Open Mike 26/09/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:02 am, September 26th, 2018 - 114 comments
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114 comments on “Open Mike 26/09/2018 ”

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  1. lprent 1
    26 September 2018 at 6:21 am

    A bright and cheerful morning to you all.

    10C and the rain has gone in Auckland. Checking the radar: Just some scattered showers around.

    Last day of my much belated week off. Back to working in Singapore on Sunday for another hot (~33C), humid and damp never ending summer.

    After that after spending a third of the year there, I’m going to have a NZ summer. Preferably in December before everyone goes on holiday and definitely before the February humidity arrives and I want to go back and huddle in an air-conditioned cave.

    • marty mars 1.1
      26 September 2018 at 7:27 am

      Jeepers sounds busy. Maybe consider having a holiday down south over Chrissy. All the best for the next phase.

    • Cinny 1.2
      26 September 2018 at 8:00 am

      Iprent, enjoy the rest of your time before heading back to Singapore.

      If this December is as warm as last years, it’s a fantastic time to have a Christmas break, good thinking on your part.

      Last Dec the sea was so warm and the weather too, was taking the girls swimming at Kaiteriteri every day after school, not as many tourists around at the time, it was awesome. Hoping for the same this year.

      Safe traveling Iprent and thanks ever so much for all the hard work you do on TS, it’s appreciated so much by so many 🙂

    • Humma 1.3
      26 September 2018 at 8:12 am

      Just watch out for the CO2 emissions with all that flying.

      • greywarshark 1.3.1
        26 September 2018 at 1:10 pm

        How else can you get around at present except by flying. There are a few places on container ships. Cruise ships may take short-distance passengers. If you are really up with the CO2 emissions, it would be good if you could look at what is being thought of round the world to take the place of planes, and be kinder to the environment. Keep Hummaus informed with a few paras and links about what you find. I and am sure others, wonder what is going on and don’t hear about the protoypes.

        Your comments would be informative then and worthwhile. This blog is the place for putting in ideas and thinking. So I look forward to hearing more from you along those lines.

    • Patricia Bremner 1.4
      26 September 2018 at 1:45 pm

      Have a great break.

  2. Ad 2
    26 September 2018 at 6:45 am

    Bill Cosby gets 3-10 years in prison for drug-induced rape.
    Granted it was effectively a representative charge, but a great outcome for one of the 1980s’ biggest media names.

    • shadrach 2.1
      26 September 2018 at 10:37 am

      Sorry, but 3-10 years for potentially ruining a bunch of women’s lives is not my idea of justice.

    • greywarshark 2.2
      26 September 2018 at 1:13 pm

      Costly punitive measures, he has already had his reputation ruined and now he’s an old 81 and partially blind. A fulsome apology, some money reparation, and house arrest would be sufficient. The whole prison thing is the nation punishing its taxpayers in a mood of deterring others, and spending money on him that should be spent on young people not the nearly dead.

      • shadrach 2.2.1
        26 September 2018 at 1:54 pm

        I disagree. This is a man who used his position of power and influence to sexually abuse young women. Some good ‘punitive measures’ sound just fine to me.

        • greywarshark 2.2.1.1
          26 September 2018 at 2:05 pm

          What do you care about prevention and appropriate spending on punishing a wrong doer? You want revenge, punishment and enjoy sending people off to jail. With that sort of attitude repeated across the country the ‘justice’ law and order budget can exceed the welfare support budget, and that would be okay ‘if it keeps our streets and our children safe’ etc.

          At the end of the day conservatives don’t like people outside their own circle, and sometimes not even then.

          • shadrach 2.2.1.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 2:47 pm

            People who commit serious crime, and Crosby’s crimes were serious, should be punished appropriately. ‘Appropriate’ punishment is preventative (it stops the perpetrator re-offending and sends a signal to other potential offenders), and also satisfies the natural human desire for justice. I care more society at large, than about your concerns for the criminal or for the cost of (his) incarceration.

            And just to recap:

            The accusations: More than 60 women accused him of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct, although the statute of limitations had by then expired in nearly all cases.
            The charges: 3 counts of aggravated indecent assault.
            Cosb’y criminal status: Classified as sexually violent predator.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby

  3. Ad 3
    26 September 2018 at 6:53 am

    President Trump gets laughed at by the UN General Assembly, and somehow it feels so right:

    • Ed 3.1
      26 September 2018 at 7:12 am

      Trump’s speech

      Its “leaders sow chaos, death and destruction,” Trump told the gathering in the green-marbled hall. “They do not respect their neighbors or borders or the sovereign rights of nations.”

      Thought he was describing the U.S. , not Iran

    • chris73 3.2
      26 September 2018 at 7:25 am

      In a lot of respects towards the UN he’s not wrong plus it sounded less like an address to the UN and more to his voter base

    • marty mars 3.3
      26 September 2018 at 7:25 am

      Yep the best response to the overblown overcomb – laughter. Good one world leaders.

  4. Ed 4
    26 September 2018 at 7:14 am

    Anyone notice how Garner cut short the Pike River interview this morning?
    The interviewee mentioned 3 reasons for starting the conveyor belt and stated one.
    Then Garner shut him down.

    • Cinny 4.1
      26 September 2018 at 8:03 am

      Missed it, will have to check that out.

      Something has always been way off about Pike, this new news is very chilling to say the least.

    • SaveNZ 4.2
      26 September 2018 at 8:13 am

      It’s important to know what happened at Pike River. Still have the memories of the days around that time in my mind after it first happened, and kept thinking, why are they delaying rescuing all those people? Rescue is a dangerous activity, as seen by the Thai caves rescue, but obviously an important one in a civilised society where it is expected that people do their best to save others even if it is risky.

      • OnceWasTim 4.2.1
        26 September 2018 at 5:34 pm

        Ditto me @ savenz.
        Especially since someone I was a friend of (a publicity manager for one the ‘arts’ organisations) actually went into the mine with her boyfriend at the time. That is before it all happened.
        It haunts me at times. Her boyfriend was an electrical engineer I think. She’s now buggered off back to Britain where she probably has regrets in doing so.
        Her boyfriend not only told her that “this is an accident waiting to happen”, but he tried to warn people of the state of that place. I think the guy also buggered off back to OZ where conditions were better after trying to push shit uphill.
        I wonder to this day whether he has actually been in contact with those dealing with things as they stand today.

    • mauī 4.3
      26 September 2018 at 8:29 am

      Did not see it Ed, nor would I want to see the odious Garner at this hour. Perhaps it’s just the way it goes for truth tellers.. ask General Shaw,

      • greywarshark 4.3.1
        26 September 2018 at 8:42 am

        Who is Sam? The man or woman? Sam is a male name I thought! Why do we have different male and female names – because we like to know which gender we are talking to. There is a difference!

        • alwyn 4.3.1.1
          26 September 2018 at 12:15 pm

          Did you never watch the TV series Bewitched when you were a young lad?
          Starred a witch named Samantha, often shortened to Sam.
          I’ve known a couple of girls who did the same thing.
          (The name, not being a witch)

        • McFlock 4.3.1.2
          26 September 2018 at 1:08 pm

          heh.

          Ashley, Dylan, Morgan and Riley might differ in that view 😉

      • marty mars 4.3.2
        26 September 2018 at 9:53 am

        Ha – so the former commander British forces in Iraq. A professìnal soldier. A solid part of the establishment for decades. A real peacenik. Cut off by interviewer when he rambled on, using the, ‘but what I really want to talk about is…’ lines.

        Maybe he’s an crisis actor lol

        • mauī 4.3.2.1
          26 September 2018 at 6:40 pm

          It sounds like you think if an interviewee ever goes off script then they should be switched off…

          The question he was responding too when he was switched off was basically what’s stopping the British from attacking Syria. Rambled? He suggested maybe they pause for thought. Sounds wise I would have thought…

          • marty mars 4.3.2.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 6:46 pm

            Why do you believe him and not others? Why is he a truth teller and all the others aren’t?

            • mauī 4.3.2.1.1.1
              26 September 2018 at 7:25 pm

              Many of the people Ed and I talk about are not beholden to outside interests.

              • marty mars …
                26 September 2018 at 8:46 pm

                Really? Seems a bit unlikely. That dude above is a senior decorated British commander who has fought in many conflicts on the side of the British establishment including iraq and you think he’s not beholden to any outside interests?

    • Cinny 4.4
      26 September 2018 at 9:29 am

      I can’t find a link yet, have had a good look.

      Can’t even find a link to watch the full episode of this mornings AM Show via ‘threelive’. Will keep looking

    • Gabby 4.5
      26 September 2018 at 11:02 am

      I rarely get past dunky’s rude haircut eddy. You say he talks as well?

    • cleangreen 4.6
      26 September 2018 at 11:18 am

      Yes Duncan has turned a bit sour since Jacinda shunned him when she made her “state of the nation announcement last month andnused rthe social media to get the broadcast sent to us on Facebook.

      My message to Duncan is to concentrate onthis stuff now that affects us all and pll Jacind into this issue as it affects us all going forward.

      “The Oil compamies lobbyists have the ‘ear of the Government’ but they dont listen to all our reasoned arguements that the climate change is now heavily impacting on our lives as we speak.

      East coast regions now have reached record levels of continuos rain and moisture that are already impacing on the main roads and worse still on our highway base levels, under our roads.

      constant rain and moisture and is now weakening the regional roads.

      We drive from Napier to Tauranga every month and now we see the roads are pysically sinking under the continious weight of many increasing very heavy truck freight vehicles.

      Now we wintness that the main orad north called ‘highway two’ will now soon be a ‘goat track’ unless billions are spent placing reinforced concrete bases under them as the EU and Canada and the US has done.

      Due to “climate change” everything now going forward with our transport will cost many more billions, becase of the mindless oil compnies deliberate lobbying of getting rid of rail freight in our regions.

      So then oil companies can sell more fuel for trucks as trucks can use five times more oil based enegy to move every tonne every km.

      Mindless ‘global world destoyers’ oil companies are.”

    • bwaghorn 4.7
      26 September 2018 at 11:29 am

      No he didn’t. He was very sympathetic. They do run to a time schedule you know.

    • Jimmy 4.8
      26 September 2018 at 12:46 pm

      Yes I noticed that. Felt sorry for the guy who was obviously very emotional. However, suddenly Garner thought the news was far too important to run a couple of minutes late.

  5. Sanctuary 5
    26 September 2018 at 7:26 am

    Garner, Soper, Hoskings. All middle aged men suffering incredible an case of envy and prolonged sour grapes at the effrontery of Jacinda to be a woman, younger than them, clearly fertile, and (what sticks in their misogynistic craws the most) way more powerful and relevant than they are.

    I mean, read Soper’s piece in the Herald today. It is a model of baby boomer grumpy, mean spirited narcissism.

    He seems very bitter that he has to jump through hoops while a baby gets accredited in hours. I mean, what sort of person regards a 3 month old baby as a rival?

    He is such an old man. he clearly regards having a 38 year old prime minister with a new baby as a bewildering ongoing insult that mocks his decrepitude by their just being.

  6. Ngungukai 6
    26 September 2018 at 8:02 am

    Soper needs to climb back into his cave and start scribbling on the walls ?

  7. greywarshark 7
    26 September 2018 at 9:05 am

    Bryce Edwards having a go at our PM just now on Radionz news for not being the most transparent as expected from this government. He does not seem to like Labour much or he has had sour cream in his morning coffee. What’s up with this wingher?

    • Muttonbird 7.1
      26 September 2018 at 9:20 am

      He’s gone the way of Chris Trotter, Phil Quin, and Nick Leggett.

      Entrenched in male hierarchy structures they see no room for women’s representation in the new socially responsible movement. Feminism is dirty to them. It scares them (particularly Quin), so they fight alongside right-wingers.

      • Wayne 7.1.1
        26 September 2018 at 10:00 am

        The issue Bryce and the others are discussing are whether the PMs parliamentary answers square with the documents that Derek Handley released. It is nothing to do with the gender of the PM. Any PM is going to be scrutinised on an issue like that. It is simply part of the job and the public accountability that goes with it.
        Though I do think people have undue expectations of what people can actually remember on the spot. I am sure successive PM’s (and Ministers) do not have photographic recall. And Parliamentary Question time is not a place where one can carefully deliberate, though obviously you can prepare.

        • ankerawshark 7.1.1.1
          26 September 2018 at 12:31 pm

          Wayne, I wouldn’t want the PM to remember precisely these details. It would mean her mind was focused on small, likely trivial details as opposed to using their brain to conduct herself with the ease and savvy that Ms Ardern has shown in NY despite very little sleep. Commenting to Trump about his work in north Korea shows she knows too well about diplomacy and dare I say it how to handle a narcissist.

          This ridiculous beat up of the Handley affair is a sign of real desperation by National and the msm.

          The journalists focusing on this small time shit are showing the country up as a petty small time mud pool.

          Its a sign of how f….ed off they must be about JA skill, abilities, and her iconic status.

      • greywarshark 7.1.2
        26 September 2018 at 1:24 pm

        I object to Chris Trotter being included with Phil Quin and Nick Leggett ( Nick Leggett is executive director of the New Zealand Alcohol Beverage Council.) is a very different beast also.

        You make an unreasonable judgement there. Chris had great hopes for Jacinda Ardern but then wondered if she would capitalise on her popularity and pull Labour into left policies beyond the Third Way type that her advisers would recommend. He is feeling more doubtful as to outcomes. And I think explains his reasoning well, spending more time discussing his opinion than you care to do.

    • Gabby 7.2
      26 September 2018 at 10:36 am

      Bricy fibbed a wee bit I thought, if he was claiming Ardern undertook to assist the yanker’s job search.

    • Ed 7.3
      26 September 2018 at 5:00 pm

      Possible reasons

      He needs money.
      He is compromised.

  8. Cinny 8
    26 September 2018 at 9:35 am

    Am finding the fuss about rising fuel prices really interesting.

    If it makes us all more mindful about our vehicle use, that’s not a bad thing.

    What I would like to see is massive subsidies on electric vehicles, making them affordable to ALL. That’s what they are doing in China due to their insane levels of pollution.

    • Exkiwiforces 8.1
      26 September 2018 at 10:02 am

      You might find this interesting IRT fuel prices between 2008 and 2018. They are using West Texas Crude Oil as the benchmark for the graph.

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/tuesday-finance-with-phillip-lasker/10304494?section=business

    • Gabby 8.2
      26 September 2018 at 10:38 am

      It’s all very well being ‘mindful’, but doesn’t help people stuck with commuting. Not even with learnings, going forward. At the end of the day.

    • bwaghorn 8.3
      26 September 2018 at 11:36 am

      There was talk this am about wacking a large charge on the working guys utes to pay for subsidies on electric cars .
      It is hardly fear to use a behaviour tax to modify behaviour when it is not 100% avoidable .

      • greywarshark 8.3.1
        26 September 2018 at 1:27 pm

        Yes, we need some wrking guys who actually do physical things, and utes are probably their choice for adaptable purposes. I would put a tax on those hopped up high vehicles that so many use to get around in in the city, like driving behind and beside a moving wall.

        • bwaghorn 8.3.1.1
          26 September 2018 at 2:43 pm

          We could start with a cubic centimeter tax anything over 3 litres is in unnecessary ,as the power output of a 2.8 is more than enough. Still it would be a political mine field.

          • Exkiwiforces 8.3.1.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 3:50 pm

            How about knocking off the GST on all EV’s and all GST on the sale of all FFV’s goes towards the of EV charging stations?

            • bwaghorn 8.3.1.1.1.1
              26 September 2018 at 5:46 pm

              Hmm maybe but I reckon they are on the wrong track with charging stations . They should have batteries that you swap at the garage . . Once we have a 100 000 Evs on the road charging will be a mess .

              • greywarshark …
                26 September 2018 at 6:00 pm

                Swap batteries, that would make sense for sure.

              • Exkiwiforces …
                26 September 2018 at 11:24 pm

                I didn’t consider swapping batteries as the current lithium ion batteries being used are rather heavy, but the technology for lithium ion batteries are making them lighter and not venting that offen as well as they did in the past. Heck the one’s we use with man pack wagtail radios 18 odd yrs ago in ET vented quite a few times especially during times when it got a bit close for comfort.

                I have seen some of the newer lithium ion batteries used in the Darwin to Adelaide Solar Challenge, so the technology improving very fast. I see Audi are heading down the hydrogen path which from my local member for NT is looking quite promising.

                There has been some experiments at making charging stations like parking meters in the streets and high rise car parks.

                Anyway it’s an interesting where the technology is heading IRT EV’s and non fossil fuel vehicles.

                Please note my Disclaimer I hold a number of shares in Lithium, Rare Earths, Copper, Cobolt and Graphite in Mining, component manufacturing for EV, Renewable Energy and Solar companies.

          • weston 8.3.1.1.2
            26 September 2018 at 8:59 pm

            it would be cruel i think bwh to restrict large motors .On the odd occasion a v8 drives up my road an you can hear it coming for quite some time this beautiful deep deep purr ..whoever is driving never over does it just chops it down one as he starts to climb sounds bloody marvelous id love one if i could afford the petrol ..we all gonna die anyway arent we ?

      • Andre 8.3.2
        26 September 2018 at 6:04 pm

        Check out this bad boy. Supposedly deliveries start next year.

        https://workhorse.com/pickup/

        • weston 8.3.2.1
          26 September 2018 at 8:45 pm

          Ugly plus Andre imo which is what all present newish utes suffer from i reckon stick it up yr arse electric or no !

          • Andre 8.3.2.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 9:01 pm

            Yep, the American auto industry has real expertise in doing ugly.

            But the engineering makes it helluva useful for a tradie or farmer. 130km of electric range, plus dino-juice range extender for those very few occasions it’s needed, 7.2kW available from the battery for your tools wherever you are.

            And even though I’m American by birth, my arse isn’t quite big enough to swallow that so I’ll pass, thanks for the offer.

            • weston 8.3.2.1.1.1
              26 September 2018 at 9:25 pm

              The arse comment a figure of speach andre didnt mean to sound insulting . Do you think designing will get better again eventually ?

    • crashcart 8.4
      26 September 2018 at 12:44 pm

      Low income workers; who have to commute across Auckland because public transport is shit; will appreciate the incentive to think about how it just got harder to pay their other bills.

  9. Ffloyd 9
    26 September 2018 at 10:07 am

    Just looking back I see BigGer has been known to assault a person in a fit of anger. Very remorseful apparently. No consequences to answer. Still sitting pretty. Why doesn’t the Shrew Adams have a go at him. He’s well known for getting away with all his aggressive bullying . Why? Does he still pass their HighStandards test. If so, why so?

  10. Muttonbird 10
    26 September 2018 at 10:18 am

    I have long found it interesting that when government agencies look at benefit eligibility they search very hard for evidence that individuals live as couples under ‘one household’, but when government agencies look at income splitting they blanket treat couples under ‘one household’ as individuals.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/367286/msd-needlessly-probing-beneficiaries-personal-lives-lawyer

    • marty mars 10.1
      26 September 2018 at 10:41 am

      This probing to me is vindictive and voyeuristic. And totally unacceptable.

      • Muttonbird 10.1.1
        26 September 2018 at 10:50 am

        I think it definitely would be voyeuristic at the case-manager level. They’d all have a laugh over beneficiaries’ tinder profiles and the ‘scumbags that solo mother has over to her place’.

        But at the MSD level its all about revenue and finding ways to not pay. And finding ways to catch people out on the most minor and complicated relationship changes.

        Carmel Sepuloni and Marama Davidson must reform this sector. It’ll be a slow process but I’m sure Labour and the Greens can do it.

          • Muttonbird 10.1.1.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 11:01 am

            And in fact MSD go further than merely, “search(ing) very hard for evidence that individuals live as couples under one household”.

            They go as far as searching very hard for evidence that individuals living under different roofs are couples under ‘one household’.

            That is punching down. It is disgraceful.

        • Siobhan 10.1.1.2
          26 September 2018 at 11:16 am

          I often wonder how many women (and children) there are out there, stuck in abusive relationships, claiming benefits that they aren’t entitled to, but need for, you know..survival, who are therefore unable to ever access the limited help that is potentially available to them should they ever decide to seek freedom and refuge from their abuser; due to the fear of being retrospectively prosecuted over their benefit status.

          I suspect that this punitive regime ensures help is not available to our most vulnerable. As usual.

          How long do these people need to wait?

          How long can they wait?

          • greywarshark 10.1.1.2.1
            26 September 2018 at 1:02 pm

            Wouldn’t it be great if women could be helped without the narrow confines of precious purity of untrammelled sex. I think I mean that purse-lipped moralistic people love having a go at women who like Mae West may ‘once have been Snow White but they drifted a little. Jenny Shipley was one. A local golf club didn’t want players in a couples contest if they weren’t married. People who lived together were not right and proper. That happened a few years ago.

            Why not just encourage women to do a good job as single parents, get a good basic education, do some assertiveness training, get some part-time work topped up to a generous benefit, have decent medical help, have strategies for birth control so they have a family size they can manage, and then be given more hours so they can just about run their own lives earning their own money. I bet that it would not cost any or much, more money than the present debacle that is WINZ with people employed and encouraged to think of themselves as similar to concentration camp guards.

            The women would get special deals, an annual holiday with the kids at the seaside or outdoor camp, afternoon tea with the group they were studying with when they pass their NCEA credits, and grants for emergencies. The kids would get good parenting and the mothers would get help with learning how to cope with children’s behaviour at different ages, and be confident and not look for some wretched poseur pretending to be a man, they would make better choices and half our crime would go within ten years. That would reflect a respect culture of NZ not the disdain culture at present.

            • alwyn 10.1.1.2.1.1
              26 September 2018 at 3:06 pm

              Oh dear. Is this meant to be a serious comment?
              It sounds like something from my Grandmothers era.

              Lets interpret it.
              “get a good basic education”. They need to know how to cook good nutritious meals, understand the way to get rid of stains and provide a little first aid for the kids.
              “get some part-time work”. I suppose that means they should get first pick of the shelf packing jobs at New World, part time of course.
              “an annual holiday with the kids at the seaside”. That would be New Zealand’s equivalent of the Butlins’ Holiday camps perhaps? I shudder to think that you want the modern version of “Strength through Joy”

              Were you serious?

              • In Vino …
                26 September 2018 at 3:43 pm

                alwyn, what rubbish. All off-topic, not what greywarshark intended: just the grotesque product of your somewhat diseased mind. Go away – we don’t need your sort here.

                • alwyn …
                  26 September 2018 at 6:56 pm

                  Have another swig of the turps.
                  Perhaps he would care to explain what he did mean then.
                  I wouldn’t rely on an idiot like you explaining anything.
                  Now take your own advice and
                  “Go away – we don’t need your sort here.”
                  And take your diseased mind with you.

                  • In Vino …
                    26 September 2018 at 8:15 pm

                    No sign of improvement in that mindless rant. Go away, alwyn.
                    I don’t see you winning a popularity vote.

    • McFlock 10.2
      26 September 2018 at 1:22 pm

      It’s funny how the dominant party always gets to rwrite rules in their favour.

      Years ago I was with an employer in one role and quit to take up another with the same employer. Had received the letter of offer but not signed it, because it was a quick turnover. All good, I had several grand in holiday pay to come out.

      So HR informed me that because I’d quit, I wouldn’t get pay from that role (fair enough). But also, because they’d sent a job offer they’d treat my quit as a “transfer” and not pay out the holiday pay. So I was looking at no cash in the bank the next week unless I signed and delivered the acceptance letter that afternoon. Sigh.

  11. marty mars 11
    26 September 2018 at 10:54 am

    More environmental not good stuff

    “If this is right, then Esieh Lake becomes a kind of hybrid – and a worrying one.

    It’s not a pure thermokarst lake, though some thermokarst appears to be forming around the lake’s expanding edges, tipping shoreline trees as the ice in the permafrost melts and the ground destabilises. But the thawing of permafrost at the lake bed might also have unleashed older fossil gases from a reserve that had been sealed – creating another kind of worrisome lake.”

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/107379594/a-bizarre-bubbling-lake-symbolises-the-danger-to-earth-as-the-arctic-heats-up

    • cleangreen 11.1
      26 September 2018 at 11:47 am

      I lived in Toronto Ontario for 17 yrs and between 1968 and 1997 I have witnessed first hand the massive changes in the permafrost and regional seasonal thinning of the icing levels on the St Lawerence seaway and all the lakes and tunda in many regions around the artic regions in that area.

      Now many lakes and waterways have now melted after only a short period where the freezing of water in regiona was much longer from three to five months then.

      So now travelling across any body of watye now in winter is becoming dangerous during periods previouisl;y considered safe.

      Heavy ice used to be widesread then when they were usually iced over, but it is generally advised now not to attempt it if their is no clearance to drive on ice on waterways now.

      dangers are now clearly of ice collasping and drowning occurs.

  12. Ad 12
    26 September 2018 at 1:35 pm

    This is Roger Douglas prescribing how to get New Zealand’s state out of a massive debt forecast:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12130945

    This kind of provocation should have come from the National Party instead of their endless parliamentary trivia.

    I don’t believe in radical government for the sake of it. And I lived through the pain of policy prescriptions from Roger Douglas in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

    But I want our Minister of Finance to drop the abstract nouns about equality and inclusiveness , and show a clear scenario that shows in $$ terms how the great majority of citizens will be better off.

    • Muttonbird 12.1
      26 September 2018 at 1:45 pm

      So you disagree with everything in that entire article except the style of speech from Roberston.

      If you wanted to attack Robertson only, why didn’t you just do that?

      • Ad 12.1.1
        26 September 2018 at 4:47 pm

        Disagreeable as Douglas’s prescriptions were and are, they have substance and concision.

        That’s why.

  13. Tony Veitch [not etc.] 13
    26 September 2018 at 2:58 pm

    .
    Crikey, Paula Bennett couldn’t even direct her questions to the right minister in the house today!

    And the Nats are on a hiding to nothing, espousing the cause of an imported species like thar over indigenous flora and fauna.

    What a bloody hopeless opposition!

    • You_Fool 13.1
      26 September 2018 at 3:50 pm

      Question 3 – Hon Paula Bennett to the Minister of Employment
      Is he confident his Government is bringing “Mana in Mahi”; if so, how?

      https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=203013

      Then precedes to ask the minister of employment industrial relations questions.

      I am not 100% what Paula Bennett was trying to ask, I assume there is something in the wording of the Mana in Mahi framework which suggests that employers have more power then employees and wanted to use it to drive a wedge between the government in some way. I tried to google but didn’t find anything but press-release on the launch of the program

    • Ed 13.2
      26 September 2018 at 5:01 pm

      Peters took the mickey out of Bridges.
      Hilarious.

      • alwyn 13.2.1
        26 September 2018 at 7:06 pm

        He, and all the other Ministers, certainly had an enormous amount of help from Mallard, didn’t they?
        So much for Trevor displaying the “impartiality” that a Speaker is meant to.

        • Gabby 13.2.1.1
          26 September 2018 at 8:23 pm

          Slick Britches still leading with the ‘stand by his comments’ question wally? Great way to make sure there’s no accurate answer to the supplementary.

          • In Vino 13.2.1.1.1
            26 September 2018 at 8:42 pm

            Just watched video at 13.2. alwyn, please give an example of Speaker helping anyone at all in that excerpt? Or explain where you get your extraordinary claim from.

  14. SaveNZ 14
    26 September 2018 at 3:03 pm

    Auckland hospitals write off $53m in treatment costs for overseas patients

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/367297/auckland-hospitals-write-off-53m-in-treatment-costs-for-overseas-patients

    About time the government either has an extra charge on visas and airport arrivals for ACC and health related incidents to reimburse the hospitals. If people can afford to fly to NZ then they can afford a charge in case they need medical attention and are not insured or have preexisting condition so that they are not insured even if they do have private insurance but are not covered.

    This is especially needed when we are in a tourist boom and our hospitals are overcrowded and needing more and more staff and facilities to cope with demand.

  15. SaveNZ 15
    26 September 2018 at 3:19 pm

    People asked to reconsider need for ED after record visits

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/365040/people-asked-to-reconsider-need-for-ed-after-record-visits

    This is in one of the most expensive parts of Auckland – but very high density of overseas students and residents and migrants. It is not only the ‘poorer’ areas of Auckland that are facing ridiculous increases in demand in hospital emergency departments and it should not be up the hospitals to play detective and try and get the money from ineligible people.

    The missing 53 million should be going on improving hospital services not providing services for people who are rich enough to travel to NZ but do a runner before paying for their hospital care.

    A proactive government approach to ensure that those coming to NZ shores have put some money into a fund incase they need medical attention while here that is not covered by insurance.

    Or even permanent residents who don’t actually work here and live else where but still get free medical care, and therefore should have a premium on their ticket too.

    The workers in this country has to do it via taxes and ACC premiums, so not sure why those who are holidaying here can’t provide before they enter our shores, some provision through a set charge based on time staying here, for their own medical care should they need it.

  16. eco maori 16
    27 September 2018 at 8:10 am

    Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild Many thanks to The NRL.
    Yes its a tuff Question our teacher shortage one solution to the shortage is one does not have to have a degree to teach mokopunan’s .Maybe a short course so one could access the teacher’s aid what ever you call them to see if they are suit able candidates 6 to 12 month’s long what ever’s suit able .
    They could teach the primary grade’s one has to look outside the square to find solutions to a problem.
    Duncan its cool that our business confidence is up we need our economy to grow for now to be able to afford changing our society into a carbon neutral Equal economy .
    We have a Coalition Government that;s want’s Equality that mean’s treating our business owner with RESPECT everyone with respect .
    Ka pai Shane Jones yes most of our log’s should be processed in Aoteraroa it’s good that you went to China to negotiate a better deal for our log’s.
    I all ready know some thing on that subject I have been researching the subject some people I know are going to harvest a small forest soon.
    As for supply well if some one did not change direction it would not be a problem we just have to replant the Harvested land .
    Ka pai to all the people who are responsible for the reduction in Tarakihi and Hoki Quoter these species will bounce back as they have a short life cycle well I know hoki are fast growing Tarakihi will grow a bit slower it’s cool that we care about our fishes Tarakihi is my favorite fish.
    Yes now is the New Generation’s nuclear moment we have to ALL embrace the Paris Climate agreement as we only have ONE Papatuanuku if we stuff her up know one is going to give the Mokopuna’s a new Papatuanuku. You know the old saying it’s easier to keep clean than it is to make a mess and try to Clean It up .
    Mark the people have to be real careful about travel insurance on over sea journeys declare everything and make sure you are covered for all your ailments or stay home .Other Country’s are not like Aotearoa were we treat the Patient then look for the money. I think there need’s to be a cover charge to cover the losses we get from this humane ACT . I tell my offspring to make sure they got travel insurance .
    It’s going to be a awesome concert in Tauranga a lot of classics singers .
    Ka kite ano

  17. eco maori 17
    27 September 2018 at 8:44 am

    Come on Duncan I am quite sure the Coalition Government has considered the OIL DRILLING ban very very carefully .
    The topic on Human Caused Climate Change has been raging on for more than 20 years every one has been talking about the phenomenon around the world .
    Aotearoa is in the best position in the World to lead our World’s society into a clean carbon neutral equal SOCIETY . P.S TE Wahine have to clean men mess up once again Kia kaha ka kite ano

  18. eco maori 18
    27 September 2018 at 9:29 am

    I beleve the Beluga Whale is a measage to all HUMAN kind we have to clean OUR act up
    The Beluga Whale is one of 4 species that menstruate the other’s are whale’s and human .
    We are just caretakers for the next generations we dont own the EARTH she owns us we treat her with respect and she will return the Aroha 100 fold PLEASE have a UNITED WORLD SOCIETY to avoid a Climate change MESS link is below Ka kite ano

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/26/thames-beluga-whale-omen-changing-climate-gravesend

  19. eco maori 19
    27 September 2018 at 10:29 am

    I have tried to avoid giving mike hosking a serve last time Eco did it was not a good out come for mike .
    But one must stand up for one principles opinions .
    I can see trump is pulling his string attached around’s the World’s media and mike has one attached to his ass.
    Most times a head line story stay’s in the top ten for at least 2 to 3 day’s but the story on Jacinda’s UN speech is gone from all web site’s.
    The neo librail’s capitalist will do any thing to win even if it destroys humanity they are to blind with greed to see OUR reality.
    As for mike he is describing him self the snobby person he is.
    He has dressed down to try and deceive the people but what comes out of his mouth shows his true colors.
    In his world he would like all people that are a different culture to him to wash his car for free serve him breakfast in bed and call him sir . he would like neighbors like shonky and peter thiel and there main concern would be to change the local laws so they can get a helicopter pad ok by council and who cares about the rest of the people .
    Mean while people are dying under the bridge. Ka kite ano link is below .
    P.S the People were not laughing at America they are laughing at trump we are not stupid .

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12132562

  20. eco maori 20
    27 September 2018 at 1:36 pm

    The sandflys had heaps of plays going down today I wonder why who’s pulling there strings I could guess .
    Well here is my response to the sandfly’s and the people pulling there strings puppets
    Ka kite ano P.S It all about the mokoupnas

  21. eco maori 21
    27 September 2018 at 3:03 pm

    I can trace a lot of the Worlds problem’s back to lobbyist they have huge budgets of Billion’s that has string’s going right around the World .
    Controlling our Society to benefit the wealthy over every other creature on the Earth .
    This lobbing is just a nice word for bribery using these nice word’s is just a cover so the majority let the % 00.1 use there billions to bribe our politician this is corruption is been reported in our new’s being displayed right in front of the % 99 eye’s .
    This is why were are still arguing about climate change this is why there are still stupid WAR’S raging on around the World this is why we see mokopuna’s and people starving to death this is why we see our forest and wild life being exploited so much that heaps of them are going extinct this is why the % 00.1 have over half the World’s wealth .
    Most of the sin’s around the World can be traced to this rich man’s bribery using his money or any thing he can to cheat his way into more money than anyone could spend in a life time .
    WE need to come up with ideas to stop this bribery a poor man would be cast into jail if he behaved like the %00.1 I have 3 links below Ka kite ano

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2018/sep/26/america-oligarchy-dominated-billionaires-big-money-series

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/23/one-in-four-australian-ministers-go-on-to-work-for-lobbyists-or-special-interests-study-finds

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/koch-brothers-americans-for-prosperity-rightwing-political-group

    This is why the alt right neo liberals capitalist are gaining power around the World bribery lobbing
    This is why we have trump

  22. eco maori 22
    27 September 2018 at 3:55 pm

    Here’s a good educational video on net flicks Truth & Power Black Live’s Matter’s
    Kia Kaha people Eco know what its like to be hounded by the state for no credible reason. Ka kite ano I have a youtube clip of a few video’s but one can watch the whole series on net flicks

  23. eco maori 23
    27 September 2018 at 4:34 pm

    Hit the jack pot Stingray is a tool that can scan phone’s or any device that uses our cell phone tower’s Truth & Power backs up a lot of claims Eco Maori has made about the internet and cell phones I have a link on the Stingray device ka kite ano

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker

  24. eco maori 24
    27 September 2018 at 5:27 pm

    We have to stop the neo liberals capitalist and stop fighting WAR’S we need to turn all our focuses on combating climate change I have a link that back’s my claim about life in OUR Star systems .
    There has definitely been life out there but probably not in our time I.E They have existed and gone extinct before they had the technology to leave the toilet that they turned there planet into because of greedy cheating beings that’s reality if one think’s about it you will get it link below Ka kite ano’

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/107422154/were-fast-heading-toward-extinction

  25. eco maori 25
    27 September 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Looks like net flicks pulled the video series Truth and Power the sandfly’s a don’t want anybody to know there tricks and hacks well you will find some videos on youtube of truth and power Ka kite ano

  26. eco maori 26
    27 September 2018 at 6:47 pm

    Kia ora Newshub trump is the leader of this corrupt world Tova .
    Kavanaughs lawyer doe not believe he is innocent Eco can see that
    There you go the neo liberals national don’t like some ones star power they are using all there dirty trick’s to try and dent the Mana of OUR Coalition Government but know it won’t work.
    It’s good that the hoki quote has been cut and tarakihi is caught with hoki as well so the lowering of that fish Quoter is good to .
    Man that’s a crying shame to see dead eels in that river they should be given a huge fine.
    The seal slapped the man in the face in Kai koura octopus is Tangaroa creatures at there best.
    The magpies dive bomb everyone when they are nesting so give them heaps of clearance and respect one of our most dangerous animal lol.
    The Dame view’s about kevin spacey wrongs are out dated wahine are to be respected she come’s from a error were if a wahine was beat in the streets there were know laws to charge the man with or to stop the abuse don’t give him the victims hat people have to know that behavior is not on in the year 2018 Mana Wahine
    Ka kite ano

  27. eco maori 27
    27 September 2018 at 7:17 pm

    Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild Mull’s and Jame’s yes I have already thanked the NRL .
    You guy are correct that Tui is a good role model for te mokopuna
    James did you let the weedeater lose on your hair still got the mullet .
    Josh you going to put the boots back on Mull’s can not shut James up about the phenomenon in Waikato at the minute .
    Ka kite ano has it been getting hot in the studio

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