National vs Labour: When Omicron comes around

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
129
3420

There’s a man goin’ ’round, takin’ names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won’t be treated all the same
There will be a golden ladder reachin’ down
When the man comes around
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter’s ground
When the man comes around?
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin’
Multitudes are marchin’ to the big kettledrum
Voices callin’ and voices cryin’
Some are born and some are dyin’
Alpha and Omega’s kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimmin’ their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks
‘Til Armageddon, no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at his feet, they’ll cast the golden crowns
When the man comes around

Omicron comes around.

National & ACT are singing from the same hymn sheet, the “Labour-haven’t-done-enough- to-prepare-for-Omicron” list of classic hits.

It’s the usual tedious list of complaints about a health system that is actually moving as fast as it can. All National’s bitching is set against the low mortality and hospitalization rates that only back up Labour’s credentials of Covid crisis leadership.

Luxon says if he were PM he would be on the phone to every DHB daily to check if they need anything for Omicron.

There are 20 DHBs.

Let’s say he speaks to each for 10mins.

That’s over 3hours each day he would be calling DHBs.

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I’m concerned at Luxon’s time management.

Jacinda cancelling her own wedding is the embodiment of the self sacrifice we are all being called on to make.

Labour’s past political wins for its management however are now a weakness with a variant that can spread as fast as Omicron. Previous successes are about to swept aside as Omicron hits.

The Greens have made an excellent suggestion of ensuring suitable masks are made available for free!

The shockwave of real levels of sickness and death will stun a complacent Shire.

The country will become delirious with illness and fear and in our feverish malaise we will turn to false prophets like Brian Tamaki, Christopher Luxon, Mike Hosking and David Seymour, who for a split second of illness induced insanity, will sound reasonable.

Such will be the depths of generational poverty that Omicron will exploit, the solutions promised by the Political  architects of that inequality will sound like hope.

NZ will be blighted by this as Omicron exposes the inequality that we have all fastidiously ignored.

The misery we are about to endure will rip our egalitarian facade aside.

Don’t expect this to end till September.

That’s hospitality, tourism and MIQ hit for the next 8 months.

Brace for impact.

The virgins are all trimmin’ their wicks

 

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129 COMMENTS

  1. Luton sounds reasonable because he’s only been in Parliament 5 minutes and he doesn’t know that the Nats ruthlessly lead the way in trying to destroy our free health service, leaving it struggling to care for the folk who once needed it most, and still do. He’s just a bald ignoramus, but Saintly Bill English deserves to be smote for his efforts here; God forbid Tamaki gets any crooker, or he could be seen as a martyr instead of the charlatan that he is.

    It’s still a mystery, tho’, why DJ’s have been given preferential entry to New Zealand over and above health workers desperately needed right throughout the whole country, and the msm should be asking Wellington why this is so.

    • He doesn’t sound reasonable to me – creepy-as, divisive, Poly-ticks over people’s lives any day of the week.

      • Kheala No, he doesn’t sound reasonable to me either, but he may sound reasonable to those sort of people who actually liked J Key, who was as creepy as a childhood ogre, but those Fairfax femmes swooned over him, and the Nats preference for leaders straight from the pages of the Grimms Bros is a most peculiar phenomenon. I did meet one man who liked Key, ex-army, perhaps shell-shocked, poor man, but Luxon looks too much like an ostrich egg to be taken seriously.

        • Is this the start of a revolt against bald heads and perhaps ponytails and luxurious hair hanging down like the end of a horse? But ‘baldism’ is a possible new distaste to be monitored by the PTB.

    • How does Chris Luxon fit in phone calls to DHB’s, when he’s on the phone 23/7 to his lying mentor Sir John Key? And in case Wild Katipo or others want a citation about Key’s lies https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/06/04/435-lies-by-john-key/

      We thought we were getting rid of Dirty Politics, by kicking Judith Collins to the kerb, but the National Party just can’t help itself and that’s why ACT’s David Seymour is the more credible opposition.

      And if you’re a Labour supporter , Chris Luxon, John Key’s glove-puppet, is the gift that keeps on giving.

  2. This round of Covid I think the government have got it about as right as it can be. You would have to be Liz Gunn or live under a rock to not know everything ends in vaccination or probable serious illness or worse. Time to let us be adults. More big government in this area is creating friction that is counter-productive.

    The RAT supplies aren’t ideal but nor is the test and there is no word on who pays. I can see people manning it up at home if getting a test is too difficult. Not ideal but realistic.

    It’s an unavoidable storm that will pass through, the only question is, for how long.

    But for his first major 2022 outing, Luxon was awful. Say something pointless Chris, but try not to sound as pointless as David Seymour. We all know if that pair were in government we would have been NSW, unnecessary death and suffering based on the business lunar cycle and freedom of choice and an ignorant belief that if you deny this disease is what it is, we can be “normal” again.

    Judith may be gone but the same old same old persists.

    • I will temper my previous comment however because yet again the government is hopelessly slow with prevention, namely proven antiviral drugs, still going through a bureaucratic regulatory process. They prevent hospitalisations by up to 89%, surely a good thing?

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/460136/antiviral-medications-may-not-be-availa

      When our hopelessly underfunded health system cracks, then what?

      Where is our invisible Health Minister? Where’s the explanation for these mindless delays?

      • if it is down to bureaucratic inertia within ministries, sack the guilty and let’s see metaphorical heads on metaphorical poles..same goes if it’s indecisive pollies.

  3. National and Act’s default position through covid is an ‘all care and no responsibility’ position. To date that has been a losing position. Time will tell if that changes under Ominshambles.

    The big question should be why Northland turned ‘Orange’ for a couple of nanoseconds’ and why the PM was allegedly up there on the weekend. From the looks of it omnishambles has been out there for at least a week and from the government communications they bloody well knew.

    • Still doing your best to sound relevant with irrelevant and confused logic as your starting point old boy… The fact that the tories (old mossbacks, and young fascists alike) are still only capable of playing politics with our lives is all I need to know when it comes to who I will trust with my health.. The current government haven’t gotten everything right, but they are still concerned first and foremost with the survival of their constituents… this we know, as well as we know that the tories would have had us all nicely thinned out by now, and would be praised by the business lobby for their efforts on behalf of the economy, while trying to import thousands of people to do the work that kiwis used to do before succumbing… And here’s me thinking that money can’t vote.. Why, money is a mich better constituent than humans ever were.. No surprises the tories would choose that over untidy, and annoying humans… Who needs them anyway.. We have MONEY…

  4. Saint Jacinda preserve us oh yes it’s so true and we’d all love to stock up for days that are blue but then half of our workers will now have to quit because reasons and needles and that kind of shit so no one’s around to do menial tasks, no cleaners or checkouts no nurses in masks, oh who’ll pick the fruit and the crops and the grain? why all the restrictions and who’s Sir Ply Chayne? (just asking for a friend)

  5. I chuckled when Luxon said if he were in-charge he would be on the phone daily to the DHB’s finding out what they need; with 20 DHB’s he must have more hours in his day than the rest of us. Does he not trust his Covid shadow minister? I wonder if he would find anytime to deal with such things as the Tongan emergency, the housing crisis, child poverty etc.

    • “Tongan emergency, the housing crisis, child poverty etc.”

      Has Ardern found time to deal to any of that?

      • You’ve hit an own goal.

        1x Superman/ woman alone is not able to mend the world’s problems, even without the massive cries we face today.

      • Well actually MB the PM has fronted on all those; I am sure she would have loved the opportunity to devote all her time to those issues, but Covid, and those that turned the pandemic into a political opportunity and those that have not adhered to simple rules had other plans.

        • Those who turned Covid into a political opportunity?? Like “we have no policies this election but judge us on our Covid response*”

          Jacinda has milked Covid for all its worth, and now you’re blaming the opposition for doing the same?

          *of course they conveniently failed to mention he Puapua and 3 Waters during their Covid campaign

          • BG, the election result showed the country saw Covid as the most important issue and that no other party had any idea how to deal with it, or were in a fit state to govern.

          • Just how exactly has Jacinda ‘milked covid for all it’s worth’? I’m fascinated by this vague generic statement that you present as fact. Perhaps you could elaborate?

            Your use of ‘Their covid campaign’ suggests you are annoyed that Labour got the support they did at the last election. Why is that a surprise to you? It certainly was the most pressing issue of our time, and the issue on pretty much everybody’s mind for most of 2020. Surely a vote based on the covid response is not an invalid vote, it is in fact a wholly appropriate vote. And the fact Labour got that vote suggests the covid response was very good – not just the health response, the economy remained strong as well.

            Besides, if the opposition’s constant criticism is on point, then the government is making a hash of covid. It’s pretty hard to milk an issue when you’re screwing it up horribly. So if Labour are ‘milking covid for all it’s worth’ then obviously there’s little validity to the criticism, right?

  6. Luxon was absolutely nauseating yesterday. His actions at least proved what we can expect from this eggplant.

    Simon Bridges ridiculed virtually everything Ardern said and did while he was the Smurf Party leader. He was the epitome of a dog barking at every passing car. Most of the alternative plans he put forward would have been a disaster for NZ. “We should follow Australia with bla bla bla”… nek minute Australia is in deep shit. A Facebook post he put up attacking Ardern was not well received and contributed to his own downfall.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121169737/coronavirus-simon-bridges-receives-huge-backlash-to-facebook-post-criticising-lockdown-extension

    Along comes Todd Muller sayin he will lead differently. He promised not to attack / undermine for the sake of doing so. The Smurfs hated the popularity Ardern was enjoying over NZ’s Covid response and saw undermining it at any cost as the key to them getting back into power. Nek minute Muller’s troops are setting up bullshit attack crusades. We had Michael Woodhouse claiming a fictitious homeless man had bluffed his way into a 5 star isolation hotel courtesy of the taxpayer. Zero evidence was ever produced in what was obviously pure bullshit.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300037580/homeless-man-bluffed-his-way-into-5star-isolation-hotel-claims-michael-woodhouse

    Then we had Woodhouse again and Chris Bishop with their big scoop hit job on two ladies released from M.I.Q early on compassionate grounds hugging on the side of an Auckland motorway. This attack on NZ’s Covid response especially in the area of compassionate leave from M.I.Q being granted was changed and as a result many families were unable to be with loved ones just prior to and as they died.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-two-women-let-out-after-national-mp-lobbied-for-release/3UKSR572OV7GOGKQJLSCSHPORU/

    Then we had Hamish Walker leaking a list of personal details of people with Covid to the media. Yet another National Party hit job intended to destroy confidence and undermine NZ’s response to Covid.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/420925/no-other-national-mps-received-leaked-details-todd-muller

    Nek minute Muller is having issues as the Smurfs treasonous attack plan had backfired on them yet again.

    Will mostly skip over Chucky other than to say she absolutely hated Ardern having the stage most days to inform NZ of Covid updates. She saw her own chance of being PM slipping away so demanded the opportunity to share the stage at Parliament in person so her own name was up in lights. Her own needs and ambitions clearly outweighed the greater good of NZ.

    https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/barry-soper-ardern-vs-collins-on-the-convening-of-parliament/

    We then fast forward to yesterday BEHM ….Boiled Egg Head Man. His performance yesterday was a pathetic attempt to be seen and be relevant regardless of cost. Look at me, look at me ala Pope Brian Tamaki.

    Many of us don’t agree with the Traffic Light System but appreciate we are stuck with it for now. We also understand compliance with the rules during a pandemic is going to be critically important with getting on top of Omicron and minimizing the carnage. Non compliance has clearly been an issue along the way and contributed to the length of the 2021 Auckland lockdown. The Smurfs have played a key role in that by undermining almost every plan put in place by the Government. They have played their part in NZ now being more divided than I’ve seen since the 81 Springbok tour as much as the 2021 online misinformation campaign has.

    I appreciate Opposition Parties are not there to be Government cheerleaders but rules need to be put in place preventing playing politics during a pandemic. They should be free to disagree with anything the Government says or does but not if the aim is to obviously undermine when that is the last thing NZ needs at the time. That message has skipped right over Luxon.

    Yesterday we endured a longer than usual but needed Press Conference from Ardern. I certainly haven’t missed seeing politicians over the summer.

    Not long after Ardern’s marathon had finished Luxon desperate to be relevant called his own media briefing. Yes, he supported booster shots but was that needed after Ardern had just finished saying pretty much the same thing? Then he stated NZ was not ready for Omicron. Really? NZ has used it’s advantage of seeing what’s happening elsewhere with Omicron to form our response. Our hospitals will be overwhelmed but that situation has been with us for years and can’t be put at Ardern’s door as she’s made considerably more progress with hospitals / nurses since 2020 than had been made for many years.

    Then Luxon attacked the traffic light system again. What was the purpose of that other than to undermine the very tool that will be hugely important in our initial response to Omicron? Will Luxon’s attack indirectly encourage further dissent and non compliance of the rules? Absolutely yes.

    • Hey Thinking Man – absolutely superb. Can I just add that in his latest vacuous smug statement Luxon, just like Judith Collins, said nothing of significance and it meant nothing other than highlighting its nonsense.

    • My 14 seconds of in-depth analysis on One Network News last night (23/01/2022), in reality, was insightful, and in reality, showed the deficiencies in Ardern’s response to Omnicron Covid. I think, and have been told by advisers, that getting my advice on opposition to Omnicron Covid from Sir John Key is valid. He was one of New Zealand’s most popular Prime Ministers.

      There have been some hiccups with the messages from SJK arriving on the fax machine, but the reality, we are a National Party that has been stung by leaked emails. Scott Morrison’s WeChat account was hacked and faxes are way more secure because there’s just the sender and receiver. Plus, reality has shown that using carrier pigeon post is very sketchy also, after the Speckled Jim affair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKhdJd1Nu74

      You have given my namesake a hard-time for wanting to ring DHB’s, but when I was running Air New Zealand, I used to ring pilots, and other executives to get perspectives on issues that would affect the rank and file workers at Air New Zealand. In reality, we are all a team. There’s no “I” in reality, in team, I mean.

      In reality, it is important to show a different reality, to the reality that the mainstream media is depicting that Jacinda creates in her, fake news, false reality. The reality she creates is 4th in the developed countries of the OECD. In reality, she probably spread this reality so that she could be a martyr and put off her wedding.

      Time for New Zealand to wake up and get out of this dream reality of safety that we have been living in for the last 2 years. The reality is that National is better than ACT when it comes to acting on our actions to create a better reality than the fake reality that Labour is really creating with help from the virus.

      Yours faithfully
      The other Chris Luxon (from Christchurch)

    • Then he stated NZ was not ready for Omicron.

      If the Nats had been in power, with their “Open the gates!” “Open the gates” demands, Omicron would be rampant, the hospitals would be in crisis already, and some who are reading this now would not be here!

  7. Actions speak louder etc. and the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders have been vaccinated, and are getting boosted, and will get their kids vaccinated. In poll after poll a majority would like to see borders stay closed/tightly monitored.

    With Omicron the lockdowns will be voluntary at this stage, and many of us are just not going to public establishments or entertainments till the trends are apparent.

    It will be sweet indeed to see the cafe owners and other SMEs bleat their arses off–and blame who? this time…the Govt. is out of that frame for now.

  8. Bullshit!
    During the pandemic NO new ICU beds created, why the wait during a pandemic?
    Holding back her wedding Vs Kiwis begging to get into NZ for medical treatments, farewelling love ones during funerals.
    Bringing back Lockdown lite again…

    • yup right nate the lack of expanded ICU capacity is a complete fail, all the more reason not to fill the little there is with selfish, entitled, dimwitted, facebook virologist, non vaxxed cases huh?

      and before anyone chips in—-yes the vaxed can pass it on…to another vaxxed person likely a mild case, to an unvaxxed possibly a serious case…end of.

      not that any of it matters now, the vax takes approx 3 weeks to kick in and by that time omnicron could be in full flood so if the numpties get vaxxed today it may well be too late.

    • Have you any clue on the logistics of setting up new ICU beds? How readily can the equipment
      costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that is needed for each bed be sourced, particularly when world demand is unprecedented? The staff trained or recruited? What physical infrastructure has to be designed and constructed for an efficient ward? Where do we put it? do we just throw the orthopaedic ward out on the street to make room, or do we construct new buildings? etc

      To be fair I don’t know the answers to these questions nor to how far along any possible planning has proceeded but neither do I go about screaming complaints because the beds haven’t materialised over a short 18 month period.

      • Your points are well taken RC, however, since the pandemic started the Government has stated two things
        1. Science, and Health concerns are driving the Covid response
        2. The Government is doing everything it can to help.
        By not providing ONE extra ICU bed, despite the Health experts recommendations during a pandemic STINKS.

        • Nathan could you bend over open you arse so we can release the 5 highly skilled nurses for each of the currently un-used beds that could be used to service ICUs? Surely you can produce 250 for 50 new spaces. Nah – just full of shit. Now that STINKS!

          • AOM, would you feel that way if you, or someone you know needed ICU bed…or is kindness, team of 5 million, and other slogans going to do instead?

            • Your point is?
              No amount of kindness will produce sufficient qualified nurses to service many more ICU beds. Perhaps we really need to work harder to make sure they are not needed instead of some of us ignorantly politically pontificating.

              • AOM, they (the Government) have had 18 months to get at least ONE more ICU bed across NZ during a pandemic!
                They have not, relying on slogans instead…STINKS

      • The problem is your attitude to ICU beds is based on reality perspectives. Who needs those when there is raving to be done, emotions to be stirred and ignorance to be played on?

        One of the worst cases was Todd McClay. MP for Rotorua since 2008, in Government for years and suddenly in 2020 thought the region needed more ICU beds.

      • so ‘do nothing’ is an acceptable plan, if we can bailout air NZ etc etc we can afford some beds…finding the staff is the difficulty.

    • Perhaps you are unaware, prevention is better than cure. The number of ICU beds required for Omicron are fewer per 1000 than for previous outbreaks of Covid The questions needed are 1 Have we had sufficient ICU beds to date. 2 Are we flexible enough and capable of extending the number of ICU beds if necessary.

      • fewer per 1000

        If you think that means ‘fewer over all’, think again!
        …Under Omicron there will be tens of thousands more cases.

        In Victoria, hospitals struggled under Delta; – under Omicron they had to declare a “Code Brown” crisis (look it up). Just over a week or so ago.

        • https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-victoria-code-brown-hospitals-emergency-measure-explainer/71697f8f-11c0-4dcd-89e8-77ff23d335a7
          18th January:
          Victoria has declared a Code Brown emergency as the state’s hospital system is put under significant strain due to escalating COVID-19 hospitalisations.

          Hospitalisations are expected to soar past 2500 COVID-19 patients next month, triggering the emergency activation across all Melbourne public hospitals and major regional facilities as of midday tomorrow.

          The emergency measure aims to relieve hospitals and staff from unsustainable pressure, by reconfiguring workers and systems…

          In Victoria, the most common external emergencies requiring activation of Code Brown plans include transport accidents, chemical spills and natural emergencies such as fire and flood.
          However, this is the first time a Code Brown has been declared system-wide across the state.

          “A Code Brown is activated by a health service or facility (or in this case, the Victorian Government to apply to all Melbourne hospitals and major regional facilities) when additional capability and capacity needs to be mobilised to receive an influx of patients due to an external emergency.”

  9. “…a health system that is actually moving as fast as it can ”

    They’ve had 2 years to increase the number of ICU beds and achieved nothing. Was the task given to the same ‘working group’ that is building the light rail down Dominion Road?

    • Nice one Andrew…
      The failure to increase our ICU beds by 1 in a pandemic, speaks of indifferent towards Kiwis at a certain level…

      • I agree they should have done more there – They seem to have underestimated on what will be needed, big time. Same with ambos and others.

    • or the one that reviewed the duopoly, housing, or benefits….scoping exercises are fun and profitable for the worthies who make a good chunk from sitting on such bodies…and that’s the only good those bodies ever do.

  10. Luxo’s not wrong. Labour have been making shit up as they go since 2017!
    They have no real interest in solving anything!
    They’re shite at dealing with Crisis and have no capability or real intent to do so.
    They’re more interested in kicking the can down the road.

    They’re a party of pigs at the trough pigging out for as long as they can.

    • Your carefully nurtured and watered hatred of everything good that they have tried to do is getting tiresome.

    • Good job Denny, Lockdown Queen, and her mates, do not do a thing that they do not want to do…evidence? Cannabis

    • There you go, see? @ Denny P, the Machiavellian confederate outs himself yet again and all his little fishes are swimming about in hopes of a dropped morsel.
      Spreading bullshit then watering it regularly to grow a false narrative is nothing new to the deep state that lives below the water line of the national party and I’m certain it’s sundry increasingly concerned hangers on.
      I think of this, the post neoliberal Labour government as being a small, well intended island surrounded by a murky swamp full of desperate crocodiles.
      If Labour were to come clean? If they were to engage a royal commission of inquiry into the past and present relationships between politicians and their non agrarian big business Boy Friends?
      Unfettered, we could earn enough in foreign exchange to have literally every working person placed on a liveable wage while enabling our farmers to triple their income. Then we could close the borders like I said we should and weather out the virus from our beautiful AO/NZ.
      Just imagine the fuss when the RBNZ had to cough up that particular rat? Imagine the Aussie banksters spinning out at the very real prospect of them losing our money tit they suck on at our expense? Imagine Boys? You might get that McClaren repossessed and just when you might be thinking that it might indeed be enlarging your penis every time you drive it along Ponsonby Road?
      Labour? Let the truth be your guide. Take the lid off the Big Box of Lies. It’s time. You can do it.

        • “…200 words to present an arguement where none would do….”
          Ah…? ‘arguement’ Too many E’s dear boy.
          But my words got you sitting up straight didn’t they?
          @ another andrew. Poor lamb. Threatened by someone, anyone, who can string more than several words together. The veneer must be wearing thin but don’t blame me if you don’t have the creative and intellectual scope to able to compete with that.
          RNZ
          “Covid-19: ‘No silver bullet against Omicron’, expect large numbers – Chris Hipkins”
          https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/460067/covid-19-no-silver-bullet-against-omicron-expect-large-numbers-chris-hipkins
          The government had a silver bullet but they closed their eyes, pulled the trigger then jizzed it up a tree.
          The Labour government should have snapped our borders closed immediately and kept them that way.
          The reason they didn’t, or didn’t think they could, or were not allowed to more likely, was because there’s a deep state now weighed down by institutionalised corruption that, in my view, controls our economy and by ‘control’ I mean feasts from it. Didn’t see the internet coming Aye Boys?
          And how do I know? Well, for a start I’m making the rats wriggle in their leafy Remuera nests.
          You got an opinion on that @ yet another andrew?
          We must surely have one of, if not THE most advantageous positions in the world. We can isolate from c-19/omicron AND flourish.
          We just have to squeeze out the understandably nervous andy clones.

  12. ” Luxon says if he were PM he would be on the phone to every DHB daily to check if they need anything for Omicron ”
    Yes a very pertinent question to ask but it wouldn’t be about what they need it would be how they could continue to still treat but turn a profit after they had starved the health system of funding like they did under Coleman and Key – English for nine years.

    And Luxon agrees with this approach otherwise he never would become a fully paid up member of the National party and MP.

    • it wouldn’t be about what they need it would be how they could continue to still treat but turn a profit after they had starved the health system of funding

      Needs repeating.

      “it wouldn’t be about what they need it would be how they could continue to still treat but turn a profit”

  13. Can we all now agree that elimination had failed?

    Many of us knew it was going to fail but now i have now two concerns.

    1. New Zealanders as a whole have no immunity from any of the Covid strains. Our hermit kingdom mentality has protected us but also consigned us to yearly vaccines for life, especially if we want to travel. Pfizer must be loving us. Travel for the hermits down under just got a whole lot harder and more risky.

    2. Our closed borders and “keeping everyone safe” when it was only going to affect a small minority of people has created tinder dry fuel for when it does arrive (if not Omicron then the next) and it will take out many more people than it should. We’ve practically had no flu deaths in two years. The at risk elderly and those with co-morbilities, who we thought we were protecting are now walking around with target on their backs.

    You may not like the message, but our strategy had kept many alive that would have passed through a normal flu season. Remember death had a 100% success rate.

      • And quite possibly the first wave knocked out those who would have not survived the variants after. If you look at their graph, they had two major peaks, the initial and delta, omicron hardly registers. The first can be explained, nil vaccine for the vulnerable, the second (delta) deadly and during the middle of winter. But it is winter again, and fewer (relatively speaking) deaths.

        Their dry tinder was burnt out, ours isn’t.

        …and winter is coming

        • and the unvaxxed their families, relatives and friends, not to mention their casual contacts are our ‘dry tinder’ then BG?

    • Was elimination ever the permanent strategy? At the start of the pandemic we were dealing with a new virus, watched the cases and deaths mount globally in real time and had limited medical protections at hand. Closing the border and opting for elimination was to buy time. The hope was that vaccines could be developed, anti-viral medications would become available and that the virus would mutate into something more benign. Not everything has worked out, but sometimes the best available option is not the most ideal one. For the most part elimination served us well, but Delta forced a reassessment for most of the Asia-Pacific region. With Omicron here now, our strategy has already moved past elimination.

    • What does Bg stand for? Anything. More Bs. It us hindsight and projection and downplaying of the crisis that you are on about.

  14. Instead of taking Luxon literally why don’t you lot make an effort to interpret what he is saying. To make it really simple he’s trying to point out that the DHB’s need support from the government considering they are financed by the government. He’s also saying if he was in control he would make more of an effort to help. From what I can see he’s got a point. The problem he can’t fix is the hospital work force shambles and he and national didn’t cause that.

    • ” The problem he can’t fix is the hospital work force shambles and he and national didn’t cause that ”
      Yeah but the party he has belonged to for a long time was instrumental in starving the health system for nine years and as a paid up member he supported that approach !

      He must have been to busy making profits for Air NZ not to notice ……but i doubt it.

      The great NZ National party which has sound business credentials …apparently but ignorant of what being in government actually means when it comes to the welfare of all New Zealanders and not just wealthy donors.

      • National definitely let hospital maintenance get behind but the hospital workforce could have been dealt with in this governments tenure. They stopped foreign hospital workers coming in and then left the hospital to fend for themselves. Just as bad if not worse than National.

      • they, the nats don’t care about NZ SMEs they care about corporations, preferably foreign ones, any small business person voting NAT/ACT is a chicken voting for xmas.

    • Whilst I agree on what you say, our health system has been in slow decline New View and my strong belief is because of the quality coming into N.Z. Many I work alongside struggle with English, poor communication and arrogance. So whilst National was strong on immigration, it’s not all good.

    • I would like to see a massive investment into health infrastructure and staffing. Staffing from within our country, incentivised by appropriate salaries. ( The most common reason for going overseas).This could start now under Labour and correct years of neglect by National and no, they didn’t invest, given the rapid rise they allowed the country to grow. The reason for this is National see governing as a business, why invest in something that does not give you a return on your investment. Sadly health is a social investment and thus why our health system is creaking at the seams. I hope that the health restructuring this year will at least go some way to fixing an ailing system

      • I don’t disagree Bert but common sense says while we’re under the pump with Covid, and short of medical staff, we let foreign workers man our hospitals. Labour turns the tap off, and then wonders why overworked exhausted nurses doctors and caregivers are leaving in droves. Meanwhile MPs have a good summer break leaving hospitals stretched.

        • One of my nurse collegues stated the last things we need from India is the nurses they have their own pandemic to deal with.

  15. Luxon opens his mouth and flaps his gob for the sake of it, saying nothing constructive, offering no beneficial or useful solutions towards protecting NZers.

    • “Flaps his gob” Sort of what you’re doing Mary. National have been saying for months we need to be ordering large quantities of rapid antigen test kits. He’s tried to be constructive. This government are always playing catch up and Luxon has every right to criticise them for that, and from my observation the government has been missing in action over the holiday period.

  16. yup she learned her trade at the knee of the war criminal blair but as all pollies have the same increasingly ineffective and fatuous media training the right are as guilty of spin(lying with a straight face) as anyone is…she bless her cotton socks is just better at it than others.

  17. WOTS UP MOD references to blair being a war criminal or jacinda learning her trade at his knee…delaying my post?

  18. Luxon would be shitting himself if he was PM now. NZ Govt is the biggest company in NZ by a 100 fold and not many of its managers actually listen to orders. The Nats should have hired Tova O’Brian for PM to out Cindy, Cindy. 3 year contract, buy out existing gardening clauses with the eggplant writing the speeches. Sorted.

    • Dogranger
      Have to laugh at ‘not many of its managers actually listen to orders’. So true, that’s because they know full well that their ‘kind’ boss simply doesn’t fire anyone…ever. If she got stuck in and did some serious shit-kicking and some serious firing, that would change the game completely. It would however heavily affect the ‘social media likes count’ amongst the kids and the DJ scene, so forget that idea. That’s what happens when you want to be everyone’s friends, instead of being an effective boss. Ah well, that what the country wants, so that’s what the country gets. Thanks Winston.

    • If Tova goes through these next two months to stand up on her own, without the backing of either party, she will have earned my total respect. Both parties are bound to be making offers to her. I hope she stays strong…

  19. Can anyone say where Andrew Little is? The ‘i can’t cut the muster’ dude from the Labour Party that is supposedly the Minister of Health? He anywhere near a micro and a camera? Was he send to siberia by the PM? Will he be allowed out of his room anytime soon to tell us what happened to the much needed nurses and staff? Or he sitting at home hoping that people will talk about Luxon or someone else rather then Andre Little, wanna be PM and ‘acting’ Minister of Health?

    • Sabine,

      I have lost count at the number of times Andrew Little “has not been available for comment” over the last 12 months especially. That is especially so if it’s a difficult question that requires prompt clarification. He is utterly unsuitable for the role he’s been gifted especially during a pandemic where transparency is essential.

      • Little might just be a placeholder until Ayesha Verrall loses her political greenness, and then Little can return to the justice portfolio to relieve (the retiring?) Kris Faafoi.

        • DX5,

          You’re 100% correct. I felt that was the case when he was gifted the position and everything that’s unfolded since confirms that’s correct.

          Cheers

        • After her recent appearance I’m not sure about that.
          Little is only good at criticism the hallmark of the Left.
          Easy to knock things down much more difficult to build.
          Labour’s complete lack of delivery is clear evidence of that.

          • They delivered us safety and security for two years while many other countries were wracked by Covid and Delta. They delivered us time to prepare, as individuals, families and communities, for when Omicron hits. That gift of time to prepare, makes all the difference.

      • and I wouldn’t mind but he has an army of taxpayer funded handlers and communications/PR drones…WTF are they doing? we expect politicians to be sock puppets but we pay for the operators with hands up their arses..he’s not even good value as a cardboard cut-out.

    • that’s interesting sabine, I’ve always used ‘can’t cut the mustard’ which makes no sense but can’t make the cut at a muster makes way more sense.

      • https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/passing-muster-and-mustard

        “Pass muster” & “cutting the mustard” – both very old sayings (16th Century!)
        Both changed and varied in use over the years.
        Both are used, and adaptations, – the meaning changes according to context.

        There have been a number of origin stories offered for cut the mustard. A small sample of these would include it being a variant of passing muster, cut having the meaning of “successfully engage in an endeavor” and mustard being slang for “something excellent,” a reference to mustard powder needing to be cut (adulterated) with water before eating it, and a large number of other increasingly improbable possibilities. More info, including quoted examples back to the 1500s, at the link.

  21. Martyn, ever the hopeful opportunist…
    Arrogantly mocking Luxon over this Omicron thing will come to bite you in the arse. Big time. We’ve all got front row seats to watch your beloved saviour St Jacinda as she tries to cope with the pressure that’s about to hit her. It will be a spin fest, starting today with Roberston denying the RAT tests were ever banned.

  23. No Covid cases in ICU in last 2 days, Hospitals can surge ICU capacity up to 300 in the worst scenario – quite simple. I’d rather listen to the health experts instead of Tory conspiratorial theories they get from Qnon. We should all be thanking Jacinda, the Labour party and the scientists and health department advisers for saving the lives of thousands of Aotearoans. NZ 52 dead, UK 150,000 dead from Covid.

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