Open mike 31/12/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 31st, 2020 - 38 comments
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38 comments on “Open mike 31/12/2020 ”

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  1. weka 1
    31 December 2020 at 7:11 am

    Mōrena everyone. Love today's Open Mike image on the front page.

    What are you all doing with the last day of the year?

    • Macro 1.1
      31 December 2020 at 10:05 am

      I'm not going to be staying up to see the New Year in. I'm staying up to make sure the past year leaves.

    • Incognito 1.2
      31 December 2020 at 11:55 am

      Relaxing, resting, recuperating, rejoicing, recovering (tomorrow), i.e. a typical holiday’s day.

    • Anne 1.3
      31 December 2020 at 5:30 pm

      Washing and ironing so I can start the new year with a clean slate. Its the only day of the year when I have a clean slate. 😉

    • Grafton Gully 1.4
      31 December 2020 at 7:24 pm

      No years and no last days only an eternal moment ungrasped and mourned. I was making money I don't need "today" and on the way I met a beekeeper who said "all bees are wild" and "bees are not aggressive". They range five km (not a mm more or less – just kidding) and where would sex among flowering plants be without them ? A honeyed 2021 to all and bless your cotton socks.

  2. gsays 2
    31 December 2020 at 7:25 am

    G'day weka, I am off to work till 2 then back home and load up the smoker, pop some home bruise in the chilly bin and entertaining a few friends.

    Thanks for yr mahi at TS this year, here's to a less fraught 2021.

  3. gsays 3
    31 December 2020 at 7:26 am

    Arise Sir Dave, what a great songwriter.

  4. Andre 4
    31 December 2020 at 7:53 am

    Oh great. Our soon-to-be new overlords are already practicing the victory dance they'll do when they achieve total domination.

  5. Rosemary McDonald 5
    31 December 2020 at 8:32 am

    Truly well deserved recognition for going above and beyond.

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/former-speaker-david-carter-awarded-knighthood-in-new-years-honours-list

    Who here remembers his Finest Hour?

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73925970/parliament-in-fresh-uproar-over-prime-ministers-rapist-remark

    (Saddening that these MPs appeared to perform better in opposition.)

    • Stunned Mullet 5.1
      31 December 2020 at 8:36 am

      Just continuing the pathetic tradition of rewarding past speakers of the house for (not) doing their job for which they were handsomely rewarded at the time.

      • Stuart Munro 5.1.1
        31 December 2020 at 10:19 am

        Agreed – our political classes should be excluded from honours – they should be reserved for those who make a genuine contribution above and beyond what they are paid for. The folk who built the Otira viaduct for example.

    • Anne 5.2
      31 December 2020 at 9:37 am

      Thanks for the reminder Rosemary. Did John Key ever apologise? I doubt it.

    • Jimmy 5.3
      31 December 2020 at 12:17 pm

      Well at least John Key didn't actually wrongly accuse a person and destroy their career. David Carter was a far better speaking than our current one. Although as tradition goes, I wonder if Mallard will receive a knighthood too?

      [Since you’ve been back from your long pre-Election ban, you have contributed very little here and you’re still acting like a garden gnome.

      This comment of yours amounts to nothing more than ‘they-did-it-too-and-worse’ and is not even about David Carter, which Rosemary’s was and which was not about Sir John Key per se.

      If you keep on acting like a garden gnome, I will put you out in the garden with the others so that you can watch the worms farming; at least they are doing something useful.

      This is your only warning – Incognito]

  6. Treetop 6
    31 December 2020 at 8:43 am

    I have been comparing the leadership of Trump (US) and Johnson (UK). Johnson got a Brexit deal over the line and he has not been weak in enforcing lockdowns. Trump is anti lockdown and has not signed a major new trade deal.

    For 2022 I want the world to have control over Covid – 19 and for there to be success with vaccines to combat the virus and/or a treatment for those who do not vaccinate.

    • aom 6.1
      31 December 2020 at 12:19 pm

      The statement Boris Johnson, "… has not been weak in enforcing lockdowns." is oversell. His numerous pronouncements have been so confusing, they have been largely ignored or disregarded. They have been so bad that at times it has seemed he didn't have a clue as to what they were himself. At the outset he even let his Svengali advisor off the hook, even though Cummings sat on the committee that made up the Rules Mk I.

      • Treetop 6.1.1
        31 December 2020 at 12:47 pm

        Johnson has stepped up and is not currently mucking about. The variant B.1.1.7 is being taken seriously. I just hope that the new variants are not going to affect children as in other age groups.

        Trump cannot even get his stimulus package through the senate even though it has gone through the house. Johnson also got re elected.

        If Johnson did not enforce a lockdown the situation would be much worse. The prediction for infections in the US is not good for January and the death toll is not good for February according to Aljazeera TV.

        I am not celebrating the New Year. I do like Queen and there is a 2 hour special on channel 10 (Prime) at 7.30 pm with Adam Lambert.

        • aom 6.1.1.1
          31 December 2020 at 2:34 pm

          So Treetop, you have changed from "… has not been weak in enforcing lockdowns." to "Johnson has stepped up and is not currently mucking about." There is bit of a difference in meaning, starting from a questionable proposition to an unresolved assertion. Besides, doesn't Johnson only have responsibility for the lockdown in England – Scotland at least seems to have its lockdowns controlled and policed through it own parliament. On the per capita statistics comparing the UK with the US, you are contrasting a lame duck with the worst case scenario then looking into a crystal ball in order to assert that Johnson is doing a good job. Have you even bothered to assess the UK situation with other countries – even in Europe, or is questioning the abilities of a dilettante whose only areas of expertise are the classics and the promotion of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson being impudent.

    • Treetop 6.2
      31 December 2020 at 12:33 pm

      2021 not 2022. 2020 has been a l o n g year.

    • Gabby 6.3
      31 December 2020 at 5:41 pm

      It's not a very good deal but.

  7. Sabine 7
    31 December 2020 at 10:05 am

    file this under for fuck sake and who could have forseen this.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/roast-busters-two-accused-in-court-seven-years-after-case-names-kept-secret-for-now/WRUFGU2R4DXMHH6DBGNJPYX5BI/

    As one of the two men accused of sexual connection with a young person in relation to the "Roast Busters" scandal left court a member of the public yelled "shame".

    The two men were both granted interim name suppression at their court appearance today.

    The first to appear, a 24-year-old man, wore a facemask as he entered the courtroom.

    He is charged with sexual connection with a young person.

    Lawyer Ron Mansfield represented him and sought interim name suppression.

    The Herald opposed interim name suppression but suppression was granted until the man's next appearance, when he will appear before a judge.

    The second man appeared in court without a facemask.

    He also sought interim name suppression.

    Police made an application for interim name suppression as well.

    Like the other accused man, he was also charged with having sexual connection with a young person.

    He left court shortly after 10am and declined to comment. A supporter with him also declined to say anything.

    Police allege the offending happened between late 2012 and early 2013 and involved a girl aged 14 at the time.

  8. Treetop 8
    31 December 2020 at 10:34 am

    Were it not for a new police complaint the police would have done nothing.

    A few months ago I read a comment on TS that the police need to be modernised. For sure when it comes to sexual crime and hate crime. The 1961 Crimes Act for sexual crimes needs immediate attention and so does the ACC Act for mental injury.

    The one thing I want to see legislation for when it comes to a mental injury is when an agency fails to do a proper job when it comes to a complaint and for there to be no time limit for a person to make a complaint about an agencies failure.

  9. Sanctuary 9
    31 December 2020 at 1:22 pm

    Happy new year to all the Standardistas, I hope you all get to drink a bottle of something sparkling and conk out under a Pohutukawa tree to a background sound of a lazy lapping surf and children playing.

    Cos there sure as hell ain't no cricket on the radio anymore.

    • Treetop 9.1
      31 December 2020 at 1:45 pm

      The current Blackcaps are dynamite. I can see them getting better and better in all forms of cricket.

      Now that is something good to look forward to in 2021.

      • millsy 9.1.1
        1 January 2021 at 12:56 pm

        Only took the Black Caps/Young Guns/Kiwi cricketer 30-odd years to get some consistency together after Hadlee's retirement and that shambles on the 94/95 South Africa farce (made worse because of Danny Morrison's puritan stance on drugs led him to run crying to the NZC management, even though the incident had been sorted on tour. Of course, he was perfectly happy to take that sponsorship $$$ from Dominion Breweries.).

    • john 9.2
      31 December 2020 at 4:46 pm

      Cricket live and not too many ads om Magic Talk

    • Rosemary McDonald 9.3
      31 December 2020 at 8:42 pm

      Sanctuary…if a technophobe Luddite such as myself can install the rova app on my smartphone and Bluetooth Magic Talk cricket to my partner's heavy duty radio (so he can listen to the ball by bleeding ball commentary of The Test)…I have no doubt yourself could do likewise.

      My man reckons the commentary was as good as Radio Sport. I reckon I'd rather listen to grass grow.

    • millsy 9.4
      1 January 2021 at 12:52 pm

      Cricket commentary on Magic Talk. Personally I would just ditch the cricket and listen to Magic Music instead.

  10. mary_a 10
    31 December 2020 at 2:12 pm

    I wish all the good folk who contribute here the very best of health and happiness for 2021. Stay safe and keep well.

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