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Daily News Roundup – 20 April 2020

Daily News Roundup – 20 April 2020

Today’s cabinet decision Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Decision day dawns for PM Jacinda Ardern over Covid-19 lockdown John Armstrong (1News): Why New Zealand has to remain in lockdown Pattrick Smellie (Herald): Govt needs to lock down convincing exit strategy (paywalled) Claire Trevett (Herald): What will be on cautious PM’

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Daily News Roundup – 28 April 2020

Daily News Roundup – 28 April 2020

Eliminating Covid-19 Derek Cheng (Herald): Eliminating Covid 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern’s trailblazing mission that we may have already won (paywalled) Andrea Vance (Stuff): Why the hero-worship of Jacinda Ardern is unhealthy Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup: The Challenge of speaking “truth to power” in a time

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Daily News Roundup – 18 September 2020

Daily News Roundup – 18 September 2020

Election Josie Pagani (Herald): Contest is between the haves and the have-yachts (paywalled) Tim Watkin (RNZ): Gulliver’s Election… and is Labour angling to govern alone? Stephen Levine (The Conversation): Stardust and substance: New Zealand’s election becomes a ‘third referendum’ on Jacinda Ardern’s leadership AAP: Analysis: What

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Daily News Roundup – 2 November 2020

Daily News Roundup – 2 November 2020

Greens and Labour coalition deal Matthew Hooton (Herald): Green deal radically strengthens Ardern while gagging Shaw and Davidson (paywalled) Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern’s agreement with Greens shows her iron fist Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour gets to be magnanimous, the Greens get a good deal Herald: Editorial: Jacinda Ardern

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The Government Snow Job over COVID-19 Testing Continues

The Government Snow Job over COVID-19 Testing Continues

Yesterday I wrote about the differing standards that the Government is using to classify people as “recovered”. We even went as far as to contact the Ministry of Health media spokesman to make sure we were saying the right thing and not misleading anyone as to our assumptions. For the

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COVID-19 Update: 2 April 2020

COVID-19 Update: 2 April 2020

We are at Level 4 of New Zealand’s four-level COVID-19 alert system. It is likely Level 4 measures will stay in place for a number of weeks. More information on alert levels. * Everyone must now stay home, except those providing essential services. * Only make physical contact with

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The Last Refuge of the Incompetent

The Last Refuge of the Incompetent

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent” is a favourite quote of the character Salvor Hardin, in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. Hardin is an agile politician who runs rings around bigger foes without resorting to blunt force. In the battle against COVID-19, lockdowns are the blunt force approach

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PM Ardern Lost the Battle

PM Ardern Lost the Battle

Claire Trevett in the NZ Herald reports: “PM Jacinda Ardern gets blood out of a stone from Australia – this time.” Again I’m forced to read between the lines (and BS). I understood that when Australia’s PM Scott Morrison announced his Government’s “Job Keeper” package, it was a

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Daily News Roundup

Daily News Roundup

Enforcing the lockdown, civil liberties Heather Roy (Democracy Project): The Long Road Back to Full Democracy Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Lockdown solution to Covid-19 deserves far more scrutiny, former Labour speechwriter says Democracy Project: Mark Blackham: Working class bearing the brunt of Covid-19 (interview) Scott Hamilton (Spinoff): ‘Let

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The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

The BFD is a RESPECTFUL forum for opinions. Everyone is offered the opportunity to comment BUT this is a privilege that can be taken away. You are welcome to comment on The BFD posts if you abide by our “Ten Commandments“. If you don’t abide by the commandments a

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Pauline Says What Everyone Thinks. Again.

Pauline Says What Everyone Thinks. Again.

One of the major reasons the political and media establishment in Australia hate Pauline Hanson so much is that she has a habit of saying what the rest of Australia is thinking. And the rest of Australia frequently thinks things that establishment cannot and will not tolerate. When Hanson wore

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Morrissey Was Right

Morrissey Was Right

In 2010, British singer and animal rights advocate, Morrissey, called attention to the sort of Chinese “wet markets” which led directly to the Wuhan virus outbreak. “If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade – animals skinned alive – then they could not possibly

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