New Zealand political discussion thread

[CumbrianLefty]

Some people are sniffy about the adoration Ardern can get from "progressives" outside New Zealand.

But genuinely, she is pretty impressive.

[CumbrianLefty]

And it is right that Ardern is getting the credit.

[CumbrianLefty]

He did the right thing. Maybe it isn't totally fair as you suggest, but politics often isn't.

[CumbrianLefty]

Had the household in question recently been abroad?

[CumbrianLefty]

Had the household in question recently been abroad?

They said no clear connection to overseas travel or border control, but we simply don't know yet how they got it.

Apparently one of those affected worked at a freight depot - a possible explanation?

[CumbrianLefty]

He's just trying to bait Jacinda into a response probably

[CumbrianLefty]

i know that NZ has advantages other countries don't, but the record still looks impressive overall.

[CumbrianLefty]

Hmmm, it might if the Nationals didn't have rather bigger skeletons in that closet.

[CumbrianLefty]

Might even help Ardern with some Greeny types?

[CumbrianLefty]

Jeremy Corbyn and a few other left wing Labour MPs of his vintage often made a point of not wearing ties in the Commons in the 1980s, even though it was expected for male members back then.

[CumbrianLefty]

Roy Morgan always overestimates the Greens, but perhaps Labour being a moderate government and house prices becoming ever more affordable is having some impact on left-wing young voters.

Why would this negatively affect Labour support?

[CumbrianLefty]

Mental health worsening and Covid are surely connected, though.

[CumbrianLefty]

Some people not surprisingly seeing this as an overreaction, but despite the tendency to lump the two countries together on Covid (and of course more generally) NZ seems overall to have handled things much better than Australia and life has been considerably more "normal" there for some time now.

So fingers crossed

[CumbrianLefty]

If he is really the best they can do.....

[CumbrianLefty]

Said "word cloud" might be more impressive if we could actually see it

[CumbrianLefty]

Zero Covid is a fantasy even in a country like NZ - who knew?

[CumbrianLefty]

What's wrong with keeping everyone in lockdown until herd immunity is reached through vaccination? Ardern has all the power here. F the economy, I care about human lives, dammit!

Lockdowns have a cost including human lives, same with major economic downturns.

Ultimately its about trade offs.

[CumbrianLefty]

What's wrong with keeping everyone in lockdown until herd immunity is reached through vaccination? Ardern has all the power here. F the economy, I care about human lives, dammit!

The economy affects human lives.

A comment of yours that will draw forth widespread agreement! It was bound to happen eventually

[CumbrianLefty]

The statement "100% of Republicans will never get vaccinated" is pure content free trolling.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not even Trump losing an election he should have won - given incumbency and the economic boom - cheered you up? I suppose some people are hard to please.

[CumbrianLefty]

Hoover had an epoch making economic crash on his watch, Trump didn't. Not much else to say tbh.

[CumbrianLefty]

Rather like New Labour back in the day, then? Thing is, that gets found out eventually.

(though it may also be relevant that Ardern's party is still distinctly to the left of the 80s version)

[CumbrianLefty]

Well yes, that is fairly well known. Also that she places herself to the left of him.

[CumbrianLefty]

The continuing lockdown has probably hit government popularity a bit. Plus the Nationals are hardly brimming with talent - Collins took over because there was basically no one else!

[CumbrianLefty]

Again, who is this as yet undiscovered person who is going to transform National's fortunes?

They've had a succession of rubbish leaders since Key for a reason.