should enjoy it. It’s diverse.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:57pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  They’ll froth!
  
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  July 19, 2022 5:54pm
krazykiwi

If you enjoy Getting Rid Of Labour™, then vote National. Endless fun, election cycle after election cycle.

If you recognise the futile foolishness of repeatedly Getting Rid Of Labour™, and would instead prefer to change New Zealand’s trajectory, then vote Act.

Note to David Seymour: You’re welcome.

Note to tribal Nats: Bring it, but win me over by convincing me that National will repent from 30 years of tacitly supporting our inexorable slide into a big-state, neo-Marxist quagmire.
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July 19, 2022 8:05am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Interesting that you use the number 30 years KK. It is, of course, coming up to 29 years since New Zealanders (excluding me!) voted to accept MMP as our method of government. The legacy of MMP of course is that winning the centre is what will determine who governs us.
  
  MMP by its very nature condemns right-wing parties such as Act, and left-wing parties such as the Greens to minor party status, because there simply aren’t enough people to vote on purely ideological grounds. The vast bulk of voters lie somewhere in between, and that’s where parties have to pitch in order to get enough MP’s to form a government. One of the most common criticisms of the Key government was that they did not dismantle Working for Families, but to do so would have made them a one-term government, and given us Phil Goff as Prime Minister in 2011.
  
  It works in reverse too; Labour is taking advantage of the “freak” result delivered in 2020 to deliver us a far more stringent left-wing agenda than they would have been able to as a coalition government. Unless National was able to get a similar numerical advantage, which would almost certainly be at Acts expense’, the two parties will need to coalesce, and both will have to make compromises. I’m not convinced that is a recipe for good government.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:22am
  - David Garrett
    
    Tony: A very thoughtful comment, and one I almost totally agree on. The one exception is the suggestion that under MMP the party that captures the centre will get the most MP’s. While that is quite true, it’s also true for FPP; the most votes lie in the middle of the bell curve, and that’s what a party needs to capture.
    
    I am fully aware of the faults of MMP – but 25 years on, it’s easy to forget the major fault with FPP – that a party could get a very significant chunk of the votes and get no seats. I am referring to Bob Jones’ NZ Party in 1984 – IIRC they got 20% of the vote but no seats.
    
    That is not democracy, and to quote Winston Churchill, democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others which have been tried.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:30am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Point taken David. Only Social Credit was able to break the National-Labour deadlock in my lifetime.
      
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      July 19, 2022 8:36am
      - Rodney Hide
        
        Hi KK
        
        I take that tresspass notice seriously!
        
        Rodney
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:24am
    - RoboRob
      
      The other issue with FPP is that you almost always get what we have now. A single party running the show. At least MMP brings a level of control.
      
      Also disagree re minor parties. Under MMP we actually get minor parties in parliament, under FPP that rare. Personally I would love to go back to FPP if just to get rid of the greens who would never win a seat.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:03am
    - Rodney Hide
      
      MMP is a shocking system guaranteeing mediocrity and poor government. FPP is mostly poor government but allows for good government as with the fourth labour government.
      
      Bob Jones would never have got 20 percent under MMP.
      
      Rodney Hide
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:10am
      - krazykiwi
        
        Missed you at the Act 25th bash, Rodney. Had I known, I could have accepted your award on your behalf 🙂
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:16am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        “FPP is mostly poor government but allows for good government as with the fourth labour government.”
        
        A good government only because FPP had allowed the previous PM to exploit FPP, creating the bizarre situation in which National had gone so far left, causing economic disaster that Lange & Co had to adopt right wing economic policy to get the country out of the crap.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:31am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        In effect Muldoon’s right was protected by the FPP system, enabling him to lead his government further and further left, squeezing into Labour’s territory, would be Act voters had no other serious option until Bob Jones gave them one.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:37am
      - septic skeptic
        
        Don’t see how you figure Bob Jones would have done worse under MMP. As it was most of those that voted for him must have realized it was likely a “wasted” vote. And then look at the United Future aberration after Peter Dunne called for common sense three times in the televised debate.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:30am
    - krazykiwi
      
      STV, with zero ‘wasted’ votes was adjudged ‘too difficult to understand’. Tell that to someone now expected to unquestioningly wear a mask in a bus, but not in a cafe, or to have stood outside a funeral while their loved one was buried.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:11am
      - Frank the tank
        
        Remember KK those that are telling you to wear a mask are the same people that believe that men can have babies and get their periods.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:10am
  - Andrew Worth
    
    “MMP by its very nature condemns right-wing parties such as Act, and left-wing parties such as the Greens to minor party status”
    
    Under the previous FPP system Act and the Greens would be lucky to get more than 1 or 2 MP’s, the best Betham’s Social Credit did (from memory) was 2 MP’s with about 20% of the vote.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:30am
    - MCōs
      
      ACT didn’t exist under FFP. It started as a breakaway from Labour pushing Rogernomics.
      In effect the era of Roger Douglas & Ruth Richardson was the high point for ACT.
      NZ has never recovered.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:16am
      - Nickc2
        
        NZ hasn’t recovered due to two Labour Govts (Clark & Ardern).
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:20am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Rogernomics, Reaganomics and Thatchernomics was a necessary change in direction that ended a period in which inflation was out of control and productivity was crashing, we appear to be heading back to those days.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:23am
      - krazykiwi
        
        Thatchernomics was also a response to unions holding the future hostage. I recall miners unions had, for example, ‘negotiated’ guaranteed jobs for life for themselves, for their sons, and for their grandsons.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:28am
      - Matt Long
        
        Reply to Nick2, 3 Labour governments, Clarke (Left) Key (Lefter) Ardern ( Leftist)
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:10am
      - Frank the tank
        
        What a bunch of ass. NZ during the early Key years was a destination and had an economy outperforming most other comparable nations. We just started from a horrible position.
        
        Of course Key never had the guts to address systemic issues on infrastructure, welfare dependency and underinvestment that begun under the Lange government.
        
        The current government has accelerated the decline to the point we can see the WEF-inspired finish line.
        
        So Cosy – you still haven’t answered my question – can a man get pregnant?
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:16am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Tiger Douglas was out snd out Labour, blame Lange for letting it happen, but it is what it is, the damage was done under 6 years of rotten Labour which sadly I have to Amit to voting for. I will never forget Helen Clark as minister of health introducing user pays in some parts of health that has sadly led to he health system slowly slipping away
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:47pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Tony. While that has an element of truth in it, National make no attempt to persuade the electorate that a continual slide Left is a slow motion train wreck..
    
    The same centrist thinking gave us 1982 NZ. A state dominated, political corrupt (think about who got import and export licences) and moribund economy. The pain of the 1984 to 1992 period was the necessary result.
    
    If we want to avoid 1984 to 92 type social disruption we need a poltical force to make hard calls now before Labour completely screw the country with their Union led desire to return to 1974. If Labour achieve that desire the country is completely stuffed for decades
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:33am
    - Ehlana
      
      Is it just the nature of people that they only want to hear that they can have it all at no cost and until that system delivers an actual train wreck, no-one can persuade them to make changes?
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:00am
      - JimBobJoe
        
        Yes – people in general don’t want to think beyond their day to day – so free stuff isn’t questioned, its just taken. Getting people to actually engage and understand is so hard – its why we have such a huge under achiever tail in our secondary education sector…
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:34pm
    - Countrygirl
      
      I have been of the opinion that although National wanted to get rid of WFF during their last term, really how could they, other than slowly, which is what they were working towards. Imagine the furore if they had told people, “OK, next month we are ditching WFF so you will be having to work out some other way to pick up $400? a week because we aren’t giving it to you.
      
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      July 19, 2022 12:58pm
      - JimBobJoe
        
        Agree it would be hard. But you could have said you are losing WFF but we are redoing the tax system so the first 25K of income is Tax free….. That could be sold by working the math and find the optimum tax free level to deliver working families livable income without needing a government rake in and shell out which is what WFF is…
        
        WFF is basically a subsidy for poor wages and salaries for people in certain industry’s. Its a recognition of ongoing, systemic Government failure to deliver the high wage, high productivity economy both major Parties have talked up for decades
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:32pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    I didn’t vote for MMP either. I wanted STV,and the Herald was quick to point out it’s major disadvantage: “It would be goodbye to a great New Zealand tradition – sitting in front of the TV on election night waiting to see who will be running the country for the next three years.”. Pffft.
    
    MMP favours consortia comprised of minorities who have their hands out for various types of government largess, so blaming the drift left on parties [formerly of] of the right is not completely fair. But that doesn’t change the fact the our trajectory has us headed to a place of impoverishment and diminished personal agency, and few involved in politics appear concerned so long as their personal needs for significance and power are satiated en route.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:36am
    - RoboRob
      
      STV would have been awesome. Sad it really didn’t get a look in.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:04am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, I voted for STV. That is the system used predominantly in Oz, and AFAIK it works very well. I voted in several elections while I lived there, state & federal.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:22am
    - Ehlana
      
      I think STV would be a better system. FPP wasted votes for minor parties who would never get seats; MMP makes them the tails who wag the dogs.
      
      Under MMP the compromises are made after the election by the politicians. That lets the voters off the hook. We can cluster in our ideological towers and despise our politicians for their lack of purity. But a free society requires compromise – there is no other way to live peacefully with people who are equally free, but different from you.
      
      STV would put the compromise where it should be – in the hands of the voters. It asks the question, who do you want? It then follows up with the essential functional relationship question – if you can’t get what you want, what is your second choice?
      
      That gives a much more nuanced picture for our representatives to work with. They know how much primary support they have, and how much is secondary support. Sensible polling would identify the issues driving secondary choices. And that, in turn, might make it easier to generate cross-party support for difficult subjects.
      
      It’s a pity we’ll probably never get the chance to choose this again.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:23am
      - krazykiwi
        
        You make an important point about deals.
        
        Under MMP the deals are made in shady backrooms, based on what the minor party leader can extort from the larger party. Peters is a quadruple gold medalist and world champion at this, and New Zealand is much, much the worse for it.
        
        By contrast, under STV there are no backroom deals. The voters preferences are honoured in mathematical order.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:56am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        “Under MMP the deals are made in shady backrooms, based on what the minor party leader can extort from the larger party. ”
        
        I voted for STV, but the only reason those backroom deals happen is because no party has an absolute majority in parliament, which could still happen with STV. The advantage of STV is that the party bosses wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) have as much power in the selection of candidates – no party lists.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:38am
    - Hebe123
      
      I also voted for STV. I think it was my first time voting, and it was clearly a superior system. But there was a huge push from the main parties (from memory) no doubt aided by a complicit media to push the favoured proportional option, being MMP.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:28am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    I voted against MMP as I could see how divisive it would be. With FPP we got 2 parties both near the centre. Now we have to deal with left fringe and racist parties who have an influence well above the %age of votes they get.
    The 2 major parties have to cow tow to them and water down their policies that their voters voted for so they get policies they didnt vote for but were voted for by a very small minority.
    So we have the tail wagging the dog. That folks is not what I call democracy.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:37am
    - Andrew Worth
      
      The current Labour government is a good example of what you get without the governing party needing to cow tow.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:01am
    - edhunter
      
      MMP should’ve have seen the end of the Maori seats instead we’ve seen an increase to them, on that fact alone MMP is a failure.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:54am
    - Unity
      
      Didn’t MMP come in after World War II in Germany which meant that no one Party would ever win again? Now minor Parties who wouldn’t normally get a look in, seem to hold too much power.
      
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      July 19, 2022 1:46pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    I wish to apologise.
    I voted for MMP.
    I regret that decision now.
    As you were.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:39am
  - pdm
    
    STV for me Inv.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:47am
  - Yvette
    
    Tony, you mention “The legacy of MMP”
    I still have trouble that MMP means a great number of people vote directly for Labour or National, perhaps Greens some, then a minority give a vote to likes of Winston, who then can wait until the Election result of direct votes is declared, and decide who to put in Government with the votes he holds.
    
    At present some New Zealanders are becoming upset that the likes of “3 Waters” presents a prospect of “co-governance” and a smaller number realise Tipa Mahuta – Chair of the Maori Advisory Group to Taumata Arowai (Water Regulator), controller if “3 Waters” four entities and “co-governance” so-called at that less important level – gives (aptly named) Tipper Mahuta an superior position. but no where strong as Winston had 2017.
    And this time round – well, 2023 – the Maori Party may replace Winston.
    Bugger
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:04am
    - Yvette
      
      Ngā whakapāha, Ngatimozart
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:11am
  - Philview
    
    Tony, at the time I voted for FPP and have tended to think that system is better. However, this current Government with FPP style mandate has driven the country in a direction that is making me rethink the benefits of FPP. NZ has no handbrake on a rogue Government but MMP does pull to the centre most of the time.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:13am
  - leoj
    
    We were sold a pup going with MMP.
    As for proportional, it’s a joke.
    7% of the vote in 2017 heaved the country this disastrous Labour govt.
    FPP had its anomalies but the country was far more stable under it.
    When an electorate vote is less valuable than a party vote, something is terribly wrong.
    So much for people. Now, it’s the parties that decide the MPs and not people.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:43am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I voted for MMP, so did my Father. He was always banging on about proportional representation. I did not buy all of what he said, but I also never saw the tail wagging the dog end result. It was not presented that way at the time.
    I now know 10 times as much about Politics than I did back then.
    I do regret it now.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:46am
    - david
      
      The biggest con of all was the promised review and referendum on MMP after 12 years (IIRC). My reading of the nation’s mood at that point was that it would have been thrown out with a resounding majority if a binding referendum had occurred as most of us understood was promised.
      By that time many of the flaws had been exposed although the horror created by a party with absolute majority power running an agenda that had never even been hinted at prior to their election had not even been contemplated.
      Few now hold the system responsible and even the perfidy of WRP is being rapidly forgotten by many.
      A week is becoming a lifetime in NZ politics.
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:59am
  - Taieri
    
    Much has been said here about the benefits of STV electoral system.
    So, the following question needs to be asked: if such a system was in use would it make much difference to the outcome of the last election?
    Methinks not…
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:25am
    - Matt Long
      
      Maybe, but the one before? Would English have jumped into mandates like Cindy, maybe.
      He would have kept the economy afloat for sure.
      
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      July 19, 2022 2:06pm
      - Taieri
        
        The point is, it’s not the electoral system that is of the prime importance here. Far more important is the quality of the candidates standing for elections. And that doesn’t impress at all. Right across the political spectrum.
        Another factor is the gullibility of the electorate.
        In 2017, Andrew Little was dumped and replaced by the future Dr Ardern. And the Labour’s ratings went stratospheric. Without anything else changing. What does it tell us?
        
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        July 19, 2022 3:29pm
- Simon
  
  Lol – National. Check out this appalling interview from Willis. Supply side economics, to handle inflation, while completely ignoring monetary policy.
  
  Nicola Willis wants immigration to solve inflation.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018849806
  
  Discredited supply side economics. But it is National after all. They are true garbage.
  
  See: https://mises.org/wire/supply-bottlenecks-excuse-inflation
  
  One of the important side effects of the chain of monetary stimuli, low interest rates and fiscal stimulus programs is the increase in the number of zombie companies. ( who dont have the staff – but Willis wants to bring in workers for)
  
  We have forgotten the most important factor, the monetary one, or some central banks want to make us forget it. “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon,” explained Milton Friedman many decades ago. More supply of money directed towards scarce assets, be it real estate or raw materials. The purchasing power of money goes down.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:22am
  - RoboRob
    
    Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods. Good monetary policy helps with demand side (and is important) but why ignore the supply side?
    
    There are a number of simple moves the government good make to help with supply which would quickly reduce inflation. Tightening the monetary supply is a ‘slow’ fix with pain to consumers, businesses and employees. Increasing supply would reduce the amount of ‘pain’ required.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:08am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    I’m slightly puzzled at Nationals promotion of more immigration to lower inflation – I haven’t seen them explicitly join the dots on this.
    
    Increasing demand in times of supply scarcity will increase inflation. Possibly they’re intending (but carefully not saying out loud) that lowering wage cost pressures (= lower wages relative to inflation) by increasing labour supply is their way forward.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:18am
    - Tomtoddy
      
      I listened to Willis. She did not say immigration would solve inflation or anything remotely like that. She said that immigration is needed now to deal with a most pressing issue of labour shortages.
      
      It was RNZ that used a misleading headline – nothing new for that leftie outfit.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:44am
      - kiwikidsnz
        
        “…pressing issue of labour shortages”
        
        We had a couple of decades of massive immigration from Labour and National that “helped” lift NZ population 25% from 4 to 5M. The result being employers enabled by labour surplus to suppressing wages, salaries, training, development & employment opportunities for NZdrs while demand & turnover grew. Plus house prices, etc
        
        National should take a long look in the mirror & change the record. Or they’ll lose again next year.
        
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        July 19, 2022 11:18am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Health are screaming out for several nurses and doctors, but this weak regimes excuse is they may not stay as nurses, well make it mandatory for two years ffs
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:50pm
      - Nickc2
        
        How long will it be before afluent countries come to NZ to recruit low wage skilled workers? Oh, don’t answer that, it’s already happening hence our void of Nurses, Doctors, Construction Workers, Teachers and of course Roading Stop/Go sign operators.
        
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        July 19, 2022 2:09pm
      - Jack5
        
        Willis is Labour Lite in economics, and she disappointed when she and National’s then-leader, Collins, backed Labour on the slumification rule on housing that will lead to packed apartments without on-section parking.
        
        If this proves later to be a good move, Labour will take the credit. If it proves a disaster, as looks likely, Willis and Collins have let Labour off the hook.
        
        But does ACT as well think that open-slather immigration is the key to growth in productivity and economic growth as measured by GDP per capita?
        
        If so, how to explain the slide down the ladder of national GDP’s per capita while NZ had probably the highest level of immigration of any developed country?
        
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        July 19, 2022 3:14pm
  - Andrew Worth
    
    “Discredited supply side economics”
    
    Supply side economics focuses on efficient production, demand side on employing and paying people even if they don’t produce anything, getting production going in the private sector where the goods and services supplied are in demand by consumers through reducing government imposed restrictions is an example of supply side, massively increasing the size of the government bureaucracy simply because it employs and pays people is an example of demand side. The labour shortage could quickly be fixed by sacking 100,000 government bureaucrats, and by ending living on welfare as a long term career option.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:18am
    - Jack5
      
      The labour shortage comes at the end of a crazy burst of State expansion of the money supply through “printing” money by issuing bonds that another arm of the State buys.
      
      Will the hangover sort out the labour shortage?
      
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      July 19, 2022 3:16pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Scarce assets include labour which is subject to the laws of supply and demand in price setting just like anything else.
    
    Right now we have a situation where skilled labour is starting to churn in the market place, shortages of for example engineers are forcing employers to bid up the price of existing talent within a shrinking pool.
    
    We could of course go full socialist and restrict the movement of people out of our market, in which case the inward demand will dry up of it’s own accord.
    
    We are however not a completely open labour market, immigration has a number of levers for government to use and it’s not unrealistic to consider easing the pressure on labour prices by increasing supply.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:29am
  - Frank the tank
    
    It was an extremely poor response to inflation. But very, very, very BELTWAY.
    
    Dimwits on all sides don’t seem to understand there is only 2 outcomes now available:
    
    1). Recession with rigid monetary policy.
    2). Stagflation with a loose monetary policy.
    
    A sharp recession for 2-3 years would be preferable over a decade of stagflation however if I was a betting man Batman and Robin (Grunter and Beetroot) will plump for option 2 and walk away in 2023.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:23am
  - SmokerGuy
    
    I thought she did well. We have massive skill shortages, people fleeing the country so yes immigration will help companies bolster supply which in turn will help with inflation. Dann mentioned the strain on resources, in normal times yes I would agree (I think National made a mistake having such massively high immigration last time) but these are not normal times and if we cannot replace workers who are leaving NZ in droves to increase supply we’re in for a long and painful time.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:07am
    - Don Beckett
      
      We really just have to stop the funding of the “Looking for Work” category that this govt. says are not unemployed. That category, I understand, makes up about 7% – correct me if I’m wrong. That’s how the Unemployment category is only about 4%.
      So on that basis, there is about 11% of the workforce actually unemployed – but the lying Jacinda & Robber will “refude” that.
      
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      July 19, 2022 1:05pm
  - Lee C
    
    LoL. Media misrepresents interview.
    
    Sock-puppet repeats it.
    
    Political Party uses it as their ‘truth’, to push their own political bandwagon.
    
    The people get shafted once again.
    
    Love your work, Simon.
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:21pm
- Graham Sharpe
  
  As a tactic, I think we should be voting National for local MP and ACT for the List. I know DPF thinks this a waste of time, but from my looking at the numbers I think it might work.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:35am
  - pdm
    
    I think it might work GS.
    
    There are a lot of traditional National seats that went to Labour in the electorate vote in 2020.
    
    The airhead Anna Lorck in Tukituki being a prime example. She and others will surely be looking for another job after 2023..
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:51am
    - kowtow
      
      The real airheads in “traditional National seats” are the swing voters who were swayed by Ardern’s and her Media Pardy’s batflu response.
      
      Another lesson there for the politicians is ; there’s no such thing as a safe seat.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:17am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Or those who voted Labour to keep the Greens out…
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:28am
      - Suze Wainwright
        
        Tony, I seem to recall Talbot Mills saying No No No – that didn’t happen! People voted Labour in 2020 because they loved them!
        
        Then again, I guess they would say that…
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:43am
  - alloytoo
    
    I agree, if nothing else it sends a message about the direction we wish to go.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:30am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What is a waste of time is two ticks ACT, they will never win another electorate seat, so it’s wasted
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:52pm
    - plc
      
      Nobody said that. Read
      
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      July 19, 2022 6:34pm
- Warren
  
  We needed people like David Carter to be elected as President of the National Party but instead got the continuation Goodfellow and what followed is now History. I believe if David Carter had been elected as President we would see the National Party listen to the problems that we now face and change what the direction of what we stand for.
  Everyone has different opinions but for me I believe that one of the first things National should be spouting is that they will change the way the media have been bought and paid for by our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and that it be never allowed to happen again because it is corrupt and tainted with dishonesty and has cost the taxpayer millions if not billions if you look at how the Government has distributed taxpayers money.
  The only way to change National is to make sure the right people are elected to run the National Party.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:57am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I supported Carter last year. But when Goodfellow was re-elected as president by the new board, Carter’s subsequent behaviour did him no credit whatsoever. He made himself the main story , taking away the focus on the leader’s keynote speech to the conference. If he had accepted the decision of the board last year, he would in all probability be Goodfellow’s successor this year.
    
    Fortunately, there are some excellent people on the board now when it comes time to replace Goodfellow in a couple of weeks.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:35am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yep, Labour gifted themselves $55,000,000.00 free (taxpayer) funded advertising with their bribe of the MSM.
    It really pisses me off that this fact isn’t given wider publicity. Oh, shit, the suppression of that fact was covered in the gifted $55m.
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:14pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They did not vote for leader, he threw his toys, that does not make a good prez
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:54pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  What does ACT make a difference on ffs, they will be lucky do get 10% let me guess, you will be stupid enough to give ACT two ticks, if do you are fine with this status quo, I gave my party vote several times to Act , but nothing will change, it will be either Nat run government or Labour, what you need to worry about is which do you prefer, an electorate vote for ACT is a vote for weak gutless useless Labour electorate MPs
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:56am
  - krazykiwi
    
    One man’s “stupid” as another man’s “principled”, G. If the boil of festering neo-Marxism isn’t yet painful enough for you and hundreds of thousands like you then you will will opt for a National branded paracetamol, while I’d prefer a surgeon’s knife.
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:00pm
- piglady
  
  Krazy I do hope you are planning to run as an ACT candidate at the next election.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:46pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Lol. I have been left in little doubt that any such move would be preceded by a divorce!
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:38pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      And so?
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:13pm
artemisia

Are students being ‘screwed over’? Like cheated and ripped off? And is a ‘total reset of student support’ really needed?

The survey promoted by Chlöe Swarbrick thought so before the survey even started. And coincidentally that seems to be the outcome of the survey and surprisingly the answer is to give the students more money from taxpayers, and landlords via rent controls. The cost of $2 billion was mentioned. A mere bagatelle these days when adding more zeroes barely raises an eyebrow.

”You know students are being screwed over. We know students are being screwed over.And it’s time to do something about it. Chlöe Swarbrick has teamed up with student unions across the country to launch a people’s inquiry into student wellbeing. With your help, we hope to get a thorough snapshot into life as a student today, to build the case for a total reset of student support. ”

Have not seen the survey report yet, but I certainly hope it covers what students and their families are doing / can do to keep costs down and incomes up. Like personal responsibility from presumably their generation’s most intelligent and creative young people who are not just lying on the sofa telling someone else . …. Feed Me.

https://action.greens.org.nz/peoples_inquiry_into_student_wellbeing
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July 19, 2022 8:07am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Students will be feeling the pinch via higher rents and food costs. All due to policies that are championed by the Greens. Indeed if they had their way things would be worse. We would have no nitrogenous fertilise for a start.
  
  Chloe thinks you can just dial up higher living standards. 🙄
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:58am
  - RoboRob
    
    You are so right. Labour and Green supporters voted for ‘taxing landlords’, compulsory insulation and heating etc. Did they think that rental prices would go down as the quality and costs of rentals went up?
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:17am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      And the dumb f…..s still do not believe this led to higher rents, even though rents went up twice the usual over the time of the policies you mentioned
      
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      July 19, 2022 12:02pm
  - Hebe123
    
    My niece finally got a student allowance, in this, her third year at uni. Ironically delivered by the vax mandates when her maths teacher/HOD mother lost her job.
    She says she is swimming in money. Her accom supplement is much greater than her rent – i think she said $50/week extra, and that with a student allowance allows her to live very nicely. Yes her expectations are lower (6 of them in a student flat – its tiny but double glazed with 2 tiny bathrooms), but compared to how i lived as a student she is right, their living standard is PALATIAL.
    I’d have to ask her again, but i seem to recall she gets about $350 / week, does that sound right. I lived on $107 per week back in the 90s in a flat with ice on the inside of the windows.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:34am
    - artemisia
      
      The telly interview with Ms Swarbrick mentioned the average student income was nearly $500pw.
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:13am
      - Hebe123
        
        Wow! Seems a lot when most live in share houses. Then again my wellington niece was paying 250 for a room this year.
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:35pm
  - Ruawai
    
    They can get a part time job to subsidies their studies.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:09am
- RoboRob
  
  They had ‘poor’ students on TV3 this morning. They were complaining their floor standing heat pump (blocked by a couch, lol) was ‘too old’. When asked to show whats in the fridge they walked past too fridges to a third, double fridge, full of fancy ice cream etc. they had a broken cupboard door in the kitchen that had not been fixed.
  
  Didn’t see the whole thing but I would have been happy for my kids renting there.
  
  They were complaining that they would like a newer heat pump, double glazing and to pay less.
  
  A student for 5 years and yet cant understand ‘you get what you pay for’. I bet the landlord hasn’t increased rent for years and is waiting for the students to leave to replace the kitchen cabinetry and increase the rent to cover it.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:14am
  - artemisia
    
    Didn’t see the TV3 segment but if the tenancy is 5 years old it does not have to comply with the Healthy Homes (Rentals) standards for another year. Meanwhile, seems to be heaps of vacant rentals in Auckland and Wellington in particular. All have to meet the HH compliance. So 28 days notice and tenants can move.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:20am
mikenmildagain

Happy 75th birthday to astrophysicist Brian May.
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July 19, 2022 8:10am
- kevn
  
  @mma… Better known as a guy who got his father to make a guitar from scratch. May still uses it.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:26am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Indeed; the Red Special. Without doubt, May is one of the very best rock guitarists to have graced the stage, and he and Roger Taylor are still rocking it at an age where many would be choosing a pipe and slippers.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:32am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Brian May is a former rock star who was once an astrophysicist.
    The guitar story is excellent, the neck made from part of an old fireplace.
    
    I was fortunate enough to get to see him with Freddie and co live on 3 occasions through the 80s when they were at their very best. The indoor concert at the RDS in Dublin in 1079 was a stunner. It was the first time they played the hit single “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to a live audience. May is an excellent guitarist.
    
    Professor Brian Cox was former keyboardist for an 80s pop band called D-ream. Unlike like Brian May, Cox reverted to his education and training and is a practicing professor of particle physics. Also a sometimes TV “celebrity” science teacher.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:47am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      1979, I don’t think I was around just after the Battle of Hastings…….lol
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:16am
    - RoboRob
      
      I take issue with ‘former’. I saw Queen with Adam Lambert a few years ago and they were awesome.
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:18am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        He’s still a great guitarist, but it isn’t Queen without Freddie Mercury imo. He was the essence of Queen and their musical direction.
        Maybe it’s me, but 75 yo “rock star” doesn’t work hence why I said “former”. Outstanding 75 yo guitarist, yes. I guess that makes me “ageist” and I need to be cancelled. lol
        
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        July 19, 2022 9:50am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      I saw Queen at Mt Smart in 1986. Although Freddie was reportedly shit-faced, it was still a memorable concert.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:39am
kowtow

Story in Ferald about drug pushing , armed gangsters pleading guilty to many charges .

Other charges withdrawn.

Last para “Many of those who pleaded guilty indicated they may seek home detention or community supervision instead of prison terms.”

Sounds like a deal’s been struck.

So much for tough on crime . This isn’t littering folks , it’s guns drugs and organised crime.

What a joke.
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July 19, 2022 8:14am
- ClanMcleod
  
  It makes Labour’s numbers look good and it keeps them onside with the gangs.
  A “win win”. //
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:17am
Im Right

NO, @KK, I want National to tell the voters what they will undo/dismantle that Labour has put in place and not just leave it (or tinker around the edges) after saying publically they will undo/dismantle!
How many votes did Winston garner by saying he would remove/look into removing ‘The racist maori seat’s’ if he got into Parliament in 2017…..he did get in, and was king maker and what did he do?
Fuck all about maori seats but got 3billion for a slush fund that had NZ1st branding all over it and was a waste of bloody time.
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July 19, 2022 8:14am
- krazykiwi
  
  “I want National to tell the voters what they will undo/dismantle that Labour has put in place and not just leave it (or tinker around the edges) after saying publically they will undo/dismantle!”
  
  Based on past experience how likely is this noble hope of yours?
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:53am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  3 waters, separatist services, bottle necks to business expansion, they are telling us daily, don’t bother saying they won’t get rid of 3 waters, they are erecting bill boards all over the country saying so. This new government will not be like labour spouting shit them sitting on hands
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:06pm
Simon

National not gong to release policy until close to the election. It’s a big secret. Can things get better under National? What’s the plan? No one knows because it’s a secret. People in the meantime will vote with their feet and leave NZ.

National’s position is if you don’t like NZ you can fuck off. You can be replaced by Indians or Africans. Its just too hard for National to make improvements to NZ, or release policy, National will take the easy way out and will instead bring in a net 50,000 pa from India. There is a massive pool of workers from the third world to replace those unhappy with the way NZ is currently with no expectation of improvement.
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July 19, 2022 8:14am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Luxon has stated policy will start to be delivered end of this year start of next, snd he said if Labour takes them, then fine
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:07pm
Nukuleka

I can’t for the life of me understand why the UK Conservative Party would have allowed its leadership contest to become such a publicly damaging circus. When it is the responsibility of sitting MPs to whittle down the contenders to the final two, and then over to the party members to cast ballots for the eventual leader why oh why have they seen fit to engage in two televised debates designed to highlight to the public just how fractured the Conservative Party is. It’s no wonder Sunak and Truss have pulled the plug on the scheduled 3rd TV debate but the crippling in-fighting has been broadcast for all to see. There’s a lesson here for political parties in NZ. Learn from it. Leadership contests should be kept as much as possible behind closed doors.
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July 19, 2022 8:16am
- kowtow
  
  It’s good reminder to us Plebs that our ruling classes aren’t all they make themselves out to be .
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:20am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Why? Because it exposes sock puppets to unscripted questions for all to see their ineptitude? It is why Kemi Badenoch is soaring in popularity. She comes across as honest, a rarity in politics.
  
  I’d love to see Ardern in a similar situation. Without the controlled script and bought and paid for media shills she would be exposed in a heartbeat as the fraud she is.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:31am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Kemi is kryptonite to the establishment, which is why she’s back in 4th place and, sadly, likely to follow Tugendhat out the side door.
    
    I know little of Truss, but she’s need to be pretty bad to be a worse prospect than Sunak or Maudaunt (who would make a perfect Labour leader – woke, trans activist, climate change fanatic etc)
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:42am
    - mandk
      
      I agree with you, kk.
      
      Badenoch looks likely to drop out of the race after the next vote, even though she is a strong favourite amongst Tory party members.
      
      It also looks likely that the awful, woke Mordaunt (endorsed by Bill Gates and Tony Blair) will go into the run off against Sunak.
      
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      July 19, 2022 8:47am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      UK Column who are based in the UK have done a good analysis in the leadership race. Basically Maudaunt is a Gate’s shill. He wrote the foreword to her book, Tony Blair also endorsed her. Nuff said!
      She’s deep state through and through. She has had to embarrassingly backtrack on her stance around trans “rights” etc. It sounds as though Kemi is picking up her supporters?
      Sunak is the banker who increased the UK money supply by over 30% over a year yet is on record claiming they were the party of fiscal responsibility. Doh!
      
      Their analysis is that Kemi is genuine, but she has no idea what she is up against even if she was to get the job, that like Trump in the US, the deep state is deeply entrenched and getting any meaningful change is difficult.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:12am
  - kowtow
    
    Repeat the line .
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:52am
- MCōs
  
  America does the same thing with their primaries.
  People stab each other in the back and twist the knife.
  Later they act like it never happened.
  Labour here has a torturous leadership selection process, that came up with some duds that that caucus detested, so I believe. Particularly in the case of Cunliffe.
  Then again National has come up with a string of duds by a simple caucus vote.
  Same over in Oz with the Liberals
  Say what you like about the current NZ Labour leader she was selected by their caucus and has outlasted English, Bridges, Muller, Collins, Turnbull, Morrison. All in a space of less than five years.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:46am
  - emmess
    
    I disagree, I think primaries are a very good system.
    It allows for a real choice, that most countries don’t get.
    To not have fake unity is a price well worth paying.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:55am
    - Matt Long
      
      The problem with primaries is you end up with people like Biden.
      
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      July 19, 2022 2:11pm
  - Nickc2
    
    She didn’t win the 2017 election so that doesn’t count. She was anointed by that despicable ……Peters.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:32am
    - MCōs
      
      She is the Labour leader as I said.
      Not talking about who won any particular election.
      
      4 2
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      July 19, 2022 10:17am
  - edhunter
    
    And I’ll raise you a Clark, Goff, Shearer, Cunliffe, Little, Rudd, Gillard, another Rudd, Bowen & a Shorten a silly game that proves losers change Leaders more often than Winners except in Australia. Go figure.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:17am
- hullkiwi
  
  Because they are stupid enough to believe that this will give the contest democratic credibility.
  
  The circus that the Torys are submitting themselves to serves 2 purposes, these being:
  1. Attempting to give an air of a democratic mandate to the annoited leader;
  2. Providing a mechanism to satisfy the mass membership, and through this legitimacy, shut up any decanters within the Parliamentary caucus.
  
  This process is all very well, when the partyhas just lost an election, but when the government is barely half way through its term, this form of public self fladulation to elect a leader and PM is not what the UK (or for that matter what any country needs or wants).
  
  Cries that any new leader will not be democratic, because there had not been a general election are rubbish. Just like NZ, UK voters elect MPs to represent them in parliament, they don’t elect a PM, they don’t do as Americans do and elect a President. The UK gave the Conservative candidates an overwhelming mandate to govern the UK in December 2019, how the Torys arrange their deck chairs is up to them. And the UK electorate don’t like the way things turn out, in 2024, they can vote the Torys out!
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:11pm
Matt Long

Nurses at Whangarei hospital are complaining that not only are they short staffed, as the Health Ministry won’t let unvaxed staff work, those who can are fleeing to Australia and immigration won’t let new nurses in, but that when they work extra shifts they get no overtime rates.
Apparently different health boards set different working conditions, now that we are all under one big happy health umbrella Whangarei nurses are asking for the same conditions as their national counterparts or no more overtime.
Will angry budge? Will they vote for more of the same in 2023?
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July 19, 2022 8:21am
- Nickc2
  
  They should claim Maori heritage. Then, they will get whatever they want, including a bonus for showing up for work.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:42am
  - Don Beckett
    
    A good number of them probably do have Maori heritage being in Northland.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:44am
- MCōs
  
  A niece of mine is a teacher in Chch.
  At her school a perfectly competent teacher had to be let go because she refused to get vaccinated.
  Time went by and the mandate was dropped. She applied for her job back, but was rejected; not because they couldn’t have done with her, but because she was unpopular in the staff room due to her strident views that she wouldn’t shut up about.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:34am
  - Inandout
    
    MC, so what about the childrens’ education, stuff the staff. Schools have always employed mouthy teachers, often bloody lefty unionists.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:53am
  - Matt Long
    
    I guess you can empathise Cossie?
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:22am
  - Frank the tank
    
    The idiocy of New Zimbabwe summed up in 3 sentences.
    
    We are a stupid little country.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:26am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    She was rejected because she was “unpopular”????? Sounds like she made the others understand how stupid they had been for falling for the lies from Ardern.
    
    That’s as discriminatory as it gets. Sacked – not because she was bad at her job, not because she was a pedophile, not because of fraudulent activity, but sacked because she dared speak up honestly and accurately about the inane policies of Ardern and co?
    
    Your post is a brilliant example of the marginalisation and vilification of a minority perpetrated by Ardern and her “experts”. It shows her “Milgram” experiment is working just fine.
    The attitude of people like this in NZ is as frightening as it is nauseating. When people compared the vax passports to the yellow star used on Jews in WW2 they were ridiculed and attacked for daring to make that comparison. It’s becoming apparent that they were on the money.
    
    Your niece sounds like a fine upstanding citizen. No doubt she defended the sacked teacher.//
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:31am
    - Hebe123
      
      Yup. My sister maths teacher got the boot due to the mandates. Nobody at school bar her and the other maths teacher that also left knew their vaccine views. People were gutted she was leaving as she was a good measured analyst, excellent teacher and HOD. The Principal was an absolute w*nker towards her, however.
      
      When the mandates were dropped the Principal texted her to offer that she could apply for her job back. She responded no thanks, not after the way you personally treated me. That was the last contact. They are still down two maths teachers at the school, the two who taught senior classes calculus, statistics and linear algebra. They have one primary teacher with no maths qualification in their place more than half a school year later. My sister has just taken on some work with one of the online schools where i’m sure she will be well appreciated.
      
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      July 19, 2022 12:01pm
    - Lee C
      
      Gets interesting from 4 mins in:
      
      https://youtu.be/zyYq93YtScE
      
      It indicates that vaccinations are uselss and become negative – ie unvaccinated are better protected than vaccinated after six months. The Booster effectiveness drops by 20% effective (symptomatic covid) per month.
      
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      July 19, 2022 6:24pm
Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

great to see these foreign acts have no issues in getting into nz – maybe friends in high places? no such luck for nurses https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2022/07/diplo-sticky-fingers-hybrid-minds-to-headline-2023-bay-dreams-festival.html
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July 19, 2022 8:21am
Tom Barker

For some reason climate change denial is no longer seen as a rational political stance in the UK. Even the theatrically right wing Kemi Badenoch has backed away from it. Funny, that.
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July 19, 2022 8:23am
- kowtow
  
  Just like wuflu hysteria , heatwave hysteria pushed relentlessly by the Media , an opportunidy for politicians who see “climate change” as yet another golden goose to control and tax us . And big business see all the lollies in the subsidies as do the scamademics who see an unending gravy train.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:55am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Given that the UK has just experienced the highest temperatures ever, on the back of successive years of average temperatures also being the highest, denying climate change would be a losers game.
  
  Same in NZ. I know quite a lot of commenters here are effectively climate change deniers, but those of you who in that camp are miles away from the mainstream.
  
  What is happening entirely conforms to predicted outcomes of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.
  
  Public opinion generally accepts that proposition, and that is reflected in political attitudes. Those politicians still in the denier camp are a distinct minority, and on this issue have a decreasing amount of influence.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:55am
  - All_on_Red
    
    The UK experienced Temps over 36C for 15 days straight in 1976.
    They had similar hot days on the 1940’s.
    The problem here is that people like you either lie about this info or it is not made known to the public.
    Our media have been practicing deceit by omission for years. This is another example.
    No wonder trust in media and politicians is so low.
    Look at sea level rise in Auckland. Its only 1.29 mm per annum.
    Temp rise in the last century is only around .75- 1C
    Yes, some change is occurring but nothing like the catastrophe promised.
    So how about you stop telling lies and state the facts.
    People are sick of these policies ruining our quality of life by making our lives much more expensive and inconvenient.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:32am
    - All_on_Red
      
      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/16/think-its-not-now-how-britain-roasted-in-ten-week-heatwave-during-summer-of-76/
      
      Bonus. Gallop Polling on Trust.
      No one believes people like you anymore Wayne.
      https://news.gallup.com/poll/394817/media-confidence-ratings-record-lows.aspx
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:43am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        There have indeed been heat waves in the UK before, as would be expected, but recent heat waves have in fact been hotter, with temperatures into the 40’s, which did not happen in ’76.
        
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        July 19, 2022 11:58am
      - All_on_Red
        
        The all-time high temperature recorded in Britain, set on July 25, 2019, in Cambridge, is 38.7 degrees Celsius.
        Source UK Met Office
        Wouldnt mind you proving they have actually had 40C so citation please.
        I see they are making predictions but has it actually reached 40?
        https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2022/red-extreme-heat-warning
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:38pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        I stand corrected, the UK had higher temperatures in 2019 than 1976, and only 3 years later the country is having another record severe heat wave.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:43pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Yes, they seem to have a few heat waves.
        Its called weather.
        But as I have said many times. There is no argument that the temp is rising modestly.
        But this pattern of alarmism being caused due to facts not being stated is just downright dishonesty,
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:46pm
    - Hebe123
      
      funny isn’t it, that you get downticked for presenting facts!
      
      6 3
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      July 19, 2022 12:02pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Mapp gave facts, AiR called him a liar, AiR gets down ticks, I don’t see any issue.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:37pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Now you’re the liar.
        Mapp gave no FACTS
        He never does. Just says the people believe.
        I gave facts.
        Here’s a link to sea level rise in Auckland
        https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=690-002
        Here’s a link to multiple data sets proving Temps have only risen .75-1C
        https://wattsupwiththat.com/global-temperature/
        
        Lying alarmists like him are destroying our way of life.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:44pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        His last 2 paragraphs were full of facts, even though you don’t like those facts. average SLR globally is around 3mm/yr, average global temperature has increased by around 1C over the last century with both trends accelerating, as expected.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:51pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        He gave no facts and no citations.
        Just general comments.
        Again you say Temp and sea level rise is ‘accelerating’ but you don’t prove it.
        The data for Auckland sea level rise shows that it isnt accelerating.
        The datasets for Temp shows it isnt accelerating.
        Why are you lying?
        Lastly
        “3 years later the country is having another record severe heat wave”
        But is it a record yet? Is it above 38.7 yet?
        Still waiting for you to prove it.
        Are you one of those morons who thinks predictions are facts?
        lol
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:57pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        And listen c*** dont say I dont like facts when I’m the only one in this debate who has actually provided some.
        You’re such a liar.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:58pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Sea level rise is accelerating
        https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/global-sea-level-rise-accelerating-despite-heartland-institute-reports-claims-otherwise/
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:14pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        The rate of surface temperature rise is increasing.
        https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-climate-2015-2019-climate-change-accelerates
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:20pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Red, you sound like a very angry little man.
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:55pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        On the increasing frequency of UK heatwaves.
        
        https://www.bbc.com/news/62212604.amp
        
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        July 19, 2022 2:11pm
      - Taieri
        
        Andrew Worth
        Sea level rise is accelerating
        ————–
        
        Clicked “report” by mistake – sorry!
        
        Is sea level rise accelerating though?
        
        You can check it here:
        
        https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/628
        
        or here:
        
        https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287291549_Analysis_of_the_Sea_Level_Change_in_New_Zealand
        
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        July 19, 2022 3:46pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Taieri, both of your links make it clear that local tectonic movements greatly affect local SLR, certainly these movements should be taken into account with regards to what measures, if any, should be undertaken to deal with local SLR.
        Globally due to ice melt the amount of water in the oceans is increasing and, due to thermal expansion, the volume of water in the oceans is increasing, both effects contribute to SLR.
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:23pm
    - Jinky
      
      I remember that summer of 1976. I spent 6 weeks with mates camping on the Heads of Ayr. Great days.
      
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      July 19, 2022 4:22pm
  - kowtow
    
    The last Little Ice Age ended in the late 1800’s .
    
    We are now in a warming period .
    
    That warming started over 100 years ago .
    
    What was the trigger for that warming . It wasn’t the CO2 levels that the current hystererists claim .
    
    Anyone who “denies” climate change is an idiot . Climate is always changing . The cause is what is in dispute .
    
    If anyone thinks driving an EV will cool the planet then she’s an idiot and likewise if politicians think they can control the temperature then they too are idiots .
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:14pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      We haven’t had the temperatures in UK like they had during the Roman warm period, when they grew wine grapes in Northern England. We haven’t had temperatures like in the Medieval warm period when Greenland ( get the name- GREENland -why was that I wonder? ) when Greenland was being inhabited by the Vikings and farmed for some centuries.
      Are the worldwide temeratures climbing ? Yes, gradually and in a manner that can be adapted to without destroying economies & countries & killing off populations.
      So is CO2 the villain? I say NO – because thatr was not the causal factor in previous warm periods. Remember the science experiment in 3rd.Form in school all those years ago? Where we got some cold water & heated it; what happened? The gasses including CO2 were given off. The gasses weren’t hanging around to cause the water to heat up.
      The CO2 scare contradicts physics – it plays a minor part in warming, and is not warming the oceans – the sun is warming the oceans andCO2, water vapour & maybe other “green-house” gasses are given off.
      Besides CO2 is causing “Greening” of the planet- and is not a threat to our existence. A lack of CO2 is a threat – if it weren’t for CO2 life on this planet would be non-existent.
      
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      July 19, 2022 3:21pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Grapes can be grown for wine in the UK today, they could be grown for wine decades ago, that doesn’t mean that the wine is any good, but how much good wine do you imagine was being imported from southern Europe in Roman times?
        
        Greenland is as green today as it was when occupied by the Viking centuries ago.
        “The CO2 scare contradicts physics”
        
        I’m thrilled to here you managed 3rd form physics, those who study climate science actually managed postgraduate university physics.
        
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        July 19, 2022 6:26pm
  - fisho
    
    Highest temperatures ever?
    Ever recorded….since 1880. How old is Earth again?
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:30pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    Public opinion generally accepts that proposition, and that is reflected in political attitudes. Those politicians still in the denier camp are a distinct minority, and on this issue have a decreasing amount of influence.
    
    Funny then that in multiple opinion polls around the Western world, climate change always comes in far below other concerns, even as those higher priority concerns change.
    
    As a result when the methods employed by governments to combat climate change result in painfully high prices for fossil fuels or rolling blackouts, those same governments are quick to beg coal-fired stations to fire up, and to reduce taxes on petrol prices, as our government has done here.
    
    So what Wayne is actually applauding here is hypocrisy, which fits well with all politicians and ex-pollies like him.
    
    I suppose that can give us some confidence about a future National-led government. They’ll play the PR game but (wink).
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:20pm
  - Frank the tank
    
    Wayne,
    
    I was there in 2001 when London topped out a 38 degrees, Rome 42 and Berlin 41. All different days throughout the month of July. It was warm but not life threatening unless of course you were an utter moron or indeed dependent on others for rational thought.
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:38pm
    - kowtow
      
      Rational thought.
      
      Now wouldn’t that be dandy in this age of Unreason and Emotion .
      
      Idiots , control freaks and far left loons attribute all manner of weather phenomena to “climate change” , which of course used to be “global warming”, and that is all attributed almost literally to the activity of pale stale males .
      
      Two seconds of google tells us the current heat wave in England is due to an oceanic system called the Azores High and hot winds up from Africa.
      ( hint ; not CO2)
      
      It’s a bit like our ENSO or the Indian Ocean Dipole which was partly responsible for so much of the flooding in Oz recently .
      
      But oh no too complicated for the Media and pollies who want our taxes and to tell us how to live ( think batflu) to talk about the real causes of “extreme weather” , it’s all down to climate change .
      
      I reckon every time some idiot chants “climate change” when there’s a bit of weather about they’re engaging in mis and disinformation.
      
      How long has the Sahara been a desert ?
      
      Apparently the Azores High contributes to that too .
      
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      July 19, 2022 3:48pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Let’s face it, Global Warming has become the contemporary religion of our times. As such, you either believe or not.
    FWIW, I’m in the NOT Camp.
    As for Sea Level Rise, I believe some landmasses are sinking and some are rising because Earth’s Tectonic Plates not only move laterally, they also move up and down.
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:56pm
  - mogg
    
    They haven’t just experienced the highest temp ever.
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:54pm
- mogg
  
  If you think that Badenoch is ‘theatrical’ you could try listening to what she is saying. Maybe a visit to Specsavers would help. There is nobody in UK or NZ politics who is less theatrical.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:55pm
Maggy Wassilieff

RNZ brought in its tame economist this morning to assure us that inflation was mainly due to covid and war….

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/first-up/audio/2018849950/eaquub-3-factors-driving-inflation-domestic-global-housing

Thank goodness some qualified folk are delving deeper into the matter…

“Non-tradable (domestic) prices were up 1.4% in the June quarter and have risen by 6.3% over the past year. That is the fastest annual pace of non-tradables inflation since records began in 2000.

“The RBNZ pays particular attention to non-tradables inflation, and it is currently running at around twice the pace we’ve seen over the past two decades.”

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2022/07/18/yes-cost-of-living-pressures-are-coming-from-overseas-but-check-out-the-pace-of-growth-in-non-tradables-inflation/#more-16758
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July 19, 2022 8:23am
- Matt Long
  
  Any bright sparks want to comment on what the ten cent fall in the dollar has done for tradeable inflation? Or what another te cent fall to fifty US cents would do to consumer prices.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:26am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Exactly Matt, Every thing imported has increased due to the drop in NZD.
    Thus the Government is directly responsible through bad economic management and policies.
    For some reason MSM can not join the dots, Lower Dollar equates to higher prices.
    Petrol and Diesel the obvious but applies to most things including food etc.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:12am
- mogg
  
  Robbo is in full on excuse mode.
  He has even resorted to subsidising fossil fuels with
  tax payer money. What about the Jacinda drama of
  “this is our nuclear moment”.
  If he goes through any more contortions he will disappear up his own ass.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:01pm
Paulus

Good to see that the Labour Party have selected (not elected) a new President.
A Whahine there at last be to ensure that more Maori get the best seats in the Party for the election – both Elected and Selected.
This will build up the Maori Caucus number of the Party.
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July 19, 2022 8:23am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

The gentrified suburb of Grey Lynn is fast becoming a free-range-asylum.
Second shooting in the last 10 days. Full credit to the Police.
Twitter bestie living next to the ‘alleged’ perp brings us up to date…..

https://twitter.com/GraemeGun/status/1548917888676814850
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July 19, 2022 8:23am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Yes, I saw the same tweet Maggie, although he’s not my bestie. I replied that when you point a firearm at the Police, the outcome is unlikely to be favourable to you. Actions have consequences, as the meth-head discovered last night.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:30am
  - David Garrett
    
    Tony: He’s fucking lucky he only got shot once – assuming the report on RNZ was accurate. Pointing a rifle at police normally results in half a dozen shots and one dead toe rag.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:34am
    - David Garrett
      
      …and I thought Grey Lyn was where naice lefties, those on “plant based” diets, members of Greenpeace and the Green Party lived? Sounds like this chap was something of an outlier.
      
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      July 19, 2022 8:45am
      - Frank the tank
        
        No Dave – lot’s of state houses peppered in there as a historical lesson prior to the suburb being gentrified in the 90s.
        
        Lots of sh*tkickers in the general area when you scratch the surface
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:31am
- MCōs
  
  The alleged tweet seems to have been deleted.
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:49am
ClanMcleod

Some good news in the media. Kemi Badenoch is top among the conservative party members who will actually vote for the new leader. Seems as though the Brexiteers aren’t following instructions thankfully. Truss is a psychopath and her desire to wield power should bar her from ever actually doing so. It seems the conservative party members agree.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/penny-drops-kemi-soars-in-tory-activist-poll
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July 19, 2022 8:25am
- Greenheart
  
  What evidence do you have that Truss is a psychopath?
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:30am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    See my reply to KK below. If you haven’t heard her comments on Ukraine you are missing out. If you have and still don’t think she’s a dangerous lunatic then I’m surprised. She’s barking on behalf of the US. The problem is she’s a poodle masquerading as a pitbull. When you’re a poodle you don’t bark at an actual pitbull.
    The US and Ukraine should be talking to Russia, not Liz Truss or Ben Wallace.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:33am
    - Hebe123
      
      Enough of the discrimination Clan. I have to draw the line here. Pitbulls are the most maligned dogs around, I work at a shelter where we see lots of them. You know what they have in common? SHITHEAD owners who don’t desex them, don’t contain them and don’t register them, and when picked up by the pound they don’t pay the fees to have them released. Yes they have big heads (no – there is no such thing as a lock jaw), but their nature (and that of bull breeds in general), even those that have been abused is the nicest of all dogs i know.
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:46am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Apologies for the generalisation but it e an analogy. I owned a beautiful bull mastiff. Huge, fearsome looking creature who would cover you in goobers as he tried to lick you to death. I’m sure you knew what I meant. Next time I’ll say badly treated trained for fighting pitbull. 🙂
        
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        July 20, 2022 3:27am
- krazykiwi
  
  At at 19th July the rankings are:
  1. Rishi Sunak – 88 (24.6%)
  2. Penny Mordaunt – 67 (18.7%)
  3. Liz Truss – 50 (14%)
  4. Kemi Badenoch – 40 (11.2%)
  5. Tom Tugendhat – 37 (10.3%)
  6. Suella Braverman – 32 (8.9%)
  7. Nadhim Zahawi – 25 (7%) (eliminated)
  8. Jeremy Hunt – 18 (5%) (eliminated)
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:57am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    KK – have you seen the latest polling of the Conservative Party members who elect the leader?
    Your source may be more recent than this one.
    
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/penny-drops-kemi-soars-in-tory-activist-poll
    
    Truss may possibly be better than Sunak or Maudant, but it’s a pretty low bar. It’s her horrific and extremely dangerous rhetoric around the events in Ukraine that are terrifying. This isn’t Argentina and the Falklands. The stakes are a hundredfold higher. She’s playing as though she has a straight flush when the UK hasn’t even got 2 pair.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:30am
    - krazykiwi
      
      That polling is dated 17th July – yes?
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:03am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Yup. Looks as though she’s the outsider of the 4. Pity, the other 3 are very non inspiring.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:53am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Whoever we get will be John Major mark 2.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:32am
- mogg
  
  Badenoch won’t get to the final this time, but in future she is going to be unstoppable.
  After being called a ‘puppet’, she said “I am black, I know what it’s like to be black, I just don’t fit into the Left’s idea of what a black person should be”.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:13pm
Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

https://corbettreport.substack.com/p/were-all-dutch-farmers-now why do we get so little coverage of the protests in Europe & rest of the world?
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July 19, 2022 8:28am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Because our government is using similar environmental tactics/policy and they do NOT want the media report to the plebs in case it gives people ideas……..it simply called control.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:52am
- Master Mariner
  
  “why do we get so little coverage of the protests in Europe & rest of the world?”
  Yep, Another concerted media Blackout with unintended consequences.
  Taking land of Dutch farmers or any farmers by “stealth” will and should have a adverse reaction.
  Is NZ any different?
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:26am
  - Matt Long
    
    Yes, of course it’s happening in New Zealand, the latest move is the national policy statement on biodiversity Te Mana o te something that escapes me.
    Farming groups are choosing to engage with the submission process, it must be a hell of a joke to the people behind it.
    They’re using the farmers own tax money to employ people to write laws to take away their property and rights, then taking up the farmers time to attend meetings and write submissions, for more people employed by the farmers taxes to read and file under R, while the gaia worshippers do what they intended all along.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:37am
- ClanMcleod
  
  I’m guessing that’s a rhetorical question!
  Any pretense at mainstream media objectivity has been gone for over a year now. They are reputationally all in the gutter and will stay there for a very long time if they ever attempt to build trust levels up again. The same with the politicians.
  My contempt for them knows no bounds.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:37am
- Inandout
  
  Old, most of us onliners get the good oil and our numbers are increasing by the day.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:01am
Nukuleka

Once again the people of east Christchurch this morning awake to the appalling stench from the Bromley sewage plant. But who much cares about solving the physical and mental health problems of residents who have to endure this ongoing situation. A multi purpose, over-priced, poorly -sited stadium is of far better use of our ratepayers dollars. All hail to our Mayor and city councillors.
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July 19, 2022 8:30am
- Benedict Yu
  
  As I understand it the problem with the repair is not lack of money. It is poor management. The council did nothing for 6 months after the fire. Apparantly waiting for insurance to be sorted.
  
  I don’t agree with your inference that cancelling the stadium would enable the current repair work to proceed more quickly.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:14am
  - Nukuleka
    
    It’s not repair work that’s needed – the sewage,plant needs to be moved to a more suitable venue. That takes a shitload of money. Money that’s going instead to be spent on a white elephant stadium.
    
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    July 19, 2022 10:20am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      The problem with stadiums is that they invariably make losses unless they are very large, in mega cities, with the ability to host events 200 + times per year. This is an issue all over.
      
      https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/what-economists-think-about-public-financing-sports-stadiums
      
      However, the problem is particularly acute in New Zealand. I doubt that any stadium in New Zealand would pass a cost-benefit test. I guess it depends on whether New Zealand society – and in the case you cite, Christchurch society, would be worse off with no stadium. It seems clear that most residents want the stadium and are willing to pay for it. Personally I think they will pay a lot more than they have been told, and think most of them know that too.
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:14am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      BTW on the sewerage plant, I have only been living here for a few years, but was the smell of the plant that bad before the fire? AFAIK the plant has been there a long time. Would most of the residents have moved there knowing that there is a sewerage plant in the vicinity? Happy to be corrected.
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:17am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Disclosure: I can smell it where I live when there is an easterly wind. I feel for those who live nearby.
        
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        July 19, 2022 11:19am
    - MCōs
      
      The Bromley Plant was built in 1962 on land taken from Ngāi Tahu, previously used for fishing.
      How about that.
      Woold never happen today.
      
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      July 19, 2022 12:01pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Hey you pale, stale, males and old, white, privileged, entitled folk…..

Suck it up!

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/stale-pale-male-and-fail
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July 19, 2022 8:33am
- David Garrett
  
  “Calling someone ‘old white’ has less of a sting than a similar descriptor would be to somebody – for example, Māori or Pasifika – who is likely to have experienced direct or indirect racial abuse and discrimination.
  
  So there you have it – the Special People and their Special “Pasifika” cousins – are much more liable to be hurt by nasty words than – well – an old white bastard like me.
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:41am
  - Black with a Vengeance
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    You’re as frail a stale pale male as ever there was…
    
    Sooooo needy and insecure !!!
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:46am
    - David Garrett
      
      Ah Blackie…the anonymous supposed Samoan warrior from…well, who knows? You’ve dropped hints that you are in the South Island
      
      You think I’m frail? Come on out for a visit…you’ve threatened to “do me” when you are next up here…come on up son, come on up. Before I get too frail to defend myself.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:02am
      - David Garrett
        
        Oh, and while you are here…I made reference the other day to the Tongan kingdom which included all of Samoa at one time. You responded with the claim that that was simply an interregnum between two different Samoan kingdoms which included a subjugated Tonga.
        
        I had never heard of that, so hit the books. The books seem to be unaware that you lot ever had any sort of kingdom other than the two main Samoan groups – Samoa and American Samoa – and their outlying Islands.
        
        Please direct me to some reference work which will enlighten me on the “two Samoan kingdoms” theory.
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:07am
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        You have a very frail ego, Gimli, powered by a constant need to feel relevant or important and desperate for any sort of attention, and the tough guy thing went stale a looooong time ago…
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:49am
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        As Samoa’s Tui Manuʻa maritime empire began to decline, a new empire rose from the South…
        
        The Tuʻi Tonga decline began due to numerous wars and internal pressure.
        
        The Tu’i Tonga “empire” at this period becomes Samoan in orientation as the Tu’i Tonga kings themselves became ethnic Samoans who married Samoan women and resided in Samoa…
        
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu%CA%BBi_Tonga_Empire.
        
        Btw…Tonga, the word, means South. South of what ? Why Samoa of course…
        
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        July 19, 2022 10:57am
      - David Garrett
        
        Wikipedia: You are joking, right? And the extract you cite makes reference only to one empire which was, to quote the writer, “arguably Samoan in nature”. What happened to the first one?
        
        As to who is a “tough guy”, it is you who: 1) like your mate the double killer is obsessed with my short stature; and 2) has issued veiled threats as to what will happen when you confront me in person.
        
        All I have said is “come on up”…but as I’ve told The Killer, best not to come at night…bad things can happen in the country when uninvited people turn up at night…dogs, electric fences, unidentified noises being responded to in a way what wouldn’t happen in town….that sort of thing.
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:54pm
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        Jog on Gimli…I’m someone you really don’t want to mess with in real life!
        
        …and I could expound on oral Pasifikan traditions that tell of the settling and resettling of Te Moana nui going back to creation, but you’re simply not worthy
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:13pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Jog on Gimli…I’m someone you really don’t want to mess with in real life!
        
        That sounds very like another threat Big Boy…At least The Killer (now) uses his real name…you are just another anonymous keyboard warrior
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:03pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Good grief. Where did all this come from? Why have you got your hair in a twist about David Garrett? He seems a reasonably sensible fellow.
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:17pm
    - CBR600
      
      Says a guy posting thanks to old white guys technology etc. What a hopeless loser!
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:15am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Clearly a weathered old white skin-covering lacks sensitivity cells.
    
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    July 19, 2022 8:57am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Now see what you did, Maggy!
      
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      July 19, 2022 9:41pm
  - graham
    
    In this decision, the Council noted that its main remit was “to uphold freedom of expression. Fundamental to that is allowing for robust debate in which people can express critical views in public”.
    
    The decision said it was widely accepted that racism involved power as well as ethnicity.
    
    The decision also noted: “Calling someone ‘old white’ has less of a sting than a similar descriptor would be to somebody – for example, Māori or Pasifika – who is likely to have experienced direct or indirect racial abuse and discrimination.”
    
    I’m absolutely stunned. So the Media Council is saying that referring to someone as “old, white, privileged and entitled” is perfectly okay, because it’s “freedom of expression” and in this case counts as “robust debate in which people can express critical views in public”.
    
    Furthermore, they freely acknowledge that calling someone ‘old white’ has at least some “sting”, but then go on to say it doesn’t count because it’s not as hurtful (Note: In whose opinion is it less hurtful? Have they actually asked some of us ‘old white’ folks?) as if you used similar abuse towards a Maori or Pasifika person.
    
    This leaves one hell of a bitter taste in my mouth. The Media Council are saying it’s perfectly acceptable for people to sneer at me as a “pale stale male”, but we know full well that all hell would break loose if similar descriptors were used in the other direction. Apparently, because I’m white, I’m “privileged” and so I just have to suck it up.
    
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    July 19, 2022 9:36am
    - Swifty
      
      An appalling decision graham.
      
      It’s endorsing racism where it is directed against Europeans.
      
      It’s saying “Racism is deplorable except where it targets white people because anti-white racism is fine.”
      
      What a terrible state we’ve arrived at.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:36am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      “While arguably provocative, it was within the writers’ freedom of expression to use the phrase to draw attention to their argument.”
      
      That’s perfectly fine, then. Dumb Maoris and stupid boongs take note //
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:46am
      - David Garrett
        
        Lodden: LOL…totally logical statement…let’s see how long it survives the attention of the moderators…
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:21pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        I think the // saved me 🙂
        
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        July 19, 2022 7:59pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      It’s simply a confirmation that the media is a controlled propaganda and narrative outlet. Any pretense at objectivity is rightly laughable.
      Get used to it. It is going to get worse.
      
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      July 19, 2022 10:56am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      Awwww nuuuu…the frail stale pale male’s are revolting!!!
      
      Evolve or die bro…
      
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      July 19, 2022 11:02am
      - igm
        
        Be fucking careful pal. Those type of statements carry consequences.
        
        6 1
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        July 19, 2022 12:28pm
      - David Garrett
        
        There is no apostrophe in “males” Blackie you Big Brave Boy you…at least not in the way you are using that word…
        
        How far did you go in Mission School?
        
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        July 19, 2022 12:58pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Big Black Boy: (Since you refer to me as “Gimli” which I take to mean yet another reference to my stature I feel entitled to call you that)
        
        I bet your tall boy has a drawer which contains tight white T shirts, the better to show off your big brown muscles…and you flex said muscles in the gym while surreptitiously posing in front of the big mirror…and I right?
        
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        July 19, 2022 1:20pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Why are trolls larping as racists tolerated here?
        
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        July 19, 2022 3:55pm
- JimBobJoe
  
  So can I refer to Maori Academic elites as Brown, uneducated, lazy and Stupid?
  
  Or do only racist or sexist or ageist slurs aimed at european males of a certain age, have the Media Councils endorsement as an expression of freedom of speech?
  
  What muppets adopting the marxist position of opressed and oppressor.
  
  Im oldish, white and male. I wield no power and I’m sick & tire of racist slurs by Maori academics.
  
  Beat a white man for too long and the gloves will come off. But maybe some old fashion ethnic warfare is what our academic and media elites want?
  
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  July 19, 2022 8:44am
- alex Masterley
  
  Being called that is a badge of honour.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:26am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I have rarely encountered racial abuse in New Zealand. IIRC 3 or 4 times. Drunk males. Drunk males of Maori ethnicity.
    
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    July 19, 2022 1:19pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I gather you are quite tall…
      
      I have seen and heard racist abuse of Asian NZers (Indian, and Chinese ethnicities) by a variety of other NZers (Pakeha, Maori and P.I.).
      
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      July 19, 2022 1:42pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  So much White Fragility, huh?
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:01am
Monty

So the paid lapdog media and Labour and their useful idiots are in fully swing with deflection on the terrible inflation figures yesterday – the inflation that has made life awful for middle NZ – and the worst has yet to come as mortgages hit 7% within months. Their feeble excuse it it is imported, our economy is doing well and “we know families are doing it tough” – the blame for the high inflation needs to be firmly at the feet of Robertson and the Reserve Bank. Make no mistake Robertson printed so much money to pump the economy to ensure a strong election win. NZers are now paying the cost (and will do so for years.
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July 19, 2022 8:33am
- kowtow
  
  When ah were a young lad the people the Media pardy used to sympathise with over inflation were pensioners . Fixed income , very little discretionary spend etc
  
  I suppose now that the Media Pardy and inner city apartment dwelling middle class Green voters etc have discovered that race minorities are the new “doing it hard class” , those pale stale oldies can just fuck orf , they don’t count no more.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:03am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  On the upside I am picking my large mortgage will have been diminished by 20+% in real terms in 2-3 years (and like anyone with half a brain I could see this coming a year back, so locked in for 4 year terms)
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:25am
Tomtoddy

There is a bit of panic in Auckland about the mayoral race. Labour’s man Collins slipped a fast one over the party machine and headed off Labour’s “curly headed boy”announcing his candidacy early. Collins is set to make Goff and Brown look like master politicians – he is a non-entity.

Now the candidates on the right and centre are gaining some profile and polling quite well so the lefties including silly old Simon Wilson and the Ferald have launched into them to try and undermine their gains.

In politics now, more than even ever the centre right and the right not only battle the opposition they battle the media front on as well. It was always the case but less overt.

Collins will win in Auckland simply because he is Labour’s man but the bureaucrats will continue to run the place as they have for recent years.
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July 19, 2022 8:35am
- greybeard
  
  The right and centre-right candidates are also battling each other. They never learn: if they decided on just one candidate to oppose the left they would have a far better chance. It is no wonder Labour always wins the mayoral races.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:24am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Bureaucrats” Yep, changing the leader does nothing. The highly overpaid terminal cancer is still there.
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:30am
Maggie Pie

What if Mrs Doubtfire was actually a woman?

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1549079718246449152

(OMG check out the rest of the replies….HILARIOUS!!)
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July 19, 2022 8:37am
- ClanMcleod
  
  These people are sick. As with the vax lunatics. Do what you want to yourself, go after the children at your peril.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:44am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, I liked the meme of Putin smiling as he watches the Dems slowly destroy the US. What better time to be an ‘enemy’ of America.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:06am
- Frank the tank
  
  Tell you what that perspective Arizona Gov ain’t a bad looker.
  
  In contrast why do all our female politicians looks like they hit every branch as they fell out of the ugly tree?
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:36am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Amazing what you see when you haven’t got a gun……
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:34am
Opie

When act was a one seat party, you risked wasting your party vote on them. With them tracking at approx 10% they are a genuine option.

I hate politics and only started caring once I saw this country being run so badly.

Seymour, while not perfect with some bad comments around the vax and protest seems to be the only one who doesn’t want a race based country.

All I want is responsible government spending and one rule for all, regardless of any individuality. Not dishing out money to lazy shits and vanity projects.

Is that too much to ask? Who can deliver that here? And if not here, what country do you look at moving to? Won’t be sticking around for 3 more years of the current rubbish.
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July 19, 2022 8:38am
krazykiwi

With apologies to The Eagles …. Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia.

Well written and well played.
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July 19, 2022 9:04am
- JackRabbit
  
  Awesome!
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:22am
- ClanMcleod
  
  KK – this is equally good. Parody of the classic Pat Benatar song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”.
  
  This one is called “Stick Me With Your Death Shot”. Bloody briliant!
  
  https://odysee.com/@Clifford:b/-Stick-Me-With-Your-Death-Shot-:6
  
  🙂
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:03am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yaahooo! that is going on my FB
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:41am
-D

What must we do, really, to get basic breakout of COVID ‘death’ statistics to include detail of age/sex/comorbidity/vax-status/and, if we must, race?
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July 19, 2022 9:05am
Master Mariner

Here’s my take on the Ukrainian / Russia war and how EU tried bypass Russia with Ukrainian Gas.

Hence their refusal to to approve Nordstream 2 Pipeline ( Which by passes Ukraine, as does Nord Stream 1.
The high royalties Russia pays to transit Ukraine as well as “syphoning” of Gas in the Yamal Pipeline makes it unviable proposition.

So What changed?

https://hir.harvard.edu/ukraine-energy-reserves/

“Excluding Russia’s gas reserves in Asia, Ukraine today holds the second biggest known gas reserves in Europe. As of late 2019, known Ukrainian reserves amounted to 1.09 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, second only to Norway’s known resources of 1.53 trillion cubic meters. Yet, these enormous reserves of energy remain largely untapped.”

So does Russia want the whole of Ukraine? No he wants the Coastline and along with it control off Offshore reserves.

https://liveuamap.com/en/2022/26-february-polands-president-andrzejduda-poland-supports

If you Zoom in and see the area along the Coast which will become part of Russia EEZ ( And control /Ownership of fields )

This in my mind is another EU “own Goal” by trying to cut Russia out and
believing Ukraine can / soon to supply EU in Gas and like I’ve said before, By not approving Nordstream 2 ( With USA influence), This was the “catalyst” of the War.

And this is the outcome,
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/IEA-Urges-Europe-To-Take-Immediate-Measures-To-Conserve-Gas.html

Hence Energy Security should be front and center of all Governments.
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July 19, 2022 9:08am
- Master Mariner
  
  And further to the link above,
  “According to some estimates, the EU will import around 90 percent of the gas it consumes by 2030. Thus, during the next decade, Brussels will be increasingly eager to diversify the origins and routes of the European gas supply. In this context, smaller or even prospective gas exporters like Ukraine become more attractive to policymakers in Brussels: such new participants in the European market would lower EU dependency on the large players in the field, thus strengthening the European negotiating position.”
  Unquote
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:16am
- Jack5
  
  Master Mariner’s ….Energy Security should be front and center of all Governments.
  
  And we have a paper-weight prime minister who, on a whim, axed oil and gas exploration, and who ignores importing millions of tons of Indonesia coal to a fuel a power station that sits on, or beside, a coal field.
  
  Food for thought, too, on ending Marsden Point refining.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:57am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Hence Energy Security should be front and center of all Governments.”
  
  I have been saying here for 2 years that natural gas will be a golden fuel for the next 50 years at least. Windfarms and solar can simply not heat homes in climates like Canada, much of the USA, and much of Europe. Nuclear is the only other option, which France has adopted and hence it mostly relies on electricity for heating in winter.
  
  And yet here in New Zealand, Jacinda decided that gas is evil and has banned exploration. It is simply mind boggling. We have no nuclear. Coal is out. Large scale new hydro is out. And she wants all of us to own EVs.
  
  What will New Zealand’s energy landscape look like in 2050? Has anyone done some scenarios based on projected population growth and all light passenger vehicles electric by 2050, and Taranaki gas having long been exhausted? Maybe there are advances in solar and batteries coming that I am unaware of?
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:31am
  - Hebe123
    
    Transpower has done that alot of work on that which you might find useful. Here’s a good place to start:
    https://transpower.co.nz/about-us/transmission-tomorrow.
    
    Personally I have worked 25+ years in all parts of the industry. IMO we should be looking seriously at coal. Efficient coal fired stations are not the polluters they once were, and we should retain at least one large station like Huntly in the long term. Wind and solar are fine as contributors, regardless of what some of you think, they work OK in NZ for energy provision, though not for capacity. (I’m not saying they are necessarily environmentally the best choice!). We probably need some more big hydro’s too, to ‘store’ the wind and solar, preferably in the North Island. Never going to happen.
    
    We should start by reconsidering the need for a capacity market. This has been considered historically on a few occasions. Some offshore markets have them, some don’t. IMO the benefits of the extra complexity for the NZ situation have not been there historically to justify it, but I think we are now at a point when it should be reconsidered, as this would value more appropriately the benefits provided by “firm” plant such as gas, coal, geothermal and storable hydro.
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:28pm
  - Taieri
    
    And she wants all of us to own EVs.
    ———-
    
    But, does she really?
    
    I thought it was all about bicycles…
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:35pm
k1w1

I see the Herald has an article on “Outbreak of Gloom” and why everything feels no negative. Except they forgot the elephant in the room… this USELESS FUCKING GOVT.
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July 19, 2022 9:24am
- ClanMcleod
  
  “correlation is not causation” seems to be the go to for this bunch of inept and dangerous clowns.
  
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  July 19, 2022 9:55am
cas

More prescience from Yes Minister, the Labour party’s strategists.

Sunday nights episode was Jobs for the Boys. They just about nailed it except they left out family but when Sir Humphrey said the ideal quango appointee is a black Welsh disabled woman trade unionist we nearly fell off the couch laughing.
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July 19, 2022 9:28am
- Prince
  
  Speaking of TV matching reality, has anyone caught up with the latest series of Borgen on Netflix.
  Borgen – Power and Glory. Came out earlier this year.
  An eerie familiarity with NZ in parts, particularly the media. Norway’s fictional TV1 is funded by the Government, and they are told to pull their head in or else…
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:03am
ClanMcleod

Biden’s recent trip to the ME looks as though it went well. lol

https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/1548819995077009408/photo/1
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July 19, 2022 9:54am
uluwatu

Just locked in my mortgage on my rental properties for 4 years at a little under 6%. Welcome to the ‘new’ world of high inflation and increasing interest rates.

Good or bad decision? Opinions welcome. Pretty academic as only $100k or so but I feel for newer entrants to the market rolling big mortgages off fixed rate at or below 3% in the next few months and years.
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July 19, 2022 10:03am
Loddenthinks

Are there any limits to the hypocrisy and absence of irony from this useless Labour government?

A headline being pushed by $1uffed is that, regarding the cluster-whatsit that is New Zealand’s Health system, “calling it a crisis doesn’t help”.

“Health Minister Andrew Little has been under pressure over his reluctance to label the current problems in the health sector a ‘crisis’.”

How’s that “Climate Emergency” going, Labs?
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July 19, 2022 10:10am
- Biscuit
  
  Indeed, Lodden.
  
  Whenever you hear a Labourite sob-story away the latest crisis, always remember the loudmess of the ‘It’s the Government’s fault!’ wailings when they were last in Opposition…
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:03am
- artemisia
  
  There is a big issue looming (and partly here already) in the aged care sector. Headline in the NBR calls it a crisis.
  
  Aged care crisis brings success of health reform into question Baby boomers need 15,000 more care beds by 2030, but pressures are mounting.
  
  And yet nearly a thou care beds have closed this year so far. The opinion piece in the below link sets out the issues pretty well, though it is opinion from within the sector. Looks to me like the private care sector can’t get nurses and if that part of the business is losing money anyway their focus is changing. Probably to new builds for the more than averagely well heeled.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/129149092/after-years-of-neglect-aged-care-sector-is-under-threat
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:05am
Tauhei Notts

Ah! Winter citrus fruit.
I have just got 12kg of tangelos from a friend.
How many millilitres of freshly squeezed tangelo juice should I pour into 30ml of gin?
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July 19, 2022 10:22am
- Swifty
  
  30ml.
  
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  July 19, 2022 10:25am
- Biscuit
  
  Times are tough in Tauheiland?
  
  I had no idea alcoholic measures came in such small doses as 30ml!
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:00am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Good to see you’re getting your Vitamin C and looking after your health. Put it in to your own taste, you can’t OD on Vit C!!
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:14am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    If you take more than your body can process, it gives you the squirts – which I discovered to my cost one day whilst attempting a modest fart in bed.
    
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    July 19, 2022 11:27am
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      One mate who did a grapefruit binge in the past lamented ‘shitting through the eye of a needle’.
      
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      July 19, 2022 12:20pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  30ml
  
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  July 19, 2022 11:47am
- mogg
  
  Pour tangelo juice into a bottle, start drinking, keep topping the bottle up with gin as you go.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:29pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Wave it over the top.
  That will be sufficient.
  
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  July 19, 2022 3:50pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/he-was-northlands-6m-man-after-beating-council-in-court-now-low-life-mongrels-appeal/FON6HO6HNSRH2DPZFYQEQPLDMQ/

Whangarei District Council said a property owner he didn’t have consent for a quarry. He rightly claimed he did have a consent.

A decent 10 million dollar payout for council incompetence is warranted in my view.

The problem with these councils is that there is no accountability for incompetence. Whose head will roll over this? The only person who suffered hurt is the defendant, and he hadn’t done anything wrong.
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July 19, 2022 10:48am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  As a Whangarei rate payers this council screw-up will affect my voting decisions.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:38pm
- kevn
  
  @sufing… Who else smells a personality/ego clash here?
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:26pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I remember bits of this. The guy had consent but the Council lost the file I think.
  Councils, full of lefties who blame others.
  
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  July 19, 2022 4:21pm
Maggie Pie

I remember my grandad used to point at people and yell…”SYRUP!”

This would have be the worst example I’ve ever seen. I think the blonde girl sitting behind him got onto it (@ 9sec 😀 )

https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1549065371981856768
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July 19, 2022 11:43am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Didn’t realise your Grandad was an East Ender, Mags – respect.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:08pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  seriously questioning if that was a wig or real hair??
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:19pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Someone else’s real hair. Boris combs his with a balloon.
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:23pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFk-5iZ6Zg
Erica & Chris (National MP’s) Get Asked Questions.

Seems to be there isn’t enough people turning up to these MP event’s and asking any questions whatsoever. Keep these people held accountable for their actions, speak up and LOUD. [7:59]
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July 19, 2022 12:06pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNUP4Dcslyc

The Chinese Dream is over!

Shattered and gone, completely irreparable, The Chinese Dream is now nothing but an actual dream. [18:40]
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July 19, 2022 12:06pm
Maggie Pie

ZB reporting…. “Stable but Critical”

Everyone around here has got their fingers crossed.
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July 19, 2022 12:27pm
greybeard

Another anti-Luxon “cartoon” in Stuff.
Boy they must be worried about something.
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July 19, 2022 12:32pm
- Prince
  
  The diversity of political thought amongst the cartoonists on Stuff is remarkable.
  So good to have differing views expressed.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:17pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Is this how Labour plan things?
” Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you’re not innovating enough”

Elon Musk.
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July 19, 2022 12:35pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  ~~Is this~~ how Labour plan things ?
  ” Failure is an ~~option here. If things are not failing, you’re not innovating enough”~~ inevitability, hire more spin doctor and ramp up the media bribes.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:41pm
- cmm
  
  This is an old chestnut that is often trotted out by people who have failed big and bad.
  
  The best way to develop new products is to fail often, but make those failures cheap. ie. prototype with the eye on looking for what breaks and fixing those. Do the hard stuff first.
  
  Unfortunately far too many do it the wrong way around – they focus on doing the easy stuff first and ignoring problems. This makes failure far more expensive.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:51pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    From my experiences in the metal manufacturing industry, the guy who never fucked up something, never made anything.
    I didn’t screw up often, but when I did it was a bloody beauty! I always owned it.
    
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    July 19, 2022 12:57pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Well done! That’s an attribute unheard of in this Labour Govt.
      Just imagine if any of them were held responsible for their fuck ups, there’d be none of them left (starting from the top).
      
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      July 19, 2022 1:29pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        There’s a saying; A’s hire A’s, B’s hire C’s. Hard working competent people aren’t afraid of competition or having their work assessed critically. Key’s govt was stacked with A’s who all pulled their weight and contributed to better outcomes. There’s are no A’s in Labour, only B’s trying to hide their incompetence and protect their positions (eg by employing less ables C’s and devoting all their energy to propaganda efforts).
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:29pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nick, same Company, 49 years. Started April 1973 from an employment place in Birkenhead. Started the next morning at 7.30.
        Company closed a few months back – lease expired and no renewal. No new premises so machinery in storage, right from 135 to pressbrake to 11R clamps.
        Did not make my 50 years. If I was 40 instead of now 70, I would have bought it.
        Business is still for sale, been going since 1965 on the Shore.
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:31pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        135 ton*
        
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        July 19, 2022 4:32pm
cmm

Herald Lies: “1252 people have died with CV19 as the underlying or contributing cause of death”.

Lie, lie, lie.

Dying within 30 days of testing positive is not contributory.

If we’re going to count that way then how about counting people that die within 30 days of getting vaccinated?

I would guess there are tens of thousands of people who have died in NZ within 30 days of vaccination.
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July 19, 2022 12:47pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Quite. Correlation is promoted as causation when it supports the narrative, but it is ‘called out’ when it does not.
  
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  July 19, 2022 12:52pm
- mogg
  
  TVNZ news lies, “UK railway tracks are melting in the heat”.
  
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  July 19, 2022 1:39pm
  - MCōs
    
    The railway tracks, like any steel, expand in the heat is what they should have said.
    There is a gap between sections, but it’s not enough and the rail deform.
    Enough heat and the steel loses its strength eg WTC, which collapsed.
    I suppose it’s easier to say the rails melt as if there’s been a nuclear attack.
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:19pm
    - MCōs
      
      Gaps are not used in lines with high speed trains due to maintenance issues.
      Interestingly the rails used in the UK have welded joints with joints every 216m.
      They are laid in tension so that the expansion caused by the heat is absorbed, until it isn’t when it gets too hot.
      When it’s cold the rails are in tension and don’t contract.
      
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      July 19, 2022 4:40pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Mac, there are also right and left bends to compensate for the expansion and contraction.
        The ‘thermite’ welding is something good to watch. I have seen it standing 3 meters away. Bit of cleaning up to do grinding.
        Old saying in the metalwork trade – “If you have to grind your welds, you are not a welder, you are a grinder” Stick it on with a shovel boy!
        
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        July 19, 2022 5:01pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I think it was dopey writer and dopey proof reading – so we all pick it up as sun melting steel!
      ‘UK Railway tracks are bending in the suns’ melting heat’
      See? I did not even go to Waikato Uni and get a comms degree for that
      
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      July 19, 2022 4:56pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Excess deaths above long term averages are close to being the best assessment. So far since Omicron wave started earlier in 2022 we have seen about 1250 extra deaths (above long term average), though perhaps some of that is due to rebounding flu and colds and cancer cardiovascular deaths due to poor treatment during lockdowns.
  
  For comparison there were about 2000 extra deaths in 2021 compared to 2020 in absence of colds, flus and covid both years, but with vaccines in 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-03-01..latest&facet=none&pickerSort=asc&pickerMetric=location&Metric=Excess mortality (count)&Interval=7-day rolling average&Relative to Population=true&Color by test positivity=false&country=~NZL
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:25pm
- MCōs
  
  “I would guess there are tens of thousands of people who have died in NZ within 30 days of vaccination.”
  Last year about 35,000 died in total.
  About 9000 of those were caused by cancer.
  Another thousand or so accidental.
  Maybe 95% were vaccinated with 2 shots and a few a booster, which didn’t really take off until this year.
  So of the 25,000 it’s likely no more than 3/24 died within a month of a jab. That is a bit over three thousand died within a month of a vaccine.
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:49pm
- fernglas
  
  Herald Lies: “1252 people have died with CV19 as the underlying or contributing cause of death”.
  That is the new figure now that they have changed the way of reporting. Previously any death that occurred within 28 days of a positive test was put down as a Covid death, which led to obvious absurdities. Now the test is whether Covid was the underlying or a contributing factor. The better test would be the legal test for causation which is whether something was a “substantial and operating” cause of death. This would get past the cases where Covid contributed to the death but only in a minor way. At the moment, Covid is likely to attract the blame where causation is too limited to be of any significant effect. Nevertheless, it is about time New Zealand adopted this standard, which other countries have been used for reporting for months now. It seems Ashley, Baker and Jacinda now have enough cases to use for propaganda purposes without gilding the lily.
  
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  July 19, 2022 5:21pm
Fuzzysnuggleduck

Crims don’t fear the police.
Went for the female officer first.
Female hasn’t encountered a straight right like that before I think.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/female-police-officer-knocked-unconscious-by-offender-vicious-manurewa-assault-caught-on-camera/QWOW6SWLODMAGK57H7AEFQLLT4/

I am surprised how slowly they moved on him after he fell after the ineffective tazer strike.
My blood would be boiling.
This is where a few cracks with a night stick to the head, vulnerable elbow joints and knee joints in any particular order might work better than trying to tazer through layers of clothing….and with a bit of luck, might even accidentally permanently injure if applied to & shattering said joints.
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July 19, 2022 1:51pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Good on the officer shooting the tazer almost immediately. Didn’t look like the officer tried to talk to him first.
  
  Looked like two tazer shots did not take this crim down for very long. Likely high on something powerfull.
  
  Officers are probably trained not to get into a close encounter with such an individual.
  
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  July 19, 2022 3:47pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Yes, that is true, that meth fueled ones take on more/require more force to control than they should.
    Told by an experienced/security bouncer fellow that drugs can cause someone to shrug off even a kick in the testes, as they don’t feel it.
    I presume that clothing limited the effectiveness of tasers though, as the voltage should still drop him if really in contact. Because the flood of volts that is something the muscles/nervous system simply can’t ignore.
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:13pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Trained to step away.
    Why don’t the Police demonstrate the ‘Gift wrap’ and use it? Not that hard to do, meth head maybe a bit harder.
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:10pm
- kowtow
  
  Night stick to head would have you up on a murder charge .
  
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  July 19, 2022 4:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Hallelujah!!!!

532 NZers who died from covid are no longer covid deaths….

Using that updated approach, as of today there were 1252 Covid deaths. That was a lower figure than some of the other ways of counting Covid deaths.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/129308693/covid19-10772-new-community-cases-of-covid19-and-a-further-21-deaths

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/new-zealand/

Seems our stats must have been looking pretty bad for our Dear Government…..
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July 19, 2022 1:55pm
- MCōs
  
  Department of Health ot the Government.
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:01pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Knew this was coming. When it helped Labour they and their MOH bureaucrats and MSM lackies were more than happy to stick with a counting definition that enabled them to frighten the crap out of people and get them to do obey.
  
  Now that the numbers are starting to hurt it’s time to change the definition and stop hurting the government. We were on our way to that magical number of 200 dead in the next ten days before this change and that would be an ugly subtitle to put over a photo of Smiling Caring Jacinda.
  
  Of course if you’re one of those people who think the government, MOH and MSM really ever cared about “Covid-19 deaths” then you’ll be outraged at this. But the majority of the screamers will be perfectly fine with it.
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:02pm
- Steve Wrathall
  
  So for 2 years anyone who questioned that the foreign death figures included anyone who died “with” covid, was slammed as uncaring, a granny killer, covid denier, etc. But now that we have one of the highest covid death rates making Labour’s “amazing” covid response look not so flash, they’ve shifted the goal posts. What a joke
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Does that mean the fear porn has gone? It can’t be used as a tool to lock us down?
  Poor Jaspinda. It is all turning to shit.
  
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  July 19, 2022 2:24pm
  - MCōs
    
    Two points there.
    Nobody’s talking about more lockdowns except rumour mongers.
    
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    July 19, 2022 3:36pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      “Nobody’s talking about more lockdowns”
      Yup, nobody is talking about more. Do you think that Dear Leader and the spinners are not on to this?
      
      Mac! Look behind you! Monkeypox, and NZ will fuck with the NYC numbers.
      Ah – that is New York City – but you knew that……
      
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      July 19, 2022 5:18pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  532 zombies?
  What? These people rose from the dead?
  Nope- Of course just creative accounting, just like our unemployment rate.
  The Wuflu stats were always a farce, and internationally the differences between the likes of Germany and Italy (WITH vs FROM) meant that comparing numbers was largely futile.
  
  We need to look at excess deaths across populations once all the ‘Vax is gonna kill us!’ and ‘Covid is gonna kill us!’ excitement has run its course.
  I am expecting some excess deaths, but nothing like what the pandemic hysteria and huge disruption would justify.
  Books 100 years from now will be the most sober, when politicians and crazies and vested interests have passed.
  
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  July 19, 2022 4:18pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Bit early for whiskies isn’t it? Not even Friday.
    Cup of tea and a lay down?
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:20pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/its-ridiculous-anger-over-maori-children-being-zoned-out-of-iwi-or-hapu-land/XZQV4TFUZ4B2ZC5I3DQNQD6QRY/

As far as I know, pre-european Maori did not have schools at all. A bit rich for them to start demanding that they have the right to choose a school based on their pre-european rights.
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July 19, 2022 2:10pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

America has it’s health liars too. Fauci. Next time someone starts the psychotic nonsense, refer them to this. Btw, Fauci will retire at the end of Biden’s term. Guess he doesn’t want the embarrassment of The Don saying “You’re fired, FIRED!!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZcTqW1Ngj4&t=27s
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July 19, 2022 2:21pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

I just had an email from Taxpayer’s Union – Peter Williams. How can I link it to here? Or can someone else do it?
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July 19, 2022 2:51pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Steve, the email content is not posted at the Taxpayer Union website (that I could see). Some content is here:
  
  Dear kk,
  Thank you for using our tool to have your say and protect local democracy and affordable water services.
  
  There are just a few days left for like-minded Kiwis to have their say on Nanaia Mahuta’s Three Waters bill.
  But Labour are throwing everything at a last minute advertising push to turn out their supporters. I’m emailing to ask for your support to ensure we can mount one more advertising blitz to Stop Three Waters and ensure tens of thousands of Kiwis have their say by making a submission to Parliament.
  :::
  Labour are getting desperate
  
  We’ve noticed a huge uptick in advertising from the Government across TV, radio, print, and online, in the last few days. Clearly Labour are making a last ditch attempt to convince Kiwis that Three Waters is required. Will you step up your support now so we can go toe-to-toe with the Government?
  First, the Government tried to buy the councils off. It didn’t work.
  They ran a misleading propaganda campaign to try and claim Three Waters is the necessary ‘fix’ to brown water coming out of taps. It didn’t work either.
  
  They even rejigged Parliamentary rules to make it harder for members to submit against the Bill. They voted to block emailed submissions on Nanaia Mahuta’s bill despite that being the usual Select Committee practice for decades. So much for making it easier to participate in democracy! It appears that only applies to democracy the Government agrees with!
  That’s why will print and personally deliver to Parliament your submission before the cutoff on Friday – so the Government’s sneaky tactics do not work.
  
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  July 19, 2022 3:29pm
  - graham
    
    It appears that the Government are continuing to bribe the councils.
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/three-waters-government-to-give-councils-44m-to-help-set-up-three-waters-reforms/IZCLYDXXRJNRACPAAQWGNIOI44/
    
    As the Government continues to face heat over its controversial Three Water reforms, it has announced it will give at least $350,000 to each of the 67 councils in the country, saying it was to help councils bed in the reforms.
    
    The $44 million package is on top of an earlier funding promise of $500 million, which was to allow councils to pay for “wellbeing investments” such as swimming pools – but which has been criticised as a “bribe” by those opposed to it.
    
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    July 19, 2022 4:12pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Good part, yes.
    I would like the whole thing posted here on Kiwiblog. Many do not get the emails I get.
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:23pm
Biscuit

Just back from Countdown…

A wag – sadly not me – has been BUSY…

Just about every bit of fresh produce – cauliflower, cabbage, silverbeet etc – has a quite-well-printed sign on it declaring:

SPECIAL:
ONE FOR THE PRICE OF TWO
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July 19, 2022 3:41pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Yes Biscuit – but please consider the impact on the growers of the cauliflower and cabbage.
  The majority of New Zealanders are financially illiterate and apparently have next to no knowledge of even basic economics.
  Most of the people reading those amusing signs will think it is the greedy vegetable growers who are charging twice for one item.
  
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  July 19, 2022 4:36pm
  - MCōs
    
    We go to the Avondale Sunday Market where the produce is sold by the producers.
    They load up their trucks and drive up from Pukekohe or wherever, pay a nominal lease on a patch of land and sell their stuff somewhat cheaper than the supermarkets & green grocers.
    Interestingly the rent from the Market is what keeps the Avondale Jockey Club solvent.
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:04pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Cut off the bad bits and discounted! What is the ‘use by date?’
  
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  July 19, 2022 5:25pm
Swifty

The naked bribery of Councils by the NZ Labour Party and with YOUR money just keeps coming!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/471226/more-three-waters-funding-aims-to-help-councils-with-handover
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July 19, 2022 4:41pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  What fucking ‘handover?’
  
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  July 19, 2022 5:28pm
  - Swifty
    
    ‘Standover’.
    
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    July 19, 2022 5:41pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I think you are correct
      
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      July 20, 2022 8:44am
- surfing
  
  Has three waters already been enacted?
  
  I guess it has if they are already doing the hand-over work.
  
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  July 19, 2022 5:56pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    No, it won’t come into force until 2024.
    
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    July 20, 2022 7:52am
Maggy Wassilieff

I wonder how long Bryce Edwards’ analysis of NZ’s cost-of-living crisis will stay up on the NZ Herald website.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bryce-edwards-how-much-of-our-cost-of-living-crisis-is-due-to-incompetence/5ETY6CXQMDUCTA6EM2GJYAI2T4/

Grimes has not minced his words about the Reserve Bank: “They’re completely to blame for allowing this to happen… They’ve been incompetent, they’ve been really incompetent”.

By contrast the Government’s current cost-of-living strategies seem feeble. In particular, the announcement on Sunday of an extension of the transport subsidies has been widely seen as cynical. As broadcaster Tova O’Brien says today, the fact that the unscheduled press conference was called on Sunday just prior to the following day’s announcement of the inflation rate, shows how rattled Labour is, and how ill-equipped to deal with this crisis.
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July 19, 2022 6:55pm

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