So it will come as no surprise that I am a miserable old fit that although I have lived in the same house for 25 years have nothing to do with any of my neighbours

Anyway just got home from work and there’s something in my letterbox. It’s a ziplock with a bulb in it from a household in my street

Says hi we are x. We don’t know many of you But we live at y. We’re the 5th generation of our family to live in the house. The house and family have lived through wars, the depression good and bad times and we will get through this.

We’d love to get to know you face to face but in the meantime we’ve set up a WhatsApp group. Put yr details below and we will add you

Here’s a daffodil bulb. If you want plant it by your letterbox and in the spring it will be a sign of hope and solidarity for our little street to remind us what we’ve come through. As we have a massive street party

It’s really nice to hear something like this so I thought I’d share. I’ve even broken the habit of a lifetime and signed up. I must be sick

Really dangerous - just imagine if BOD's vivid had slipped or run through yr kids clothes.

He could have dyed

@Bovidae Pretty much saved me posting.

I too was at the game and it was magnificent sporting occasion. My brother had some sports ears and it was very obvious that while Poite was telling the Lions what they should do there were no repercussions when they totally ignored him.

Everyone agrees we dominated the first half. Gatland clearly got his troops together and said you've played shit - they're bullying you but your still in this and can steal it. Stop trying to play the AB's at their game and slow the game down and wait for the penalties to come. The AB's are over eager and the mistakes will come.
and come they did - right from the kick off. That penalty to get them to within three - you could see the belief grow in the Lions. Then AB's butchered another try and Kaino was (rightly IMO) binned and we lost the plot a bit.

Meanwhile Roundtree? was on the field every stoppage coaching the players chipping away at the ref - it was fucking annoying but quite effective. He, Gatland and Itoje have faces that just cry out to be slapped.

You could see the Lions stealing it becoming more real from about 20 minutes out so the end result was no real surprise - albeit deeply unsatisfying.

As for the ground itself. Monumental experience Worth every cent all 50,000 of them. I've read a bit about how the Lions fans out-passioned our support and we have to learn from them. Well while that is true I think by the 3rd test we Kiwi's had learned and certainly in my part of the ground the Lions were no more vocal than the locals. Every time a Lions chant went up or we felt the AB's needed our support the crowd were up to it. It took many cleansing ales and until about 3am before I got my voice back.

So while it feels like a series lost, we have an opportunity to learn from this. We're not as good as we thought we were, but we're still pretty good and unlike some I think Hansen will take a lot out of this and we will be all the better for it come Japan 2019.

Great night, great test shit result

It gets really tiresome so many threads being hijacked by Trump apologists
1 Hilary has publically stated that she is appalled by Weinstein and he should suffer full consequences of his actions
2 Yeah Hollywood majority is liberal but given the Sec State allegedly called Trump a moron why shouldn't an actor
3 Weinstein's abhorrent behavior doesn't excuse Trumps abhorrent behavior. There's plenty of allegations about him doing more than just grope but he's made to POTUS
4 Although it seems knowledge of Weinstein's behavior was indeed widespread politicians and political parties of all persuasions take money and endorsements from all manner of scumbags. Is it hypocritical to blame one when you have direct knowledge of the other and still cosy up to the second. Definitely but everyone's doing it - unfortunately.
5 The direct knowledge thing is interesting. Don't underestimate peoples ability to ignore stuff that with hindsight is obvious - not because of any benefit they receive - but because the facts are just too heinous for their mind to accept. Unfortunately I have some experience here. A guy once worked in one of my sites. He was an evil paedophile of the worst order. His workmates were defending him rigorously despite evidence to the contrary right up until he confessed because they could not believe someone they worked with and knew was a monster. I'm sure we've all had conversations like "wouldn't surprise me if X was done for Y" but we do nothing about it because we refuse to countenance reality and fall back to thinking he's a bit strange sure but No way. That's before you factor in the power and influence, money and lawyers and shit that Weinstein employed to ensure he could maintain a patina of respectability.

@hooroo Only what is in the media but I do have a few immediate thoughts.

• lt's being touted as a free stadium - but its not going to be free. At a minimum I would anticipate that the private investors would want the land gifted to them. That land being Bledisloe Wharf. I guess that this implicitly accepts that the proposal pre 2011 was never going to work as there was insufficient space

• PoA are in the very early stages of examining alternative sites for the port location, but any relocation is decades away. Losing Bledisloe at this stage is not commercially viable

• More commercial realities. Moving the port (probably to Firth of Thames) will cost shit loads. the cost-offset is the development of the existing port to unlock its land value. Plonking a stadium down wastes this land value effectively making the port relocation more expensive.

• A stadium is a poor use of such a prime site. As I have said before - there's a reason renders of stadia are always night shots with stands brilliantly lit up a people spilling out into the surrounding area. The reality is that during the day every one of them is effectively and blank walled citadel 13 stories high with no activity or street level engagement.

• It appears there has been an attempt to mitigate the above by part sinking it into the harbour. LMFAO way to dramatically increase costs. I can't imagine the millions of litres of water that will continually have to be pumped away but when Britomart was going to be 5 levels deep it was an astronomical figure.

• By all means move the port and develop the land - at some point in the future, but IMO such a development should be a combination of public space and residential. This both by the "private investors" and Goff just screams vanity project. We have a history of doing things like this on the cheap. Just what Akl needs a cheap plastic box right on our foreshore that will become effectively an industrial wasteland for 90% of the time. If there is a real desire to move away from EP then a proper site should be identified and developed. The whole perceived need is actually down to a ham=-fisted attempt to rationalise Akl's sporting venues and gather public support through a smoke and mirrors conceptualisation of something that would turn out far different to the pretty pictures Granny Ferald publishes every 6 mths or so

@booboo I feel your pain.

Similarly why the fuck do they have to do their shopping at the weekend? FFS you stupid old fluffybunnies you have all week to buy your incontinence pads - why wait until the supermarket is packed with us wage slaves at the weekend.

Also have your fucking card ready lady. I understand you probably have early dementia but surely it's not a shock that you are going to have to pay for said incontinence pads and / or that you will struggle to find your card in the small houselot of bric-a-bac and assorted shit you call your handbag. So please God don't wait until everything is swiped through the reader before you even contemplate looking for it.

Finally the checkout operator is not your friend. They do not need to hear about your hip operation while the rest of us wait. Thank fuck for self checkouts - although just last week I stood in line for one of those to clear while some old dear parked her trolley and waited for someone to appear and process her shopping for her.

I think they do it just because they can. Miserable old fucks taking delight in pissing the rest of us off

OK so a month back I went to a business forum with Bill English speaking

It was the day that he had said goodbye to Li Keqiang. He had also been at Paremoremo Prison earlier that day handing out Literacy Awards. Both events coloured some of his comments.

I have written before about the reception that John Key got at similar events. We are all aware that English has a PR issue - being perceived as a bit grey, lacking charisma and personality.

So it was interesting to see hear him speak having not doe so for probably 6-7 years. He's made huge improvements in the way that he comes across.

He got four genuine rounds of laughter in the first minute of talking. Whilst never going to reach the level of comfort speaking as Key with his aw shucks boy next door blokey goofiness the new PM came across pretty damn well I have to say. Certainly (as expected) was a lot better on detail than Key and less able to produce a sound bite but nevertheless it was a pretty polished performance. He'd come across a lot better IMO if he could simply get some inflexion into his voice which is a bit atonal.

Overall he came across as a really effective, competent manager compared with Key's team leader persona.

I took some notes at the time but I'm having some issues recalling what I meant so apologies if this is disjointed.
So in bullet form

• Profit used to be a dirty word but now people understand the link between a sustainable business meaning sustainable jobs
• Talking about the visit of China's premier he said that a kappa haka group had ended their performance by singing a love song in Manadarin which had left Li Keqiang visibly moved. The lesson being that personal touches create relationships
• The world particularly the developing world view of NZ is uniquely positive
• Few countries combine low unemployment, low government debt, surpluses and a stable government
• Only have to look across Tasman to see that. In the next 10 years the choices for Oz amount to what to cut and how to raise taxes
• In the next 5 years NZ has a set of choices - build infrastructure - reduce national debt faster (NZ's currently 20% of GDP - UK's is 90% Japans 200%) - Improve public services - Distribute benefits of growth
• We want to do a mix of all those but we have to decide what sensible choices we are going to make and we need a strong economy in order to be able to make sensible choices
• We are currently experiencing the problems of growth but we should relish and enjoy these problems because as a country we know what its like to not have growth
• In 2000 Super Fund projections had NZ's popn at 4.7 mill in the mid 40's. Now its tipped to make 5 mill in 2022
• In the last decade the number of over 65's working has gone from 11-34%
• 300,000 new jobs have been created in the last 12 mths
• Businesses can expect growth to continue. Since we came out of GFC we have had continuing growth but there are risks
• China - Number one risk is that politicos are not smart enough to make choices. Not everyone in China recognizes there are risks to its financial system and those that do argue about their ability to handle these risks
• Trump is currently fulfilling market expectations but what happens if/when the bubble bursts and he can't square the circle of tax cuts/curb the deficit and massive infrastructure spend
• China is positive about US/Chinese relationship because they believe they are too interdependent and need each other . They will have their political disputes but these will be curbed because not to do so will hurt each other
• US Border taxes are bad for everyone. English thinks in the long run the arguments for free trade and open borders will prevail because they are so logical
  On Infrastructure
• Now has much better relationship with Akl City. Traditionally the relationship consisted of childish warring through press releases but you can see through the signing of things like the Akl Transport alignment Project that the 2 parties are now working together
• Previously all discussions were dominated by the need for the CRL with effectively Akl wanting Wtn to fund it
• There has been a lack of investment in the south and west - which is where the people live
• There needs to be clever thinking about what are the next projects. Govt committed to East-West and Northern Corridor but they're the last of the big roading projects
• Money isn't a constraint As long as the govt is convinced Akl is doiung its bit money will be made available
• Whats needed is a process to shorten the time taken to make decisions
• Both sides now respect the others policies. Govt realizes the complexities of the situation and Council appreciate getting a 2nd opinion
• In terms of housing the key in Akl is to bring on my supply, faster through things like the LVR's, home start, short cuts in the RMA etc
• Demand currently outstrips supply by seven years but there is 1 Billion of govt funding available today If Akl Council can show a project that could make housing happen faster the 4's are there but they don't actually have any projects to bring forward
• Akl has responded to the situation very strongly Currently we have the fastest vgrowth in decades at 25%p.a and the longest housing pipeline. If he could just click his fingers and make it happen he would but everything needs to keep growing
• However we know we can make it work We spent 9% of our GDP on the largest publically funded disaster response in the world and industry responded so we know it can be done
• Govt has to be part of that response Own 1:16 houses (27,000 houses in Akl) and you can't tell the monopoly owner they don't need to respond
• Northcote 200 houses will become 1,000 Tamaki 2,000 will become 8,000 Also substantial investment to come in Mt Roskill & Avondale
• Labour talk about need for 10,000 home p.a. but they opposed both 3 Kings and Tamaki developments
  Effectiveness of Spend - I
• Every week hundreds of thousands of Kiwi's hand over less than $300 in tax. If they were to keep that it would make an enormous difference to their lives. Govt should do the same and treat the tax take with respect
• A lot of what govt does works well but we spend a lot of money with complex family situations and our record their is poor
• If these families fail the reaction of every govt has simply been to spend more money and it hasn't worked. There needs to be more accountability for the programmes success. Those at risk families account for 25% of social spending We need to apply business principles to that investment
• Inmates at Paremoremo cost us $110K p.a and Only 50% of them can read and write by the time they are 15
• We will have spent $1 mill on each at risk kid in the bottom 6% by the time they reach 35
• Some things have improved lowest rate of solo parents since early 80's
• It is important to see a return on investment but most important is to give these people a better life
• We need to get kids to the start of line of NCEA Lvl 2 At the moment 12-15% aren't making it
• You won't read about in the Herald because its not a sad story but that achievement level for Maori and Pacific Island kids has risen from 53-71%.
• For those at most risk we have taken them out of class where they are one of 22 and given them 1-1 tuition and results show it works.
• Spending money doesn't work. Focus makes the difference
• Customers expect a perfect product that never fails This can't be driven by the market or legislation alone has to be both.
• OSH is an example. Companies see legislation as a burden but its necessary to meet customer expectations especially as there were industries with really bad records.
• In that instance govt had to provide more legislation but there are also instances where it can be streamlined. One example is provisional tax which is an opportunity for technology to help by Apr 2018 that will be replaced by real time online tax payments
• English is v confident about NZ over the next 3-5 years. There's a greater degree of confidence and competence showing in the business community. Contacts overseas reminds him of how well we have done. The Chinese Premier knew a lot of detail about us
  Some random points I noted - can't remember context
• Smaller and different is what the public sector struggles with most
• Perception on the left is businesses rip you off and govt should do everything
• Getting authorities to understand time is money is challenging
• Government innovation is seen as an oxymoron
• Govt should support business innovation because they're not going to lead it
• We need to examine multiple pathways because no one can be certain which ones will work
• Turning ideas into commercial reality is the hard part and that's not about money it's about people
• Govt can hand out cash but not good at working out what is innovation
• Govt shouldn't fund hospital schools and prisons it should fund patients, children and problem people
• Finance isn't a constraint Finding solutions is
• Council and govt now geared for growth
• Akl Unitary Plan had a big impact on govt. It could have fallen well short of the govt's aspirations for Akl - but didn't
• Akl did a really good job they're now planning for growth and the message he brings is the govt is willing to invest

Sorry about length of post. English gave more substantive detail in 40 mins than Key did in the 4 or 5 speeches I heard him make.

Few main impressions. English really, really cares. Deride him for his politics and policies but don't doubt that. First PM to ever make the effort to gain a reasonable level of fluency in Te Reo.

He's a bright bastard and very competent and I reckon he's better able to make tough decisions than Key was because he doesn't care about personal popularity. He's an old fashioned conviction politician but with some very modern ideas.

Shame he's been saddled with the scenario of Peters as the king maker because I think he could make an excellent PM, but if that does transpire i think Winston will find English a tougher proposition than Bolger was or Key would've been

@NTA said in Bledisloe 2:

As for the conduct in the coaches box: I believe I've said before that if Shag & Co want to sit there like they've been forced to attend their least favourite cousin's wedding, they're more than welcome.

Cheika may go OTT but that's his business. You may think he looks like a dick doing it, and that's your business.

I just wonder how effective he can be as a coach when he comes across as the worst sort of rabid one-eyed fan.

I mean I have mates (I know, I know) who act like Chieka does - histrionically questioning every decision as if it was the fifth trumpet of the apocalypse that sounded rather than a refs whistle.

Admire their passion but don't listen to a word they say and occasionally have to simply tell them to shut the fuck up!

That's fine with your drinking buddy - but your coach?

You don't have to sit there sphinx like as Shag does - but I know who comes across more like someone who has an opinion I might actually care to hear

It has been interesting to read this thread from beginning to end in one go.

Team announced: Thank Fark. That really is our best team apart from Retallick. The Wobblies are in for a world of hurt.

Post Game: Hanson's shit. Team's shit. Tactics shit. Captain Shit. Wallabies brilliant. We are doomed. Worst loss ever. We need to bring in more Blues/Crusaders (delete depending on your provincial bias).

The only bit I really agree with is the Wallabies were brilliant. The shame of the game for me is that we really didn't see enough IMO to determine if the two experiments held any promise although I agree Smith looked ponderous. I'm also struggling to remember when tandem open sides has ever worked for us. To be fair Hanson came out against the idea but I guess Savea's form and the lack of bona-fide 6's made it worth a go. I didn't read too many complaining about it earlier in the week. As such I think it is worth persevering with. We know what the other options at blindside are.

The one player I thinks has well over-stayed his welcome is Franks.

It confirmed what I have thought for the last 4 years; Retallick is our most important player. When he went down against the Boks I feared our RWC defence was in tatters.

We looked much better when we kept hold of the pill instead of aimlessly hoofing it downtown. I think we created at least two dead cert tries if the 15th man had been there to take the final pass.

How good were Aussie? Very, very good. How good did we allow them to be? Too friggin good...

I agree she should have been safe. Just as I should have been safe walking anywhere in Buenos Aires or parts of Cambodia or any of the other places I have been warned never to venture.

I guess I should have been able to get a drink in the Old Rising Sun pub right here in Auckland rather than be told I was the wrong fucking colour and that if I stayed another minute both my legs would get broken.

People should feel safe on the streets, with strangers - in their own homes - day or night - anywhere, anytime.

Unfortunately that ain't the world we live in. Never has been and sadly probably never will be and no amount of posturing hysteria is going to alter that.

Grace Millane's father obviously realises this and has responded with a personal dignity in devastating circumstances that is a true salute to his daughters too short life. The social and mainstream media moirologists and our PM should follow his example instead of trying to outdo each other with displays of faux grief and outrage.

@JC afraid so - I was just in that stats site that gets repeatedly put up. Played around with the tests/1,000 data they have Chose NZ Italy, OZ, USA, Sth Korea, France, UK, Germany. Italy came out ahead - just above us. You can really see that we have ramped up over the last week but even at our worst we were middle of the pack

@Crucial did he get you to use a four foot long wooden one as well?

Oh and I will have to try it with beef cheeks. Loooove beef cheeks

@shark i agree about the quality of the store bought options but I almost always make my own pastes. I genuinely find spending a couple of hours peeling, chopping and pounding away with the pestle and mortar immensely satisfying and quite cathartic.

My rendang paste has about 15 ingredients. Probably doesn't taste that different to Ayam's but I just love the whole process.

@Kirwan the baron gave an example. Which IMO was ridiculous.

As soon as you are in a situation where there is a complete lockdown except for essential services then you have to define "essential". It's the govts role to do this. They explained their rationale behind excluding butchers and greengrocers etc. You don't have to accept it but there was a degree of thought behind it.

Personally I think the govt has allowed too many companies to push the envelope. If we have to have a lockdown I'd prefer it to be short and brutal so that we maximise the opportunity to return to some sort of normality as quickly as possible.

Of course many would not have enforced the lockdown

@JC I don't disagree with anything that you've written which is why I made the point that NZ is in the fortunate position of having had two decades of careful Finance Ministers and had by world standards low govt debt going into the pandemic.

Don't get me wrong I do think this is going to be very difficult both individually (for all but a few) and collectively, but the 30's demonstrated the folly of cutting costs in times like these.

In terms of the govt dictating the circumstances that led to the job losses does anyone really think we should have left the borders open and even if we had would tourists have still been coming?

In terms of the broader impacts - large tranches of the economy should gear up again reasonably well. Countries will still need to buy our food, construction will get a stimulus, but I think the point being missed is that if we had sustained and high death rates a lot of companies wouldn't have suvived that scenario either.

There's a lot of criticism of actions that the govt has taken, and, despite the view of others I have been no big fan of this govt, however I have yet to see a single alternative option put forward that couldn't be distilled down to leave everything open - we will be OK.

2nd time today my clumsy fingers have completely changed the meaning of what I meant to type. Apologies @JC

@Baron-Silas-Greenback Are you trying to be deliberately obtuse or contrary? If so congratulations.

Work in an essential industry with no alternative options or work in a non essential industry with options.

GP's and Pharmacies have been given 15mill each (last week) with more to come

Akl Council's list of immediate infrastructure projects for govt funding:

•Developing a rapid transit system to the North West
•Funding light rail from the City Centre to Mt Roskill and Māngere
•A fourth main trunk rail line constructed at the same time as the third to save costs
•Increasing NZTA funding proportions for projects such as the Matakana Link Road, which could start immediately, and the second and third stages of the Eastern Busway to Botany
•Sped up construction of cycleways which could start immediately
•Bringing forward roading renewals currently at the back of the 10-year Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP)
•Creating a charging network and bus depots to accelerate electrification of the city’s bus fleet
•Funding local roads in new housing developments such as Drury
•Building infrastructure to allow intensive residential and commercial precincts around the new City Rail Link stations at Mt Eden, Karangahape Rd and Aotea Centre
•Funding underground fresh, waste and stormwater infrastructure in regeneration programmes such as Tāmaki, and new developments such as the Unitec site
•Bringing forward separation of wastewater from stormwater to clean up Auckland’s harbours
•Cultural and community amenities such as building a Pasifika and Māori cultural centre at Manukau, Te Papa North.

There are still places in Akl where you can see the concrete roads laid down during the 30's Depression. My grandfather worked on Great North Road. He was an unemployed teacher.

@MajorRage my brother and I are debating this. He trades jet fuel and is betting the bank on a quick resumption of international travel.

I'm telling him he's deluded.

Then it gets all brotherly