Why the protestors are wrong and why I support Jacinda 100% over Covid

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
216
5072

I have been highly critical of the feral lunatics protesting on Parliament’s Lawns and urged them to vote for me in their Nuremberg hanging rankings.

I have been highly critical of how Trevor enflamed this feral lunatic protest.

I have defended Police inaction because the right to protest in a liberal progressive democracy is sacrosanct.

I have pointed out that if we on the Left had been transformational on poverty, housing & inequality over the last 4 years – then we wouldn’t have the lumpenproletariat hurt, furious and manipulated by the far right!

It’s easier to scream NAZI instead of challenging the neoliberal economic hegemony that is now woking in favour of the Middle Class Marxists that populate the woke managerial class of Wellington.

I’ve been withering in my criticism of the Middle Class Marxists who see Nazi Monster Vampires every time they close their eyes.

Let me be as equally crystal clear and damning as I can be in regards to the demands made by the anti-mandate lumpenproletariats.

Get fucked you lunatics.

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I have yet to see one interview with a protestor that after a terrible & painful personal mandate experience – that truly pulls at your heart strings – that then doesn’t veer off into some crazy demented conspiracy theory- there is no doubt this misery is being manipulated.

Of course we all want mandates lifted and we don’t want you anti-vaxxers to feel excommunicated from your homeland. As soon as the public health reasons as to why we have all collectively curtailed our civil liberties are no longer required, of course Jacinda is going to lift them!

This mindset that somehow Jacinda is part of a shadowy fascist Government that will make vaccines mandatory and hold down children and adults to forcibly inject them is a feral lunatic lie that is as evil as it is false.

Jacinda Ardern has done a fucking remarkable job in keeping us safe and not dead.

The fucking stats speak for themselves, we have one of the lowest death and hospitalisations rates in the World, and that’s because of her courageous leadership.

Now I will criticise Labour all day until I am blue in the face over their lack of transformation on issues like poverty, housing and climate change, but I simply refiuse to accept that their handling of Covid deserves this kind of false narrative and bad faith lies to vilify a once in a generation leader  who has saved this damned country from a terrible once in a century plague.

There is much that divides us as a people now, but something as clear and concise as Labour’s response to Covid deserves our collective good will and our support.

That isn’t to say that the broad stroke policies haven’t hurt people and have at times been infuriating in their application, and I acknowledge that many on that lawn have been victims of that broad stroke policy.

I don’t deny your pain, I deny your conclusion, your reasoning and your basic sentence structures.

We need mandates to end because there is no reason to keep them in place the moment there isn’t a public health emergency and with Omicron in NZ just starting, we sure as Christ aren’t ending them today.

I stand with Jacinda’s handling of Covid, like most reasonable NZers do, while standing for the right of protest while disagreeing with the demented logic of feral lunatics on Parliament’s lawn while ruthlessly mocking Middle Class Marxists in Wellington who are demanding the Police bash everyone who triggers them.

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216 COMMENTS

  1. Yes, but we the people have behaved rather well too, fatigued as we may be.The dissenters are behaving less well and their abuse of others is barbaric, and I know that some of them are uncivilised nut jobs, and I do not believe that they have been without the leadership which various parties think they have.

    • The worst of them appear to be those hanging around the cenotaph. And I’ll bet they’re not even aware how transparent they are, thinking they’re very clever. Give some of them a fluro vest and they think they can rule the world – and live stream it while they’re about it.
      Taking it upon themselves to decide who gets access to parliament and environs. Self-appointed guardians of their (now clearly minority) agenda.
      Not too long ago, we’d have referred to them as small penis boofheads.
      That little group of testosterone filled fuckwits are giving the protwst a bad name. I’m sure they’re at odds with the neo-hippie movement – who seem to have difficulty in rubbing one original idea with another; purple crystals and a set of flabby old lycra-clad fitnes freaks preaching peace love and goodwill to all personkind.
      It’s really trejuk. No wonder there are doctors and nurses and teachers wanting to leave the CUNTry the minute they get the fiirst opportunity.
      Sadly, some of Jacinda’s colleagues really do need a bloody big big kick up the rrrrrs and you probably wouldn’t be too surprised who those Munsters should be.
      I’ll leave their ‘officials’ alone for now because just like the Catholic Priesthood, they’ll eventually expose themselves, and no doubt they’re facing “headwinds” but there are one or two “greenshoots” in that space, going forward
      #Off.Get.Chuff and if you think Lex Luxon and Twerking EEEy Orre is the answer, I’ve got a country and its sovereignty I can sell you. Going Cheap!

    • We have not yet seen a Jacinda gone, rotten.

      That is to say a Jacinda that deploys the full might of the state just to grace her self with power for life Xi style.

      Any Prime Minister who dears disregard the power of the vote surely would call forth the revolution that Chris Trotter outlined.

      As a Jacinda gone rotten, completely giving herself over to the power of the turns with her majority government turns the fear would be immediate and overwhelming. That is a requirement of martial law.

      There are many reasons why a Jacinda gone rotten can never happen. There is nothing in the literature that suggests martial law, always moving towards the power of the state and slightly left.

      And thanks to some skillful and well placed incompetence from a motley crew of parliamentary members from all party’s, will always vere slightly left or right just to be careful enough to stay in the centre.

      I make no claim that a Jacinda gone rotten would even entertain the idea of an organised approach to martial law, in effect leaving it open to chance because even chance requires a minimum standard of competence just to back it up and maintain a state of martial law well past a threat to democracy.

      If the goal was to acquire power then martial law, during peace, would be it’s tool, kiwi style. To implement martial law during peace time is to worship power itself. Again, it’s clear to me after reading as much literature as I can, Jacinda just doesn’t think about the acquisition of power prefering instead to find enlightenment from expert advice.

      Natural the more chaotic side of politics as in martial law is naturally, unenlightened.

      Taking this a step further is has been surprising Jacinda has been able to contend with the economic masters of the universe and is impressive that she has been able to keep her own motley crew together and is also considered the superior debater over her national party equivalent.

      So if you the reader take all of this into account and realise that Jacinda is not even using the more chaotic side of politics and naturally powerful side, then it begins to make sense why a Jacinda gone rotten is just mathematically impossible as to eclipse the power of a four term Holyoak National Government.

      A Jacinda gone rotten, giving herself over to monsters like the memory of Hitler is simply a hypothetical.

      Here I have made the thought of a Jacinda gone rotten just to show how destructive the more chaotic side of power is, if Jacinda was to ever turn that way.

      Again this all goes against the character of Jacinda in the first place and would never happen.

  4. After nearly 40 years of manipulative neoliberal-capitalists head fucking us into acquiescing to a less than desirable position within a country spilling wealth into abusive manipulators while homeless populations increase alarmingly is reason enough for a rampage of witch burnings and hangings much less a few disgruntled harrumphing’s.
    Adern got off lightly, the greedy old fucks who spun trans generational neoliberal lies to steal our money and our public assets got clean away with it, again, and really, the only victim of an attempt at a naive protest born of desperation is you @ MB. You seem to be taking this rather less graciously than expected if I must be honest. The ‘ferals’ as you repeatedly label them as are human beings too and lost in a tangle of deceit and deception who are desperately trying to figure out what the fuck it is that’s actually going on.
    Can you enlighten them @ MB? Because the prime minister can’t seem to be able to.

    • Enlighten them? There is no way that can happen. What would be needed is an ongoing ‘deprogramming, reprogramming’ approach. Consistent sensible messaging about reality. Because so many are so dumb and have been brainwashed.

      But that approach is impossible. It’s because of the simple thing of freedom and that we don’t have a North Korea type state. The freedom is used to attach to cults like Tamaki. It is used to believe that Jacinda Ardern and her agents will hold children down and forcibly inject them for Covid. It is used to believe whatever you like such as the vaccine will make you magnetic. And that the vaccines are not effective.
      And of course that the pandemic is just a construct of sinister minds, that it in fact does not exist.

      • Before the “no jab, no job” policy Ardern had told “us” that there would be no compulsion to vaccinate. So now whatever she might say she is not believed. It would take a very naive mind to take on trust anything the government tells us. It is a challenge. We have to ask ourselves “Are they telling the truth this time? Or not?” and finding the answer involves a lot of research and discussion among our peers. But then as they say “life was not meant to be easy”.

        • Ironic – ”But then as they say “life was not meant to be easy”. Yet we have computers, electric cars , have sent men to the moon , the internal combustion and jet engines, all attempts to make life easy,- or make vast profits while all these goodies become available. Yet the big remaining flaw is our own human nature, and I no longer believe in this govt, – or any replacement govt either.

        • Really Geoff?
          There are only a handful of sectors where the Government has mandated vaccination and these sectors were identified very early on.
          Health and Disability, Corrections, Education, Defense, Emergency Services and Hospiality.
          Undoubtedly I’ll be labeled a fascist by the usual trigger happy over zealous keyboard warriors who pollute this site with their inane politically biased bile but THOSE mandates on THOSE sectors make sense to me.
          What doesn’t make sense is the rabble down Wellington attempting to force the Government to ignore scientific advice, as well as the majority of the community, end all mandates and dissolve Parliament when the reality is the Government is not behind most mandates being imposed on the poor self indulgent souls.
          If any of them had bothered to look, the Government has very clearly taken a hands off approach to those sectors not covered by the legislated mandates, such as most businesses, sporting/community organisations and local government authorities, by allowing them to manage their own risks.
          The very approach you would expect in a forward thinking liberal free market democracy.
          Furthermore the Government has a very clear and well balanced risk assessment tool on the MBIE website for businesses to assess whether a vaccine mandate should be imposed by these sectors and from that tool comes guidelines of how to structure a workplace to function inclusevley with unvaccinated staff. If you look at that simple tool you’ll see its not that hard Folks!
          From what I have seen and experienced many businesses and organisations are not using this balanced risk assessment tool. Rather they are basing their mandates on their own risk assessments that go far beyond the Government’s guidelines.
          For example one our largest Council’s appears to have based their risk assessment on brand protection rather than health and safety.
          If you are a 2nd or 3rd party contractor who could be “perceived by the public” as acting on Council’s behalf you must be fully vaccinated…Full stop!
          Unlike following the guidelines which DO advise assessing the H&S risk on a case by case basis they are administering a blanket mandate that appears to be based on public perception not H&S or the capability of third parties to manage their own risks accordingly.
          This approach forces external service providers to then follow suit, so you get a chain reaction that ostracizes and alienates the unvaxxed, costs them their livelihoods and creates social disharmony when it’s completely unnecessary.
          I’ve unfortunately lost several exceptionally good 3rd party contractors thanks to their own stupidity and the restrictions forced on my organisation by an overarching body drunk on mandate hysteria that simply will not listen to how we could make it work for everyone….based on that Central Government risk assessment tool.
          So what do the unwashed do? Like the misinformed numpties they are, they blame Jacinda for their woes, set up camp at Parliament, disrupt the lives of Wellingtonians, allow themselves to be manipulated by unsavory fringe political groups and make idiotic demands of the Government, when it’s not the Government that’s actually doing it to them.
          If they want to protest take it to those organisations that are disregarding Government advice and guidelines and are instead using a hammer to crack what are effectively a bunch of Eggs.
          Kids can’t do sport….that ain’t actually the Government. Lost your job in the warehouse…that ain’t actually the Government. Can’t work on the factory floor….that ain’t actually the Government.
          My advice, do what the majority have done get vaccinated or take it up with the ones who are actually oppressing you, go home and leave our democracy alone.
          And to the Bully Boy organisations that are manipulating H&S policies to beat up on a tiny fringe of ill informed citizens, I’d suggest you’d get better PR if you you calmed downed and actually found ways to work with these people in a progressive and safe manner rather than shaming them.
          All you are doing is contributing to the erosion of social cohesion in this country. If you can make it work based on 4 very simple questions outlined in the Governments risk assessment but choose to impose a hard line mandate instead, you are just as dysfunctional and divisive as the protestors themselves.
          Appalling state of affairs

          • The palming off of government mandates onto non-government entities is not a hands off approach, it is merely a sleight of hand, as evidenced by the fact that when push comes to shove, those non-entities point back to government as the reason for their actions..

            And since when has any type of tool offered by government , primarily served interests other than government!

            And you talk about erosion of social cohesion. What the ‘f’ do you think this protest is about? These are people who have purposely being excluded/divided from parts society. This is what’s really dividing society because if you allow this to happen for this particular issue, then you allow it to happen for any issue. A slippery slope as they say, in which case, this will indeed become an appalling state of affairs.

            • Totally agree A O.
              Sleight of hand by this Labour Government has fooled many including Sleek but every day less people are being fooled by them.
              Their lack of delivery of election promises is all you need to know.

              • Well said Sleek, if Jeremy remains brainwashed by the unwashed and disagrees with you, you know your correct on every count, why? Because Jeremy can’t argue your points one by one. He’s simply lazy and says your fooled. A right wing troll for the sake of being on this site.

          • And then the responsibility can be seen to be the businesses, so the business is zealous to protect their brand and avoid headlines like ‘xxx business closed because of covid case’.
            Even the location of interest news headlines were embarrassing and damaging to brands and businesses,
            So the shops / businesses did all they could to avoid that, and to be seen to be doing all they could.
            Encouraged and enabled by the government.

        • Bang on Geoff!!
          Only the blind sociopaths believe any thing she says now. Too many lies. “Get to 90% vacinated and you will be free” ho ho no no. “We are a team of 5 million” no no we have an A team and the rest are “untouchables” Too many announcements of pending announcements.
          She has no credibility left

    • Tying this protest in with the neolib rorting of this country is no better than all the nut job opportunists jumping on the bandwagon claiming the protest as their own.
      These protestors are not protesting poverty, homelessnes or the cpi.
      Nor are they protesting Labours inability to tackle any social issue.
      They are primarily anti establishment, anti government of any persuasion and want an insurrection.
      There is no reasoning with this mob.
      Trying to reason with unreasonable people is futile.

  5. About 1,000 people are “protesting” in Wellywood, according to today’s Dom Post.

    TEN thousand overworked, under-resourced health workers are about to strike.

    Yet despite the numbers difference, and despite the need and urgency, it is unlikely that the health workers will get an equivalent amount of media coverage. Will we even notice, I wonder, until someone we care about is hospitalised with Covid and the staff are struggling to cope.

    • Well write a nice letter to the MOH and Andrew Little and ask them to finally pay these guys. It is a Labour Government after all.

      • I have written to A Little asking what he is doing about Doctors and other medical professionals who are leaving because their families cannot get through immegration dept for permanent residency . zone One doctor has been trying for 2 years to get his mother here and dispite being offered triple the pay in Australia want to stay here but only with his mother . Little is lying when he says he cares and has his finger on the button

  6. So if the Omnishambles infection rates between unvaccinated and vaccinated are relatively similar; our overall vaccination % rate is somewhere in the mid 90s; and we aren’t seeing rafts of unvaccinated in the hospital ICU beds – what is the need for mandates?
    Why don’t we have mandates for Measles or other infectious diseases where a vaccine exists?
    Why have some of the most logical and forward looking nations in the world (i.e. Scandinavia) ditched all covid restrictions with omnishambles? Are they not trusting the “science”?

    As a triple vaccinated individual I am yet to see a valid scientific argument for keeping mandates for Omnishambles. While I disagreed with them for previous strains I could at least see a valid counter argument for them given they were worse viruses. With omnishambles there isn’t from what I can see a valid scientific argument for mandates (which is separate from restrictions such as mask and density restrictions that I disagree with but can see an argument for).

    I can see LOTS of political science arguments though…….

      • Good. I’d argue more and more people are seeing Omnishambles for what it is – the endgame.

        But here’s the clicker – the situation won’t change for probably 12 months. We are going to (post the surge) have a baseline omnishambles rate of probably 1,000-2,000 per day (refer the rest of the world) for months if not years on end.

        Soooo are you prepared to have the traffic light red in place for the rest of the year which means – 75% of hospitality/retail are shitcanned; no concerts/sporting events; lack of options to travel (airlines won’t come); mandates and mask usage for months on end and more looney tunes individuals popping out of the woodwork.

        When the masses realize this is the new norm we are going to be one fucked up place……

        • “When the masses realize this is the new norm we are going to be one fucked up place”… A bit late for that… I got back in the country less than a monthe before lockdown, and the first thing I noticed was just how munted the place already was.. I watched the development of what NZ has become while in NZ up to 2014, and was glad to get away.. What I came back to was simply the same shit, but with 6 years of continuous degradation of practically everything that counts… Under the “yank” key, the reality for lower “class” kiwis became even more hopeless than after the Richardson assault on the NZ economy, and it’s people(except the “right” people of course)… The closest thing I can describe the paradigm here to is “Stockholm Syndrome”.. As the years of assaults and abuses rained upon the weakest and most vulnerable in society has inured the population to the atrocities perpetrated by a criminal cabal the national party turned into under Keys direction, to the point where they have become addicted to the abuses… I can’t think of a better reason to willingly support the destruction of NZs manufacturing base, health infrastructure, degradation of educational standards, and corruption of the judiciary, which was all carried out openly… What we are seeing is the backlash to those abuses finally showing out.. This idiocy over vaccines is just an excuse to throw a tantrum.. The real enemy is the group who would carry on with turning NZ into a rich peoples playground with a compliant, and repressed local population…. Of course, tories have no memories of any of this.. Why would they? With only one eye open one loses their depth perception, and my word, isn’t the perception of reality so shallow, and self serving from those that profited at the expense of their own people…. As you obviously fail to grasp the enormity of the crimes committed against NZers, by your preferred party, you are simply a part of the problem… I will eventually get away again, once my Mother passes on, and that will be both heartbreaking, and a relief to be back in the real world again…

          • For the first time is kinda agree with you. Outside of your total blame on National (only a tribal would ignore Labour’s role) you raise some valid points.

            What the current leadership has done however has been to shamelessly pour political vinegar on these wounds and then denounce the wounded for being wounded.

            100% I’m concerned by the rise of the elites – be it political, corporate or bureaucratic. HOWEVER I believe we are literally years away from a great developed world revolt – but it won’t be the poor – it will be the working poor and ultimately their politics with be traditional conservative right as leftwing liberalism is now intrinsically linked to big corporate, big government and big bureaucracy.

            • oh and the nats/act aren’t associated with those very things….amusing you still think you have a choice tanky boy

        • Omnishambles the endgame? I don’t think so. Most if not all epidemologists would argue there’s another variant on the horizon, if we are lucky similar to Omicron but just as likely more like Delta. The endgame then?

          • Yes there is very likely another variant on the horizon but the selection pressure on a respiratory virus is to become more infectious but LESS severe over time.

            A respiratory virus will be more competitively successful spreading from host to host if the virus is more infectious (obviously) AND if the host is healthy and mobile enough to mingle with other people and not look so sick that they are avoided (in contrast the opposite is true of the malaria parasite, where the host being flat on their back makes it easier for mosquitoes to land and draw blood, to continue the parasite life cycle).

            • I thought it was going that way too, more infectious, less severe, but then I heard a epidemiologist from the UK recently say it could go either way after omicron, the next variant just as likely to be more severe, ie, like Delta. Granted his was just one view, albeit arguably a professional one. He certainly gave the impression he knew what he was talking but that’s no guarantee he’s correct. I’m not entirely sure what the professional consensus among epidemiologists is.

              Time will tell.

              • Well we shall just to to wait and see what they release from the labs next time.. Sorry, I mean bats of course.

      • SADLY It has invariably been political science versus science. And in a media controlled country, political science has won out.
        I also agreed with Martyn in Jan 2020 about the coming covid problem, having followed Chris Martenson for a dozen plus years now.
        BUT by about June/July information was there about the efficacy of Ivermectin, HCQ, Sunlight (vit D), Vit C and Zinc.
        By Delta onwards it was NO LONGER about health, other than potentially saving the HUGE political embarassment of our health system falling over under a ‘seriously bad flu’ season.
        Though I’ve followed Martyn (also for a dozen or more years) and have been greatfully for his inights that are invariably correct. IMHO he’s been so wrong with Covid over the last year or more.
        So hey, he’s not God. How surprising.
        Thanks for all your great work Martyn.

    • Scandinavia) ditched all covid restrictions

      Denmark, population 5.8 million: 4,250 Covid deaths

      AO/NZ, population 5 million: 53 Covid deaths

      • Apples with Oranges Kheala – we aren’t connected to the EU and can deny entry to and from the country. Europe is an interesting example though when comparing the relative restriction application and it’s effects on covid-related fatality. Comparing apples with apples and all.

        Also do we want to do an all of health comparison with Denmark? Perhaps a road fatality comparison? One can manipulate statistics to suit one’s arguments – the issue here is for someone to provide a compelling argument based on scientific and health fact for the continuation of mandates.

        • Good point, – we have a natural moat which we can switch on/off at any time denying access, not so the European nations. As I said right back in the beginning several years ago, the moat has by and large minimized ‘spread’.

      • You’re mixing historical data with present data.
        That’s where the present Covid mandae arguements breaks down.
        It should be about how is Omicrom playing out.
        It is NOT the original HORRID strain, that Jacinda made the 50/50 call to close us down, THANK GOD.

      • You don’t get it. Denmark had COVID so most of those 4250 died WITH COVID. If NZ had COVID our number would have been much the same.

    • This is just it, F t T. And unfortunately where Martyn leaves off…

      I mean really, these guys seem to want to talk actual mechanics/parameters/whatever behind assertions that “the mandates are still necessary”. People will have differing views on that, and reasonable people will differ on the details. But the notion that one view or another is a “dogwhistle” to one or another viewpoint – stuff we have heard from Ministers v recently just-cos-Seymour-said-it – is ludicrous.

      FWIW, personally the closest I have heard the PM get to this discussion was saying sometime last week that countries now easing restrictions are “further through the course of the pandemic than NZ is” or something similar to that. We can’t cos we’re not there yet. Obvs I paraphrase.

      This doesn’t stack up to me, not if the vaccines don’t prevent transmission of omicron and we don’t have crystal clear and fulsome analysis of who hospitalised cases are etc etc. Etc. Etc etc. Lots to get on the table and I’d like to hear some more about that position.

      Unfortunately we don’t have any of that and people are told “just go home”. Some leadership.

      • Just to add to this, I understand that Ardern on AM Show today said we still have Delta and have people in hospital with Delta, so vaccines help. She is also asserted that vaccines reduce transmission by 50%, and therefore mandates are important.

        That’s much better stuff, but let’s have the supporting data, and put into much more of the contemporary context. And have the PM discuss it, respectful that she might properly field challenging questions. Science proceeds – and here good public policy ought to proceed – by positing lots of hypotheses and attempting to disconfirm them, rather than positing one and seeking to confirm it.

        • Yeah WFH usually, thanks mate. Good to see a number of one liners. Love to hear your views too.

          So first thing – less interested in the outcome than the dialogue taking us somewhere. Good to see a bit of that today.

          Second, on the exchanges we’ve seen today, the nub of any serious disagreement seems to be whether mandates and the pass reduce hospitalisation and transmission. PM says yes, Luxon less so. For my part I don’t care who said what, just whoever is closer to correct on their understanding of the conditions.

          To me (and I haven’t read everything – but nor is that a reasonable expectation) mandates may have reduced hospitalisations by getting more people double jabbed than otherwise would have. Not really sure whether or not boosters are up to much, like not sure either way. Also a bit wary of mandating combined with ever shortening timeframe between doses (ie mandating for several doses rather than two). Mandates not reducing transmission, so the “protect the least vulnerable” rationale for them is much weakened. In my view it has been unfortunate that we have been unable to agree on who is or is not in the “most vulnerable” status. Aside from the cultural divides this has created (which are actually economic), this has given some oldies a very bad look. Everyone knew until five minutes ago that we do things for women and children first.

          So the remaining mandate rationale is not having certain people sick. On this rationale, I think the mandates’ time is done, or very close to it, except perhaps in narrow circumstances perhaps of people like “front line” health workers. There is a very urgent need to sort out whether the booster situation is worthwhile in my view. Kind of a deep problem and one that shades off into territory many have been uncomfortable with. Pfizer’s incentives etc.

          There are some prosaic dimensions to continuing mandates, and we see most of them in the street. Apart from obviously dividing people and families, which everyone is talking about, I can offer another. To me, it has been unfortunate that our public health messaging, like the ‘misinformation’ and ‘rivers of hate’, is about persuasion as much as truth. The way it is and probably has to be really. But we may need a mandate at some future time, perhaps even so soon as for another Covid variant. And we may really need the people to believe in it. The amount of distrust borne of this mandate, including because of the public health comms, may have taken that opportunity from our descendants, or made it the harder for them to take. Would be a shame if so. So I think we might be living through a situation showing us why truth, arrived at via dialogue, is better than single-source persuasion.

          On the passes, they aren’t helping reduce transmission. Should be gone by tomorrow lunchtime in my view. There are some more sophisticated things to say, but that’s been my lunch break.

          Thanks in advance for considering.

          • On that wonderful synopsis, I would add after hearing a historian quote that those born in 1900 had a life expectancy of mid 40’s. Today that figure is 80.
            The reason for this is modern medicine but more important, vaccination against disease. Those in the protest should not use the lack of numbers dying or those in hospital as an argument for anti vaccination but an argument to vaccinate. A mandate would not have need occurred, as a nurse I work alongside said, if people had just done the right thing.

    • Frank I am not sure the rates are roughly similar, and those forward thinking Nordic countries aren’t necessarily an apples to apples comparison with us anyway . The Swedes for example had thousands of deaths so between vaccine and exposure are dealing with a different dynamic

      On top of this Delta has not vanished by any stretch

      • What is the end game then? Agree different countries responses as apples for oranges although if there is a logical end game for mandates – when is it given we are approx. 95% vaxxed and case loads will be significant for months still.

        Would you be happy to be in ‘red’ in December with another summer of no concerts, sporting events and masks? If case numbers are still in the thousands by that stage there isn’t much of an argument to lift restrictions is there?

        • I certainly agree there needs to be communication on what the needs for Covid measures are to be moving forward. By saying international travel is back on in October (?) I think it’s obvious we are moving in a more relaxed direction and have been for some time. Last year Arden was getting shit for not being cautious enough. Remember Maori genocide? Then a few weeks ago there was a lot of comments about now we are ” on our own” on this very site.

          With regard to the protest however, ‘get rid of all mandates NOW’ is just bollocks

          To answer your question, no I would not be happy if there were no concerts/sporting events (that you can attend) by next December. With changes to isolation rules, international travel etc, I see that as very unlikely (based on current strains) Masks I am not that fussed about. Rather not have them but if that was the only measure then its not a deal breaker

    • If the infection rate for the unvaccinated (who are apparently excluded from society by the mandate) is similar to the rate for the vaccinated (who are able to experience a level 2-ish life), then what would the unvaccinated rate be if they were allowed into the same settings that is currently restricted to only the vaccinated? Might it be higher and lead to an increase in hospitalisations/fatalities?

      • Well there’s a whole bunch of them in Wellington without masks, perhaps we should see how they are. Most seem happy and well, and among them are dble vaxxed and non vaxxed. Or does that seem too scary for govt narratives?

    • I believe you have hit the nail on the head. Something smells rotten in Denmark with this mandate carry on, and if we were to replace Denmark with New Zealand, we’d be closer to the truth.

    • Here’s some (very basic) math for you to ponder. If you take the 90% (out of a representative 100) of people that are vaccinated and 9 of them are in hospital with covid (remember this is hypothetical) thats 10% hospitalized. If you have even 1 of the unvaxinated in hospital that’s 20% hospitalized. So it would need to be 9 to 1 vaxed to unvaxed in hospital (hypothetically) to just be even chances. (shit i hope my math is at least partially correct lol)
      Comparing numbers like you have are a crock and used to confuse the idiots. Baffle them with bullshit is the common colloquialism.

  8. And where was our glorious leader last week Martyn? Her only outing was planting a tree in Rotorua.

    The Trudeau of the South Pacific is MIA.

  9. I see no evidence that thIs Occupation is a Left protest against all the inaction of this Labour government.

    Apart from the nasties who are using the protest, and a variety of complete nutters, I see the rest as just selfish people. Yes, ordinary New Zealanders, but full of purely self-interest.

    I normally use my real name in comments here. But think it unwise in this context.

      • They might be a tiny minority group and you can call them whatever names but they are New Zealanders and are worthy of respect and to be heard and given an answer.

        • Agree they should have an answer (which they probably won’t like) but respect is a two way street. I would argue all those protestors who have not had a f’ing shred of respect for the multitude of people/businesses they are impacting need to reflect on that.

          Bystander: ‘Officer that person just abused me for wearing a mask and getting vaccinated’

          Officer : Its ok innocent bystander they are New Zealanders’.’

          Bystander ‘oh well that’s different then…please carry on’

        • They have been given the answer to why mandates were put in place, what other questions did they have. Besides when they make statements ” end the mandates” that is something entirely different.
          And yes they are a tiny minority, that is accepted.

            • The 30% was based on a very small sample. I am sure, like me, many would express absolute sympathy with the right to protest. It is the manner of this protest that I find selfish:
              1. Taking ownership of Parliament grounds and preventing the access/throughway of others, in what is a public space.
              2. Blocking normal streets and effectively preventing (i.e. by extreme inhibition) legitimate business/social activity.
              3. Preventing the use of the bus station and even misusing facilities of the station (shelter used as a shower facility).
              4. Abusing members of the public – even children.

              I am disgusted by the lack of action by this government on social housing, child poverty, poverty in general, mental health, and employment (e.g. no repeal of the Employment Contracts Act). But I do not believe that this protest is really about such fundamental societal wrongs.

            • You seem to have massively scaled up the numbers @frank.
              Last time I looked the people at the location of ignorance (being generous and saying 1500) represent 0.03% of the population.

              • Online polls have support for the protestors/mandate removal at 30-odd percent. Horizon has done one and I believe Farrar has as well.

                • I saw one today, I think from Stuff at 25% so perhaps like the 75% we have had enough of the protesters.
                  And don’t think Luxon’s performance in front of the cameras today will increase the percentage, if anything, it will only increase the majority,on a day we incurred two more deaths.

                • so a self selecting poll of probably loony tunes can still only rustle up a bogus figure of 30perecent….that actually shows how small their support base really is…

                  where was this poll? the internet school of advanced homeopathy??

          • You just don’t get it, they ARE a tiny minority, their numbers swell due to professional protesters, anarchists and conspiracy theorists making for false numbers.

        • The protestors are a cross section of society, many of them professionals and working people inc police who have had their jobs terminated because of mandates. There maybe a small percent who are either there to make trouble or others acting as agent provocateurs. Sad that the MSM seem focused on the latter which coincidently seems to mirror the beehives narrative…

      • Consider all the “tiny minorities” the left panders to (i.e. the “divide and conquer” principle at the core of identity politics). A PM who claims to “govern for all NZers” (blatant lie) should pay attention to the concerns of 1000 people who have lost their jobs and businesses because of the narrow-minded policies of the Labour government when an alternative approach i.e. rollout of rapid antigen tests in late 2021 would have allowed them to keep their jobs while being tested regularly and keeping themselves and others safe without being forced to take the “hit and miss” (according to current data) mRNA “vaccines” and boosters.

        • Hit and miss describes a good number of the RATs. Testing does not remove the need for high vaccination rates, it’s complimentary if anything.

  10. Fair comment but one does have to question;
    Has Ardern been nothing but a figurehead for the pale stale males in the Labour party (hence the conflict with the Labour Maori caucus – pretend 3 Waters and He PouPopu are important but disregard then anyway)?

    For where is her fabled leadership now? Has anyone seen Ardern? Has she made a declaration for the path forward? Interesting to see her name mentioned in tandem with Trudeau in Canada. Both her and Trudeau were and are missing in action during the uprising so as to distance themselves from the conflict ahead. A conflict that enables police horses to trample an elderly woman to her death.

    https://tomluongo.me/2022/02/19/trampling-the-truckers-the-great-reset-becomes-the-great-awakening/

    Will New Zealand follow Canada in state fascism? How long before we need to carry an vaccine passport (identification card?) like one has to in Italy, simply to be part of society?

    • Ardern tends to follow Trudeaus lead. Trudeau block off the protesters in the camps then later sent in the cops. Watch this space….

    • Grow the fuck up Gerrit.

      Canada is not fascist. The actual facists are the right wing billionaires like Peter Thiel who are funding this rats infested sewer of lies and filth to destabilise the west and democracy so they can continue to rape loot and pillage and steal from the rest of us.

      https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/10/hacker-x-the-american-who-built-a-pro-trump-fake-news-empire-unmasks-himself/

      Their genius is to seize on a pandemic and make fools like you think that democracy is fascism. Once they pervert enough minds, shit like the Jan 6th illegal, violent insurrection in the US can come to seem like righteous takedown of evildoers, when it’s just fascists taking over.

      There are some genuine concerns in the protestors but underlying it all they are believing batshit crazy delusional crap. Just look at all the ex-hippies in there midst – no doubt subscribers to Natural News which has been taken over by an extremely wealthy fascist who is pro trump and Q-anon.

      They and you are being played stupid! Wake up!!!

      • Yep, how dare anyone have an opinion other than yours? Wake up nukefacts, you are being played by state misinformation program. Who is stupid? Those that believe in freedom from repression or those who doff their hats, meerklym and mellowly follow the state increasingly senseless instructions? You choose your corner, I’ll choose mine. See you over the barricades.

        Best thing is that those that are in the “river of filth” and their supporters are voters.

        Fascist suspend the peoples parliament and their representatives from having their say on the state bovver boys breaking up a protest. MMMMMMMMMMM. Wonder how long Canada’s parliament will be suspended for. Oh those poor peoples representatives might be in physical danger. So close the peoples parliamant. How unlike fascism that is; NOT.

        Will Ardern folow the lead

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10529061/Canadas-Parliament-SUSPENDS-debate-Trudeaus-Emergencies-Act.html

        • You are so far down the rabbit hole of lies you can’t see in front of your face. Fascism has always crept up on us – look at Nazi Germany. It’s happening now in the US, and they are trying to export it. There is ample evidence of this, like I showed above. You just don’t want to see it because you’ve fallen for lies in a desperate time.

          I both pity you and despise you because you just want to do your own thing at the expense of others. Selfish prick.

        • Your attempted defense of racist mobs storming democratic seats of government is based on a river of filth. Take a break from Fox or Bannons disgusting hate channels

      • I know. Anyone who thinks she governs for “all New Zealanders” as stated in her 2020 election speech is an idiot. There’s 30% of us “racist deplorables” who just want the right to associate with our friends and not discriminate against the unvaccinated or those opposed to showing government issued ID to get a haircut.

      • Grow up. NZs always been divided. But by all means stand on the fringe and scream freedom all you like with your foul self-righteous covid breath. Ew

    • Not sure what your point is? That 63% didn’t vote “left”? 22% would have been voting for Judith which is frightening on its own.

    • Curia are part of the dirty politics team that have been influencing right wing/tory commentators. A joke poll – Mark Richardsons impromptu polls on am show had more credibility. Those feral nutters are right wing or far right. Thats why right wingers like Luxon, Seamore, Waititi, Tamaki, Coutts, Hyde, Bridges, Pugh, Hipango, McKee, etc openly sympathise with them. They are making no-mandate an excuse – they are basically anti Labour and hate Jacinda and Dirty Politics team has cleverly manipulated and mobilised the right. Only dirty politics operatives could turn Mallards sprinkler fun into the focus of the protest.
      Once again it looks like Jacinda is going to be right while the right wing commentators, media, are still talking BS since the start of Covid. NZers are sick of the protest. It was fun and entertaining at the start but now its embarrassing and boring and everyone needs to piss off.
      Bring on Dirty Politics #8.

  14. https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/parliamentary-protest-poll-results-february-2022

    I saw this interesting poll about who these protesters are.

    I agree about Jacindas response to the pandemic and I have always said so.

    Of course we are note going to change these peoples minds about the evil vaccine and all the conspiracy stuff. But sit done and talk to them about the mandates. Hear their concerns about the mandates. Try and find common ground. Stop using phrases like a river of filth. Disgusting

    • The only shit that was been thrown around is from MSM. If it is true, however, I hoped they kept samples for DNZ testing ay?

      • “Shit for brains…” Where do you think tutae for 1000 people is going to go now that the portaloos can’t be serviced because of the routes blocked by the cops stones.

        Who’s the rocket scientist who come up with that idea?

        The Popo will be seeing more Poo Poo now!

    • Not more government mis -information?

      Except for a breathless account by a Jack Nobody on ZB, it is not been confirmned by the Pravd influenced MSM web sites. Nothing in Stuff, Newshub or the Herarld.

      If this was true it would be front page.

      Surely police health and safety would demand hazmat suits then for the front liner officers. We seeing any?

  16. No amount of sucking up to the PM will get you any funding from NZ on Air.

    Oh, and you’re wrong! Cops went in at 4am this morning and are going in to starve them out.

    • Also in her interview with John Campbell this morning. She was rattled and knows shes fuck’d this up. She cut him off a couple of times and ignored his questions so he turned up the Heat/flame and she just about had another hissy.

      Again, showing herself to be out of her depth and shes not very Staemans/woman like at all.

      • Shit is she going to cancel John Campbell soon? Who’s left to talk to? Oh The Rock, The Edge and ZM can still ask her some pre-approval Patsy questions.

        She must be hanging out for Tova’s new show to come on line, so she go back to her safe space.

      • Jacinda ran rings around the two blibbering fools Campbell and Bridge in the morning and am shows. What dumb questions they asked. They seemed to be supporting the no-mandate ferals and wanting her to meet them and surrender like a loser. Jacinda said that the protesters should PISS-OFF. Melissa should take over from Bridge.

  17. The Herald’s shameful spin-doctoring!

    Here is the article: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-omicron-parliament-protest-security-surge-as-police-vow-to-crack-down-on-abuse-intimidation-or-violence/L6CP6O7NTILKWJ3JISZS6KMKZU/

    Here is the intro para:
    Defiant Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told Parliament’s protesters to go home – as dozens of police officers moved en masse this morning to blockade several Wellington roads, in a face-off with the protesters.

    The dictionary meaning of the word “defiant” is: “Proudly refusing to obey authority”.
    The given example of use is: “The protesters blocking the entrance to the offices remained defiant this morning.” (From Cambridge English Dictionary.)

    In calling the PM “defiant”, the Herald is according authority to the mob of protestors and is subjugating the role of the PM to the whims of that mob.

    Shame on them!

    • Good point Kheala. The media seem good at hyperbole and the tall poppy syndrome . I don’t like the way that their poor little fingers can’t spend the micro second to start job titles with capital letters,. People taking responsibility for difficult jobs often. They deserve to have the job stated in neon; eg medical officer of health.

  18. RNZ
    “Covid-19: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says time for Wellington protesters to go home”
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/461945/covid-19-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-says-time-for-wellington-protesters-to-go-home
    But @ PM Adern, where do you suggest the homeless go? I bet they’d love to go home. Any home, anywhere.
    The hegemony of neoliberal capitalists which is the money cult that spans and suffocates all our politics must go home first. And by home I mean the one spelled p.r.i.s.o.n.
    Like the state owned assets paid for by our taxes that was swindled off us to create private wealth, Parliament is ours, not yours and we want someone in parliament who does best by us, not you or the neoliberal capitalists. I think it’s time, you PM Adern, were the one to go home. The rabble on the lawn is of yours and your own’s making. The only way to calm and appeal to the ‘feral rabble’ to paraphrase @ MB’s words is to give the truth a go.
    Like Switzerland.
    The Guardian.
    “Revealed: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians”
    I wonder how much shit was shat at the reading of this over the morning Earl Grey, aye boys?
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/feb/20/credit-suisse-secrets-leak-unmasks-criminals-fraudsters-corrupt-politicians
    There’s a press photograph of twisted-face muldoon scurrying across the tarmac clutching a brief case from a flight from Switzerland back in the day just before neoliberalism was unleashed on the hard working mothers and fathers of the feral rabble we see making a long over due fuss.
    Dirty little Oinky had a numbered Swiss bank account. One must ask? Who’s money was it? Primary agrarian industry? Any ideas?
    The reason why people are standing on the lawn is because people are confused and fucked off and they’re fucked off because they’re confused. And who isn’t? None of us really know what’s going on inside our parliament buildings. All we know is the rbnz has allowed foreign banking interests to put housing out of reach for literally everyone and our primary agrarian industry is in a state of desperation and confusion.
    Politicians? This shit’s on you. No one else.

    • Excellent buddy, you have spoken it as it actually is. Covid, …is a catalyst for many , many historic (in my opinion) criminal acts of treason going back 40 years to the 4th Labour govt. Every successive govt since has simply passed the neo liberal baton and sneered at the good nature of the people of this country.

  19. +1 Totally agree with this. “Why the protestors are wrong and why I support Jacinda 100% over Covid”.

    But can we have more news about things other than the protests and vaxxs/covid and woke identity related subjects?

    The world’s biodiversity is being destroyed after all which will take out blacks, trans, middle class, globalists, anti globalists and most capitalists and communists, so it’s a broad church of destruction.

    Instead foreign extremists against democracy and for capitalist totalitarianism seem to be all the lefties, righties and every media in-between can talk about and helping the organised distraction…..

    Look past the distraction to what else is happening and what should be happening to avoid it.

  20. On the distraction note, what else has happened recently that could be talked about instead of the protests…..

    Revealed: Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/feb/20/credit-suisse-secrets-leak-unmasks-criminals-fraudsters-corrupt-politicians

    Macron makes last-minute diplomatic bid as US warns Ukraine invasion imminent
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/20/putin-and-macron-agree-to-try-and-secure-ceasefire-in-eastern-ukraine

    World spends $1.8tn a year on subsidies that harm environment, study finds
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/17/world-spends-18tn-a-year-on-subsidies-that-harm-environment-study-finds-aoe

    Bitcoin miners revived a dying coal plant – then CO2 emissions soared
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/bitcoin-miners-revive-fossil-fuel-plant-co2-emissions-soared

    Villawood, Australia’s largest immigration detention centre, said to be ‘awash with drugs’
    A small cohort of guards is smuggling at least $10,000 worth of drugs into the centre every week, sources in Sydney facility claim (Serco)
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/21/villawood-australias-largest-immigration-detention-centre-said-to-be-awash-with-drugs

    UK ‘weakening threat to Kremlin by failing to close property loophole’
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/20/uk-weakening-threat-to-kremlin-by-failing-to-close-property-loophole

    Ethiopia starts electricity production at Blue Nile mega-dam
    Sudan and Egypt see the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as a threat, but Ethiopia sees it as essential for its development. (you have to wonder why they do not use low cost solar panels to generate electricity?)

    Photos: The devastation caused by Storm Eunice in western Europe
    https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/2/20/photos-the-devastation-caused-by-storm-eunice-in-western-europe

    Pat Baskett: Buying our way out of a big problem
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/sustainable-future/pat-baskett-buying-our-way-out-of-a-big-problem

    Anne Salmond: The folly of carbon farming with pine trees
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/sustainable-future/folly-of-carbon-farming-with-pine-trees

    Pro Talks: NZ awarded humiliating ‘fossil’ status at COP26
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cop26/pro-talks-nz-awarded-humiliating-fossil-status-at-cop26

    A Staggering Amount of Amazon Rainforest Disappeared Last Month
    https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/02/a-staggering-amount-of-amazon-rainforest-disappeared-last-month/

    Kiwi’s links to threat to crucial rainforest
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/video/dreams-dollars-and-destruction-of-a-rainforest

    The 60k strong oceans petition gets through to Parliament
    http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/5/398468

    Instead of concentrating on what is different and does not unite people and the planet, it would be better (and avoiding 100% right wing propaganda distractions) if there was more focus on what should be uniting all people such as saving ourselves from climate/environmental destruction.

  21. 10 out of 10 Martyn.
    Top of the class!
    The mandates exist because without it the virus will not only spread more rapidly it will mutate!.
    We have both the BA 1 and Ba 2 strains of Omicron.
    With around 2500 cases a day and rising rapidly the figures make every single argument against mandates and vaccination look like the utter garbage they have always been.

    • Yes, while all the “Drop yr mandates!” woofers are howling loudly, they wilfully ignore the fact that we here in AO/NZ are at the beginning of the Omicron wave, while those countries who have ended mandates are over the crest of it.

      They are the kids and crawlers in the back seat howling, “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?”

      If only they would grow the hell up!

  22. Don’t you mean Covid has divided the country as our country was already divided by neo liberalism as the trickle down has trickled up and continues to do so. And so we have the have and have nots and the have nots are increasing at a fast rate.

  23. There is a big difference between the attitudes the governments can exercise in crises, they can inspire the citizens or coerce them. The latter has always negative reactions, the more so when it is designed to cover the incompetence.

  24. New poll shows 77% of on site protesters in wellington are “unvaccinated” against covid.

    Surely, if you support and believe Jacinda, these people are on borrowed time and covid must be spreading through the makeshift village.

    But, as you may notice from the livestream, evidence of covid in the camp is not forthcoming. Has anyone seen a body bag yet?

    • not yet Glen not yet. And if your understanding of the version we now have of the virus was informed as opposed to totally uninformed you would know omicron is rarely a killer strain.
      It does cause long covid and serious ongoing respiratory illness especially in those under the age of 35 years.
      It is the most transmissible version of the virus.
      Not killer virus IF YOU ARE VACCINATED.
      As if the people in the parliamentary camp would admit or even be aware if they had omicron.

    • There were several “medical events” where medics/ ambos had to go in and get people. (At least five – Look it up yourself!) There were no further details given of what those “medical events” were. But today we hear that several of the cops (having interacted with protestors) now have tested positive for Covid, and worse, staff up at the hospital where the sick ones were sent to have today tested positive.

    • Not much of an outbreak happening in Wellington, yet. Capital and Coast has 235 active cases. Add in Hutt Valley’s 120 active cases and you get 355 (2.58%) of the 13,785 community cases nationwide.

    • Glen,

      ALL Polls should be taken with more than a grain of salt. There are so many things that make the margin of error anything from plus or minus 1% to 99%.

      I would put the unvaccinated rate of the protestors at much higher than 77%. If they were vaccinated they wouldn’t be as motivated against vaccine mandates. Based on the number of protestors not wearing face masks it’s a safe bet they are anti everything……..except themselves.

      When you use no body bags as some type of farcical evidence the protestors are all good, you display a very high level of ignorance. Your logic is embarrassing but it would fit in perfectly at the Wellington protest. Congratulations. I’m sure you’re a principled man so as a result, you will return all Covid support payments you’ve received from the Government and will refuse all medical treatment if and when you contract Covid.

      Good luck.

  25. OK so Jacinda won’t buckle and the protest will fizzle out. Boring. Next. Let’s turn the heat on the Te Huia train project…100million of your tax money ey for 5 passengers day by day.

    • The New Kraut,

      I look forward to reading your first sensible contribution that doesn’t appear to have been made by a Troglodyte soon after having psychosurgery of a full frontal lobotomy.

      • You’ll have to wait a lifetime, actually a lot like anything worthwhile from ACT or National. What did the actually achieve in their nine years? Anybody?

        • Bert
          Of course it won’t happen. I don’t have the smarts. I’m not in your upper class league of condescending academic elite leftist that you are. Exactly the same type of people as those running this country. I just say what I think as best as I can. I know it will never measure up to your toddler tantrum rantings. I’ll ask Jeremy for help next time.

          • Poor young self proclaimed right winger Saur Kraut, why so sad?
            Until your next temper tantrum, diatribe, opposition just for the sake of being oppositional on the P.M. and Labour, I bid you farewell.

          • Given that Jeremy has you and him living in the Penthouse Suite I say the elitist right private school upbringing that you had, you can come up with one piece of intelligence( between you).

  26. ok I’l just say it….jacinda controls nothing and can do nothing…pollies DO NOT run western societies, they ceeded power back in the 80s and then completely after GFC, they exchanged power for the stability they thought bankers could give the economy…they are now managers on behalf of finance so can initiate no new policy.
    The protesters should be outside westpac threatening to hang bankers, pollies are only frontmen…

  27. “Yes employers have the right to make vaccinations as part of a reason to hire someone, no employers can’t sack an existing employee for not being vaccinated, yes we should incentivize getting vaccinated, yes we need better community messaging no no no no no we can’t force mandatory vaccinations.”
    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/09/03/the-type-of-state-that-would-force-an-injection-on-an-individual-against-their-consent-is-no-state-to-defend-or-support/
    So what about out teachers? Our health care workers?
    “Right after getting the vaccination I’d be out protesting against forcing people to get the vaccination (while telling them they are fools to not get the vaccination!).”
    What happened?

  28. Like that last line – ‘The Daily Blog – come for the hilarious political insight, stay for the nuance.’

    • That was in relation to Jeremy’s comment saying the majority of the protestor’s voted Labour in the last election. Nice spin Jeremy

      • Did the protestors vote for Tamaki’s Vision New Zealand party?

        There were 2,886,427 million votes cast. They got 4,236.
        I can see them cracking 5,000 next time round but if they get 5% (is that 144,000?) Hannah will be in on the list. And Brian will be her office boy and so on the state payroll.

        Maybe it’s a bit of a hard ask to get that many so if they can work with the morons and lunaticsand attack Parliament and get rid of the elected government, they won’t have to worry about numbers.

        It’s clear in the present fuss some think that’s how it should happen.

  30. “Now I will criticise Labour all day until I am blue in the face over their lack of transformation on issues like poverty, housing and climate change,”
    The sad situation they relieved National of having to manage…. Then Covid struck no doubt diverting much energy and finances towards Covid management. In the meantime Key and his mates – the Chinese gentlemen who made their money in the sex industry of Auckland – and his apprentice, Max, are diving into property market development. Now capitalising on the impact of swamping NZ / Auckland housing with the far too many immigrants in the time of his “reign”.

    • On Watch, you missed out the bit about Key going hard to drive dairy conversions, denying there was even an issue with residential housing at all, and then doing a runner to head the largest of the banks that have a huge chunk of lending to home “owners” and don’t do badly out of rural debt either. Oh but it only Jacinda who is afflicted with self interest……..pull the other one, its got a waitress attached to it.

    • Correct O W, Key & associates are probably making a punt that that his protégée Luxin will be back in power to open the flood gates of immigration so that they can make another hatful.
      We get what we deserve, a self serving cabal & their MSM useful idiots that has opposed everything that the govt has done to keep COVID at bay.

      • Key is hoping that Luxon gets in govt so he reinstates the tax subsidy on interest so he can join his property speculator mates he helped between 2010-2017 to make a killing.

  31. Looks like we will need to redefine the meaning of “PEACEFUL PROTEST’

    We know young people on their way to or from University have been abused by angry feral scum protesters for having the audacity to wear a face mask during a pandemic.

    We know locals and local business have suffered abuse and intimidation from angry feral protestors. Some businesses that were already struggling have reported a 90% loss of trade.

    We know despicable threats have been made by angry feral protestors.

    We know the war memorial has been defaced with graffiti and used as a toilet by angry feral protestors.

    We know vehicles have been parked in no parking areas by angry feral protestors and have blocked the freedom of movement of many law abiding locals.

    We know these angry feral protestors are convinced they know more about Covid and vaccines than experts that have devoted their entire career to the subject matter.

    We know these angry feral protestors couldn’t possibly care less about the freedom of others.

    We know the suggestion some have tried to make that the Wellington occupation is a “PEACEFUL PROTEST” is a complete charade……….then this today

    Police statement: Protesters threw human waste at police; seven officers injured.

    Police have just issued a new statement about this morning’s operation at the occupation site in and around Parliament grounds.

    It includes this:
    Seven officers sustained injuries during the operation, ranging from scratches to an ankle injury.
    Some officers also had human waste thrown over them by protesters.
    Deliberately infecting someone with disease is a serious offence punishable by 14 years imprisonment.
    Likewise attempting to do so attracts a significant penalty.

    Police will be investigating and will hold to account those identified as responsible for these actions.

      • Nathan. Public money. Not government money. I’d lay odds you’ve had government money at some stage in your life. By your reasoning that makes you a government stooge.

        See how easy that was? Especially when there are no facts provided to back it up.

  32. Luxon has just called for the end to mandates after the Omicron wave.
    This is an old National ploy.
    To predict what the government is going to do and announcing it as their own policy before the government.
    Anybody thinking the government wants mandates to continue after Covid to control us is as bat shit crazy as the protestors.

  33. Thinking Man
    Apologies all-round. You are absolutely right. I’ll give it go:
    Jacinda has handled the protest extremely well by engaging with disgruntled citizens rightaway and she has listened to their concerns. She is indeed a PM for all New Zealanders. Also, she needs to be commended for keeping her cool when handling uncomfortable questions in press interviews, as demonstrated this morning when prodded by an insistant John Campbell. I’m sure that as soon as this horrible pandemic is in over, she will continue with her excellent work in managing the stressed economy and implementing Labour’s many promises and well-designed policies, such as housing for all and cost-effective public transport for Auckland. I look forward to the 2023 election so that I can give her my mandate for another 3 years.
    There you go Thinking Man, see, I can do it!

    • Bert was right Kraut. Too much to expect a sensible response from you.

      I would question the motivation, bias and logic of anyone even including Labour supporters that weren’t disappointed with at least some aspects of the Ardern Government. I have a list and at the top of that list is the shameful housing crisis and the obscene inequity that has come with it and increased dramatically especially since the arrival of Covid. I most certainly don’t blame Ardern for the housing crisis but I do blame her for standing around doing sweet fuck all about it month after month after month.

      Had Ardern met with the contemptible protestors, I along with a majority of kiwis would have been disgusted. You can describe the protestors in whatever gentle inoffensive way you choose but that is not the experience of most people. They have been threatening, intimidating and abusive. Some of those vile threats and abuse have been directed at Ardern personally. The protestors have outrageously demanded the removal of the very things that have kept our death toll so low. What’s more, they are demanding that at the very time we are getting record numbers of new cases each day with the promise of much more to come. Only a fucking toothless lunatic would critique Ardern under the circumstances for refusing to meet with these people.

  35. interesting that today rnz checkpoint did a puffpiece on the ‘soccer mums’ at the demo, maybe they’re desperate not to alienate their ‘fan base’

  37. The last 9 polls say otherwise. A 4pt gap says the fascist middle-class nazi LINO are dog tucker.

    From a 26pt lead in 2020 to a 4pt gap now. Both partys are eating their potential coalition partners vote, so it could be a hung parliament if this trend continues, which I think it will because covid kills, governments.

  39. why? the grauniad is a neo lib lifestyle mag for lycra clad bourgoise….the days when it was even vaguely leftist are long long gone….they sniff around mr ineffectual starmer like dogs in heat

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