There is always one ….

” If I had a time machine blah blah blah … we should have .. ” What are you, 10 years old ?

That is not an adult or constructive conversation to have.

The original figures were based on China. And that was a worse case scenario. With high pollution and unhealthy population. But that being said, in doing risk assessments you ALWAYS quote worse case scenario. This is also how the entire Medical Fraternity works when it comes to predictions.

In war you “prepare for the worst ” and pray for the best. Our PM did exactly what was required balanced out with other real world issues, like Kiwis being stuck over-seas.

As far as ‘The economy” is concerned. Well after the 1918 Pandemic, those that shut themselves off entirely had their economy back up and running faster than everyone else. And a new study seems to predict the same thing will happen here.

In fact the ONLY major problem N.Z. will have is us having to wait for OTHER countries who got hit hard to recover so we can resume normal trade.

The Forth Estate and the Greed Driven Highly Unethical joined forces under Key.

Every time he stated ” There is no housing crisis ” and the media just nodded, along with the people that voted for the housing crisis to continue. All willing to look the other way for their own personal gain. No matter who or what was going to be damaged.

That is when I knew we had a divide in N.Z. of Evil Vs Good. And that divide still exists. Changing the Govt did not change those people. They are still out there ready to hurt other Kiwis futures by action or inaction if given half the chance.

But maybe now some of these middle class whingers will be starting to experience just what it is like to try and support a family on the minimum wage or a WINZ benefit.

These are going to be hard times for many NZ’ers, I just hope we don’t go back to what everyone thought was Normal Times.

Lets ensure that our Normal Times makes sure that no-one else has to live in a car or a garage, that the gap between the rich and the poor is reduced, and that all workers receive a living wage, and most important – STOP SENDING ALL OUR MANUFACTURING JOBS TO ASIA.

In addition, I believe some people are being deliberately obtuse for the sake of bagging the government. They know full-well what Jacinda means when she says something — it just suits their narrative to pretend it’s all dreadfully confusing, and National would never be so vague and wishy-washy. Much of this behaviour is painfully transparent.

Or what about restoring an Air Combat Force to the Airforce? The reason we don’t is because we’ve been developing into all the wrong areas for the past 20 years for ideological reasons to make us feel good. Wast of time!

And it raises the question of who needs journalists? Especially if the questions are predictable, banale and rude.

Your comment ‘critic or cheerleader’ got me thinking and I think the problem is that journalists often think they have to take sides rather than forging their own path.

I realise that I want journalism to provide two things. Firstly, a potted version of what was said or what happened with as little embellishment and interpretation as possible, so I understand what happened – that traditional role of reporting the news.

Secondly, I want people who are SMART and can THINK FOR THEMSELVES and who make it clear that what they’re providing is a social and political commentary and analysis from a particular standpoint. Not mimicking the ideas that are already out there or trying to pursue a hidden agenda. In the reading, I then get to think about how my views fit into that, or how I might change and think about things differently.

There is still a lot we don’t know about corona. The 2% death rate is very deceptive because flues are a lot more infectious than a virus with a higher death rate, those typically burns themselves out faster than flues. Even if we moved to level 3 earlier the fundamentals of the economy is high debt, low wages, high immigration, low investment would have crushed the economy anyway.

Social isolation from the RM trollvirus is likely more effective than engaging or betting.