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Welcome to Tuesday the 1st of March and what a red letter day! Today is a day of joy and unabashed delight.ÌýÌý

Looking overseas, we have almost universal pressure from the world on Russia to end its occupation of Ukraine, it'sÌýI think the first time IÌýhave seenÌýin my lifetime the world coming together and saying no, this is unacceptable andÌýthey're prepared to put money where their mouths are in terms of the sanctions, in terms of not allowing Russian athletes deployments across the board, it'sÌýjust about every sphere.ÌýÌý

The major democracies of the world finally showing that they do indeed have cojones in putting significant and meaningful sanctions on Russia.ÌýMake no mistake this will hurt Putin and Russia.ÌýÌý

Closer to home,Ìýself-isolationÌýis over for returning Kiwis.ÌýFinally, finally a little bit of common sense!ÌýÌý

We are so lucky to live in an age of FaceTime and Zoom, but nothing, absolutely nothing beats the connection of a full body hug between people who love one another, just who haven't seen each other for ages and ages.ÌýÌý

Then, overnight we have the announcement of a most excellent trade deal that's been negotiated between New Zealand and the UK.ÌýThe deal will cut costs for New Zealand exporters provide significantly greater access to the UK market and advance other issues important to news.ÌýÌýÌý50 years later, we're back almost where we started with Britain.ÌýÌý

SoÌýa great day for New Zealand all round!Ìý