It isn't looking so good for Macron, with the extreme right having done so well in the first round. So bad in fact that even the French communist, socialist, Green & conservative candidates have now given him their backing so as to keep Marine Le Pen & her merry band of complete bastards out.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220...nst-le-pen

"In a boost for the president, Communist Party candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot of the Greens and right-wing┬á[i]Les R├®publicains[/i]┬ácandidate Val├®rie P├®cresse said they would vote for him to prevent the┬áfar-right leader┬ácoming to power.

ÔÇ£So that France does not fall into hatred of all against all, I solemnly call on you to vote on April 24 against the far-right of Marine Le Pen,ÔÇØ Hidalgo said."


https://www.france24.com/en/presidential-election-2022/


Marine le Pen
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...nce-europe

"Le PenÔÇÖs meteoric rise in the first-round polls mirrors ZemmourÔÇÖs decline since the Ukraine invasion.
In mid-February, they were both on about 16%. She is now on 22-24%, with Zemmour slumped at 8-10%. It is one of the great oddities of the campaign that Zemmour has paid dearly for his Putin idolatry but Le Pen ÔÇô an even more enthusiastic Moscowteer ÔÇô has not.
ZemmourÔÇÖs extremism on race and Islam allowed Le Pen to present herself as a mainstream politician close to ordinary people. She spotted early the opportunities provided by low wages and high prices. Since the Ukraine invasion, she has reaped electoral benefits by connecting Russian sanctions ÔÇô of which she disapproves ÔÇô to the cost of living."

I've been told that I will need to fit a head restraint for the centre fold down seat in a '95 Toyota Hiace van in order to get a WOF?
Apparently it's a new rule?
Is this correct? 
The seat has never had a head restraint and there is no sensible way to fit one - can I be required to retrofit one?

Allegedly to make up for losses in their war on Ukraine. If they're anything like the old TV series, its probably not going to help much.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300...in-ukraine

"Russia has suffered such heavy losses in Ukraine it is now calling up soldiers who have been retired for up to a decade, according to Western intelligence.

BritainÔÇÖs Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that Moscow was seeking to "bolster troop numbers with personnel discharged from military service since 2012".
"Russia will likely continue to throw badly damaged and partially reconstituted units piecemeal into offensive operations that make limited gains at great cost," it said.

Russia has suffered thousands of casualties since it invaded Ukraine on February 24 and its spring recruitment drive will not deliver trained soldiers for 12 months."



Ukraine has supporters from some unlikely areas, though including some from the film industry.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300...ine-forces

Most people treat lichen and moss as they would a noxious weed or dose of the clap.
they hate it.they try to rid themselves of it.
i embrace it.
i think its grand.
New Zealand is the lichen capital of the world, and has more species of lichen than anywhere else on earth.
More than 2000 differing types.

i have a lovely drift of it growing on my driveway, and ive got the mailbox right where i want it.
isnt it gorgeous?

this side has blooms

    ┬á

total coverage

   

He's now changed his mind & says fair pay isn't the end of civilisation as we know it, the sky will not fall & employees won't have the ability to take industrial action during  negotiations, as he wrongly claimed.


Interesting that its invariably parties on the right who aren't often keen on employees benefiting.


https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/...ation.html

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/...wkm2yKoY 

Would anyone know how I could contact Scotties Crafts in Auckland please.  Thank you

This lot do seem to have a happy knack of spreading discord wherever they go. Its now autumn; they surely don't intend to remain there through winter - they'll be freezing bits off if they try that.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1282906...llage-gone

"Campers occupying the Christchurch red zone have been aggressive towards locals, cutting up trees, defecating in bushes, and lighting fires, say residents who want them gone.

Saw a mouse running down the skirting on monday.
we live on a rural fringe, paddocks behind us, so every year about this time they start sneaking in.
one year it was rats *shudder*
put the traps down last nite got one in each before bed, and one in each again this morning.
erk alors a pestilence. a horde. 
it doesnt help we leave doors and windows open all day and night.
we do not want a cat.
im not keen on them.
id rather put up with the odd mouse.

and dr bloomfield is retiring his post.
standing ovation at the press conference im told.

i have tremendous respect for the man.
understated, calm, rational, confident. well spoken
he might have the best record on the planet for dealing with covid.
there wouldnt be many health tsars out there with a better record.

we couldnt have had a better person at the helm during this pandemic imo.
thanks doc, for a job well done.