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December 20, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 20 December 2023

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mikenmildagain

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Happy International Human Solidarity Day!
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December 20, 2023 8:01am
- Inandout
  
  m&m, also known as Thick as a Brick Day.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:13am
- NothingLeft
  
  Celebrating the left hand side of the bell curve day
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:08am
- cmm
  
  Human Solidarity? What a meaningless thing.
  
  “I stand with everyone” is as meaningless as “I stand for everything”.
  
  If you stand for something it has to mean you also stand against something, or it means nothing.
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:07am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Human Solidarity sounds like quasi-marxist newspeak for some form of lefty silliness.
    
    Oh look, it’s about lefties celebrating far left agendas and the far left agendas pushed by the far left UN.
    https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-solidarity-day
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:11pm
- Ehlana
  
  Today is International Dalek Remembrance Day, as they first appeared on this day in 1963.
  
  Daysoftheyear notes Daleks “were inspired by and fashioned after the Nazi’s of Third Reich Germany. They’re strong believers that everything not a Dalek is an inferior race” and that while they are nearly indestructible and terrifying “their personality leads one to believe that they’re little more than “toddlers in perpetual hissy fits” who absolutely go violently insane when they’re will or ambition is thwarted.”
  
  Sounds familiar.
  
  Re-mem-ber. Re-mem-ber.
  
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  December 21, 2023 8:40am
Benedict Yu

Jacinda Ardern gave yet another speech to a ‘leadership conference’ in Boston last week.

She made a statement which is revealing about her failures, and the failures of her government…..

“Ardern, now a fellow at Harvard University, also spoke about how ordinary people can rise to extraordinary leadership challenges. “I’m living, breathing, incredibly flawed proof that you underestimate what you are capable of until you do it.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jacinda-ardern-margaret-atwood-america-211100966.html

I think she is wrong. Competence matters. Extraordinary leadership challenges can only be met by people with exceptional leadership skills. By definition, such people are rare. That Jacinda thinks that any old person can successfully respond to “extraordinary leadership challenges” is terrifying. It also tells us much about her abject failures. The last government failed primarily because it had few, if any, senior Ministers who were remotely competent in their jobs.

In saying this…

“”I’m living, breathing, incredibly flawed proof that you underestimate what you are capable of until you do it.”….

… Jacinda is deluded. The only thing that she got correct was her self assessment as being “incredibly flawed”.
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December 20, 2023 8:01am
- kevn
  
  BY… She meant ‘overestimated’ of course.
  Rooting NZ on the way through.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:17am
  - mawm
    
    The problem is that she does not know what competence is. She has been seeped in socialist ideology and apart from a few months with Blair and WEF her experience in the outside world is severely limited. It takes years of exposure to alternative views and to corporate structures to see what the “capable” achieve and to be able to benchmark oneself – if one has the ability to do some honest introspection. Some people do not have that ability and will always rate themselves as more capable than others will.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:33am
- slightlyrighty
  
  Given the recent controversies at Harvard, and its push for Diversity, Equality and inclusiveness at the expense of clear academic rigour and freedom, Ardern is a great fit.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:21am
  - Clyde
    
    Correct. The problem is that many Universities which were either great or respected have lost their community credibility. The fact that Harvard invite demonstrable failures like Ardern to become a “fellow” is proof that these institutions have lost their way big time.
    
    The situation in NZ is just as bad – some would argue it is worse. Riddled with BS beliefs that the East Polynesian culture and knowledge was superior or even equal to cultures such as had been thriving in the East and West for many centuries, is nothing other than woke virtue signalling of the worst kind. I have nothing against the study of Polynesian culture, but it doesn’t mean that it takes priority over the cultures that produced Aristotle, da Vinci, Copernicus, Einstein, Confucious et al.
    
    But that is where NZ has landed. Polynesian influence at all levels of University management and governance as well as teaching. Time for a BIG reset. And that can only be achieved by one thing – funding. If a tertiary institution wants to continue down this BS pathway then they fund it by their student fees alone. No public money to be paid to produce crap.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:12am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      I’m sure the governors at Harvard are quaking in their boots being slammed by an anonymous keyboard warrior at the end of the world.
      
      How long will it take to get enough downticks to vanish …. ? 🙂
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:34am
      - Local Miller
        
        I take it Ian that you aren’t following the hearings in the USA where the heads of these esteemed institutions are being grilled on their woke responses to what’s going on on their campuses, and that some of these have been sued by students because they have failed in their responsibility to keep the students safe.
        Oh, and one is holding onto her job by the skin of her teeth after she was found guilty of plagiarizing some of here research.
        
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        December 20, 2023 2:04pm
      - Jack5
        
        Governors at Harvard won’t know of posts in this faraway blog let alone be quaking in their boots, as Ian Board points out.
        
        However, Claudine Gay, the African American president of Harvard, is under attack.
        
        From the Wall Street Journal today:
        
        Ms. Gay wasn’t hired for her academic chops, and her problematic publishing record has become an additional embarrassment. Harvard has been forced to acknowledge multiple instances of “inadequate citation,” which is more commonly known as plagiarism. By some counts, close to half of Ms. Gay’s academic output contains instances of copying word-for-word from another source without using quotation marks.
        
        The newspaper contrasts Gay’s fate with that of University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill. She resigned after being challenged over anti-semitism policy.
        
        The following link is to another newspaper’s report about controversy over three highly ranked US universities:
        
        https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/07/university-president-backlash-house-hearing/71837885007/
        
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        December 20, 2023 2:56pm
  - Agricola
    
    Found this (or it found me), and it sheds light on the American college disease.
    https://youtu.be/EgLc2qFeQ0A?si=vgxiJCdTU778TaPo
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:57am
- Biscuit
  
  Benedict, I used to rate Harvard.
  
  In particular, I v. much rated Michael Sandell, the political philosopher and professor there.
  
  Sandell had a course on Justice that, 12 episodes long, was filmed and is available on You Tube.
  
  This is a link to the v. first of those lectures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY
  
  Brilliant stuff – non-judgemental, informative, inclusive, intelligent, uncuecarded or teleprompted, convincing…
  
  However did their standards fall to the extent that they now let Jacinda Ardern – who displays zero point zero zero of Sandell’s traits – preach at them?
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:27am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Take a look.
    
    Harvard sees major drop in applications after ‘disastrous’ hearing
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zUimNbFP88&ab_channel=FoxNews
    
    “Stefanik Asks Harvard’s President If ‘Calling For The Genocide Of Jews Violates Harvard’s Rules”
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwu3rBAWvOQ&ab_channel=ForbesBreakingNews
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:36am
    - Che Guava
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Who called for the “genocide of Jews” at Harvard and when? Equating criticism , or even just non-support, of Israel is not “anti-semitism” and “from the river to the sea” is not calling for the genocide of Jews. No wonder more and more people are beginning to see what the Jews are all about, and how hysterical they get when their interests are questioned or threatened. Six out of eight Ivy League schools have Jewish presidents and when Harvard’s non-Jewish president doesn’t conform to the demands of Jewry, we get a Congressional hearing. Yet they’re still claiming victimhood. I believe the word for this is ‘chutzpah.’
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:05am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        What exactly, in practical, actionable terms, do you think ” From the river to the sea” means?
        
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        December 20, 2023 9:41am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “…..and “from the river to the sea” is not calling for the genocide of Jews.”
        
        Yes it does. The chant is demanding that all Jews be eradicated in the land area bordered by the River Jordan and the Mediterranean.
        
        What do you think it means?
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:07am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        If ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free’ is a call for genocide when used by Palestinians, then it must also be a call for genocide when used by Israelis, as in a Likud manifesto: ‘between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.’
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:15am
      - James Stephenson
        
        then it must also be a call for genocide when used by Israelis, as in a Likud manifesto
        
        Why must it? Has the treatment of Arab Israelis by Likud been the same as the treatment of Jews by Hamas?
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:49am
      - Che Guava
        
        Dudley
        I’m sure that the Palestinians would be just as happy if the Israelis simply up and disappeared back to Eastern Europe and America, where the majority of them came from.
        
        Of course, there is significant political value for Jews to claim that “from the river to the sea” really means, and can only mean, genociding Jews. The value is that this interpretation provides moral cover for the Jews’ own genocidal behaviour towards and hostile attitudes against the Palestinians. In this and other ways, they are masters of projection.
        
        Basically, it seems the Jews see any criticism of Jews as a group, or practically anything that isn’t to their benefit, as the first step on the road to genociding Jews – there’s a pathological sense of victimhood underpinning this bizarre equation. Then again, I doubt they really believe this: but it suits them to overblow and exaggerate their perception of gentiles’ attitude towards them.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:09am
      - ISeeRed
        
        A new low for you. You have completely trashed your reputation here.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:21am
      - Che Guava
        
        ISeeRed
        Care to tell me how and why I’m wrong? Mere indignation at someone for disagreeing with you may be emotional, but it’s certainly not rational. I’m only interested in finding and speaking the truth, not in confirming the majority opinion. I’ll happily reconsider my views when I find fault in them.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:42am
      - Local Miller
        
        Don’t be silly Che Guava you aren’t interested in the truth or reconsidering you views WRT Israel. This is quite clear in that you are clearly ignoring all the history around the use of “From the river to the sea” and the historical call from Hamas (as opposed to “Palestinians” generally) that “Palestine” won’t be free until every Jew is dead.
        A little reading will show this to be true, but you refuse to read or admit to this truth.
        It has often been said and is true: If Hamas (and associated anti-Israel organizations) were to give up their arms, there would be peace in the middle east, but if Israel were to give up their arms, they would be wiped off the map.
        
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        December 20, 2023 2:18pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Its an interesting clash of emotions.!!!
        The sensitivity regarding Anti Semitism
        and freedom of speech.
        
        So a criticism of Israel is bad(anti semitic) under one regime of thinking
        
        Verses freedom of speech on the subject(as the women under interrogation was poorly articulating.)
        
        I am reminded of the opinion that if you are truly for freedom of speech there is no BUT.
        eg I am for freedom of speech but…..anti semitic speech is not allowed..
        
        The current emotional response regarding pro Palestinian supporters chant of ….the river to the sea,… is again limiting the free speech ethos.
        
        For the umpty umpthy time. The Hamas political charter is the Hamas Charter not the Gaza charter(there is not one).
        
        It is being used as a political slogan(freedom of speech). Not a dictate to listeners/readers to commit an act of violence.
        
        But of course, its much more “”fun”” to jump on the kill all the jews rhetoric and therefore trash all those who support a Palestinian desire for peace.
        
        OK team of 26 and like minded reactionaries. Downtick away.
        
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        December 20, 2023 4:23pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      Mike, there has been Israeli sovereignty in Israel for some seventy years. In that time, would you rather have been an Arab Muslim living in Israel or a Jew living in any of Israel’s Arab Muslim neighbours?
      
      See, Israel has not thought it necessary to eradicate its Muslim population in order to maintain its sovereignty. On the contrary, Muslim Israeli citizens have the same rights as other Israeli citizens.
      
      Continuing that situation to continue, as set out in the Likud manifesto, leaves them as they are, which is substantially better off than are Muslims in most other Middle Eastern countries, let alone Jews in other Muslim countries.
      
      How would you expect a the change required by “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, ie to a situation where Israel becomes another Arab Muslim state, to affect the current population of Israel?
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:44am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Life for non-Jewish people on the West Bank is pretty hard. About 100k “settlers” who have taken much of the primo real estate and have military backing to
        
        (a) protect what they have taken
        (b) throw the odd (unhappy) local into jail
        (c) bulldoze the odd village
        (d) economically strangle the non-Jews
        
        Not to mention that the settlements have swimming pools and green lawns when the village down the hill is not permitted to sink any wells for their own water. It seems to be acceptable for vigilante settler groups to go and beat up locals from time to time as well.
        
        You can justify this I guess by saying the Israeli military have it pretty much under control and anyway only a few non-Jews get killed …..
        
        I haven’t seen any suggestion that the Likud manifesto might mention that West Bankies would become Israeli citizens. That would seriously dilute the Jewishness of the place
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:24am
      - Tom Hunter
        
        I used to not have any time for the Western Bank Zionists because of what they’re doing there.
        
        But Hamas didn’t attack them. They attacked the Kibbutz’s in the South, little havens of socialism for 70+ years on land that – aside from the modern Palestinian movement – has not been in dispute since the 1948 partition.
        
        When you’ve lost Leftist Jews like these people, then it starts to look like the West Bank Zionists were right all along. There is no living with an enemy like that.
        
        No matter how kind and helpful you’ve been to them, no matter what practical help you’ve given and that you’ve supported almost all of their cause they will eventually try to kill you – simply because you’re a Jew, with no mention made in their words and actions, in the moment, of land, which is now revealed as merely a propaganda cover argument used in the West and in political forums.
        
        It turns out that the old hatred is still what really counts.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:44am
      - double d
        
        Mike has made this claim a few times.
        It was in Likud’s manifesto in 1977.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:02pm
  - cmm
    
    Earlier this year I did some AI courses through Harvard.
    
    They even managed to woke that to hell.
    
    About a third of the course was bollocks about diversity and equality etc.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:36am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Cmm,
      It sounds like artificial intelligence might be their forte !
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:08am
      - John Loveridge
        
        Well, they seem to be lacking the real stuff these days.
        
        I wonder if Piggy’s old quip about NZers departing for Australia holds true about Jacinda leaving New Zealand for Harvard: has it raised the average IQ of both places?
        
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        December 20, 2023 1:24pm
    - Local Miller
      
      What do you call a blond who dies their hair red?
      
      Artificial Intelligence.
      
      This is not a sexist joke as no sex has been referenced in the language used.
      
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      December 20, 2023 2:24pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Harvard is a salutary reminder that the private sector doesn’t necessarily do everything better than the public sector. Harvard is funded (as I understand) entirely by private donors, but is one of the wokest institutions on the planet.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:44am
    - cmm
      
      Harvard gets huge amounts of federal funding (many hundreds of million USD) as well as various tax breaks.
      
      A lot of that is wokery. eg in 2021 Harvard received a $2.8 million award from the National Science Foundation to help minority youth pursue STEM careers.
      
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      December 20, 2023 11:13am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        OK, thanks for the clarification. So they don’t get ALL their money from private sources, but they are nevertheless a private university. Similarly, Amazon is an uberwoke private company.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:15am
    - Paulus
      
      John Harvard from, Liverpool UK, a Presbyterian Minister, would be horrified at what comes forth in his name now.
      eg Ardern
      
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      December 20, 2023 1:37pm
    - Colinxy
      
      The problem is that Marxists are pushing out shareholder capitalism for stake holder capitalism.
      
      It is the stated aim of Klaus Schwab, the chairman of WEF. His henchmen, like Larry Fink the CEO of BlackRock, have publicly stated they will force companies to do their bidding and given the results of various companies under the spell of the big Asset Management companies (like BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street), it’s hard to argue against their involvement for pushing “Woke” – like Disney.
      
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      December 20, 2023 5:51pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Equally terrifying Ben, is that an august institution like Harvard make Ardern a fellow with her only “achievement” being that she meant well.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:32am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    She meant “well controlled”
    Go back to her 2009 speech. President of the International Socialist Youth.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:59am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Have you seen their diversity hire president? Black Female and now revealed to be an extensive academic Plagiarist. Harvard has been torching it’s reputation of late and shedding donors like crazy.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:06am
  - goNZ1
    
    Also she put on a hijab and hugged Muslims for the cameras, that serious brownie points right there
    
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    December 21, 2023 4:09am
- imalwaysright
  
  What she means is that she has Prime Minister on her CV and some of her half witted mates tell her she’s the greatest .
  Therefore , in her mind, she believes she is the greatest prime minister.
  Yes, she is that dim.
  And yes, she is that shallow.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:37am
  - mandk
    
    Jacinda the Vainglorious!
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:17am
  - mawm
    
    imalways – it is also a reflection on the caliber of those who voted her into power.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:36am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Put her waffle beside a true person who has come from no where, Rangitatas new Mp and his rousing maiden speech and see who is competent. Ardern will be seen by all before long as a total failed plastic loser
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:48am
- Stellaboxer
  
  BYu she also wasn’t as “ordinary “ as she likes to describe herself. She is typical of those class tourists that like to champion the working class but would be totally uncomfortable if they sat down to a meal with them. Her faux empathy for them is just that in reality they are, as are Māori and Pacific Islanders, two dimensional beings with out personal agency floundering in a world too sophisticated for them to deal with and in need of her help, promotion and caring. Of course whilst all this sweating of blood occurs she climbs the slippery pole of politics and becomes a multi millionaire. Yuk.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:33am
- cmm
  
  This is supposed to be self deprecating.
  We’re all supposed to be saying : “Awww, how humble she is. She’s really amazeballs.”
  
  The truth though is that she’s bloody useless and is a textbook case of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:34am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    That’s pretty much Barry Soper’s opinion of her:
    
    But really it just shows you, given the overwhelming support she had two years ago, how ill-equipped she was to do the job by quitting a year early.”
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/dame-jacinda-arderns-legacy-barry-soper-and-audrey-young-on-the-front-page/RCI563RTNZF5RBQ7J5J75LB6UI/
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:17am
    - Ian Boag
      
      quitting a year early
      
      Make of it what you will I guess. Key was a bit less than that as I recall …..
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:40am
      - James Stephenson
        
        Quitting, because you didn’t think you had a fourth term in you, with enough time for your successor to make their mark isn’t the same as bailing out part way through your second term before an obvious impending thrashing in the election.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:57am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Disingenuous Ian. Key served 8 years, 24 days, Ardern 5 years, 91 days. And from what I have heard, the work ethic and intellectual capacity of the two was poles apart.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:59am
      - cmm
        
        It would be safe to say that Key quit at the top of his career. He would almost certainly have survived another election.
        
        Cindy pulled her parachute with only seconds to spare before hitting the rocks.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:15am
      - Ghost
        
        Yeah. In a way it is the same Ian, and politicians should quit when they no longer have the desire to be in the job.
        
        But it’s also different in a way, Key experienced a level of abuse towards himself and his family that we hadn’t seen before. But now, we have surpassed that with Jacinda to the point she is going to need tax payer security for a long time to come.
        
        You know what is sad Ian. People on the right were disgusted by the abuse thrown at Key and his family, but some have thrown far worse at Jacinda and her mp’s.
        
        Jacinda did the right things, she left when she knew it was time to go.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:28am
      - John Loveridge
        
        Are you deliberately trolling today, Ian?
        
        Anyway, there’s a critical difference. I’d say that Key quit while he was on top, while Ardern quit just before she struck rock-bottom.
        
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        December 20, 2023 1:26pm
- Damocles11
  
  She is living, breathing proof that ‘the Peter principle’ & ‘the Dunning-Kruger effect’ are both very, very real phenomena.
  
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  December 20, 2023 10:43am
- rouppe
  
  Spending a couple of days in Singapore on the way to Europe.
  
  Taxi driver quite talkative. Brought up the topic of Jacinda. Told him that she promised to lift children out of poverty but made it worse, house people but never built houses promised, and that she is definitely not popular in NZ right now.
  
  Of course, he was surprised, but it’s important to get the communications out, right?
  
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  December 20, 2023 2:11pm
- Faroffsound
  
  Ms Ardern is an intellectual/political lightweight who should never have been anywhere near the ninth floor. Don’t forget who we have to thank for her rise to the top.
  
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  December 20, 2023 2:34pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    She was the natural conclusion of NZ’s very silly and prevalent you-go-girl-ism culture. There will probably be more to come.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:19pm
The Redbaiter

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Good to see the Taxpayer’s Union (Mr Farrar is a founding member) is taking a stand against PM Luxon for his hypocrisy over the Maori language tuition fees. The PM’s attempts to wriggle his way out by saying payments in the form of a bonus are somehow different to using his PM’s expenditure account are shameful to observe. Either way, it is still taxpayer’s money.

Then there is the issue of the electric vehicle. When Mr Luxon was seeking the acclaim of media liberals, the car was his. However when the conversation turned to the prickly issue of claiming the subsidy, the car suddenly became the property of his wife, and therefore couldn’t be talked about.

Mr Luxon has acted like an arrogant hypocrite and an unprincipled tightwad in these matters, and it’s a shame he apparently doesn’t know better than to allow himself to be caught out this way.

The two incidents combined make the PM look like a wrong un who perhaps would have been better joining the Labour party.(Rumours among his own Air NZ colleagues suggest he once tried to.)

Mr Luxon should pay both sums of money back to the taxpayers if he wants to regain credibility and respect as leader of the National Party. If it is ever going to be possible.
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December 20, 2023 8:01am
- Peter S
  
  I have to disagree with you RB.
  
  I see nothing wrong with public money being used for education and study. It is a well established thing and totally uncontroversial.
  
  Getting a bonus payment of public money for having studied is something entirely different.
  
  Comparing the two is an apple and oranges thing.
  
  Luxon’s only failure has been in the ability to slap down the faux argument in the way it deserves.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:07am
  - R
    
    been in the ability to slap down……
    The media are going to ‘play’ this for a long time; they have nothing else to write about.
    Their factual investigating reporting skills are non existent.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:05am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Indeed. Why would he (or his wife) not claim the EV subsidy? Another example – the “fees free” policy is stupid. Does that mean that any National MP with a child attending University should volunteer to pay fees to the University?
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:11am
    - The Redbaiter
      
      Benedict Yu- “Why would he (or his wife) not claim the EV subsidy?”
      
      Because Luxon stated the subsidy was taking money from hard working tradies to line the pockets of the rich elite.
      
      After making such a statement, no man with any self respect would claim the subsidy himself. (or when he is PM, allow his wife to do so)
      
      I know the legacy (fake) media is full of partisan attacks on the National party, but this should not blind us to obvious mistakes.
      
      This is not right, and its only partisan National supporters who support it. They are giving Labour oxygen by pretending it is not hypocritical, greedy and grasping.
      
      6 30
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      December 20, 2023 10:19am
      - Damocles11
        
        Just ignore the mainstream media & cancel any subscriptions you have with them, don’t buy their print versions. They are dying off and so is Labours support.
        
        16 0
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        December 20, 2023 10:45am
      - Flossie
        
        allow his wife to do so…..
        I take exception to that. I’m sure his wife is perfectly capable of making her own decisions!
        
        17 2
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        December 20, 2023 11:14am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “or when he is PM, allow his wife to do so”
        
        You think he can order his wife about?
        
        20 0
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        December 20, 2023 11:31am
      - Ghost
        
        There seem to be a couple of people here who think a wife shouldn’t be free to do what she wants without the husband controlling her.
        
        15 1
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        December 20, 2023 11:47am
      - The Redbaiter
        
        “order his wife about”
        
        Spare me the third wave feminist over-reactions. This isn’t the point, but seeing you wish to divert to it, the issue is she is the PM’s wife, and if she/he did agree to purchase the car (cars) using the subsidy then it was (IMHO) a stoopid decision politically.
        
        See comment above from R- “the media are going to play this for a long time”.
        
        Of course they are, but a smart wife and husband would have known this and not let their penny pinching greed lead them to a silly decision.
        
        “Thanks for the ammunition” says the Labour Party and their cretinous media comrades.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:47am
      - Ghost
        
        No, she was the leader of the oppositions wife, and she is free to do what ever she wants without having to ask her husband for permission. It was also a wise decision because she used a scheme that the previous government had opened up to anyone purchasing such cars.
        
        But let’s be honest, you have such a distaste for luxon it doesn’t matter what he does. You are like a broken record.
        
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        December 20, 2023 11:58am
      - rouppe
        
        Well… Those tradies only pay half of the sticker price by the time they claim the GST, the capital expense and all the maintenance.
        
        Lot of utes with tradies signage towing pretty big boats at plimmerton boat club.
        
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        December 20, 2023 2:16pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      As a private individual Luxon had every right to claim the EV subsidy. However as a man clearly aiming for the top job, he needed to avoid any taint of hypocrisy that might come back to bite him. In this case (as perhaps with the te Reo lessons too) he dropped the ball.
      
      I’m sure he and his wife would have got by OK without the subsidy.
      
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      December 20, 2023 1:30pm
      - Countrygirl
        
        Yes but would it have made headlines if he refused either?. Have we heard who else in any party accepted any of these “freebies”?
        
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        December 20, 2023 5:37pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  Te Reo is an official language and it is right for our politicians to learn it. This isn’t much different to any other CPD employers pay for.
  It’s massively different to paying large bonuses for learning Te Reo.
  That’s two completely different issues. It’s extremely dishonest to trat them as the same thing.
  
  If that’s the biggest issue the Taxpayers Union have found with the new Government we should be rejoicing.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:12am
  - I remember when
    
    L a r
    As stated Te Reo is an official language so surely not bonus payment justification.
    Is getting a bonus for learning English the next extra.
    Actually, the whole using tax payer money to learn Te Reo is a rather broad topic.
    Surely, all Te Reo training for public servants, even if it is only using work time karakia, falls into the getting paid to learn Te Reo category.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:30am
    - rouppe
      
      Are you conflating the cost of the training with a bonus for having completed the training.
      
      A technology tech doesn’t need to learn Te Reo to do their job. The firm paying for some training is one thing, but to then give them a perpetual bonus for having done it is another
      
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      December 20, 2023 2:19pm
  - The Redbaiter
    
    Yay, let’s all disagree with the Taxpayer’s Union and support “sensible socialism”.
    
    What would Mr Milei have to say I wonder.
    
    Such partisan support for National is why New Zealand will probably have to reach the same depth of despair as Zimbabwe and Argentina before it really turns around.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:47am
    - Sideoiler
      
      But it’s okay when my team does it .
      What would be even more interesting to know is, does the terryoh tutor provide a GST receipt or is the money paid as koha.
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:17am
      - The Redbaiter
        
        Sideoiler- “But it’s okay when my team does it .”
        
        Yes, perfectly correct.
        
        These two incidents (IMHO) show a lack of moral character in Mr Luxon and are a precursor for what will come down the track.
        
        The broader point is, he realised he needed to say something about Maori language prior to the election, because he felt voter pressure to do so.
        
        He never really believed these complaints were warranted, and if it were not for NZ First and ACT Mr Luxon probably wouldn’t have done anything.
        
        Now, he is doing as little as possible, because really, he believes we should have Maori language first on the names of govt depts and he also believes we should all be learning Maori. At taxpayer’s expense.
        
        This is the reality of the ambitious two faced person National supporters voted into power, so they should at least live with this truth and move on.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:46am
  - kowtow
    
    “Te reo” simply means “the language”.
    
    Why not use the word “maori” , for clarity and simplicity instead of the incorrect and imprecise “Te reo” .
    
    BTW “sign” is the other de jure ‘official’ language .
    Why aren’t all the virtue signalling pollies learning that .
    
    There are possibly more genuine sign language users in NZ than maori speakers.
    
    Last but not least , English is the de facto official language of all New Zealand , not just the bubble dwelling, virtue signalling , out of touch Establishment Elites .
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:50am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Because I believe that if you’re talking in English you should use English words but when you’re talking in Te Reo or about specifically Maori things you should use the Te Reo wording.
      This is literally the argument we make about the over use of Te Reo by Government Departments so it would be rank hypocrisy from me if I were to call their language “Maori”.
      
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      December 20, 2023 11:41am
  - Paulus
    
    Media again and again !
    They are pathetic so am cancelling where possible until I see that they have grown up – if ever.
    
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    December 20, 2023 1:43pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    It reminds me of Senior Civil Servants being “”supported”” to get their MBAs.
    Have witnessed same when on an advisory board a few decades ago.
    An advantage to the Government. BUT NO bonus.
    
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    December 20, 2023 5:10pm
- Ian Boag
  
  I’m feeling faint. About to defend Luxon …. 🙂
  
  The tuition stuff was paid from a discretionary “leader of the opposition” fund. I would guess this has always existed and has been available to spend on anything that the leader of the opposition thinks is relevant to the position. End of.
  
  In the scheme of things the amount is diddly anyway. If the PM thinks some level te reo fluency is useful for doing his job, then this is his call.
  
  The EV subsidy was legitimately taken because it was there – the purchase met the rules and is noone’s business but the Luxon family. Another deluded beatup.
  
  I’m a bit like this with the pension. I believe that people earning as much money as me should not get it. But we do. So I take it. What I do with it is my business. If that makes me a hypocrite, I have been called worse things.
  
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  December 20, 2023 10:49am
  - rockape
    
    When tax rates on income drop, will Labour MPs pay more because they opposed the tax cuts?
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:59am
  - Paulus
    
    My family were sent to an Embassy for three years, and both had to have language lessons in Wellington before going.
    Fortunately one was a linguist and unofficially taught ESL at the Embassy as she had no work permit.
    Taxpayer paid !
    
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    December 20, 2023 1:51pm
- nathie
  
  Reddie: you’ve missed the mountain of hypocrisy coming from the leftie MSM whereby they ignore National’s issue was paying public servants bonuses for learning the language.
  
  Luxon told them this two days ago at his press conference with them but the leftie MSM ignore his response and continue with their pantomime charade about National “hypocrisy”.
  
  (But we can swap out “National” with “ACT” or “NZ First” – it really doesn’t matter which party – the leftie MSM will continue to attack the Coalition using spurious arguments – we all need to stand united against them. Ironically and sadly for the MSM unless one is a Twitter or talkback leftie, I doubt the majority of the population care about these sad MSM attack lines anyway)!
  
  But back to the leftie MSM’s pantomime charade. Seems they are now asking all National MP’s whether they took Te reo Maori language lessons (even trying to smear Paul Goldsmith who took lessons before he became an MP, when he was on the Waitangi Tribunal, where it would be helpful to have).
  
  Normally, when not being leftie hypocrites, the MSM would be applauding politicians who took Te Reo Maori lessons. Imagine the “positive approval” they would dish out to Labour MP’s!
  
  Which got me thinking, what’s the bet that Labour MP’s such as Jacinda, Chippie, Robbo and Megan haven’t taken Te Reo maori lessons?
  
  If I’m wrong and they did, well good for them. But if I’m right, how come the MSM aren’t calling them out (for other reasons such as) for paying “lip service” to Maori? The so-called Progressive Labour Party are not actually progressive (they leave it up to their tokenistic Maori MP’s to “do the mahi”).
  
  I think there is a story in this but will the leftie MSM go there? Maybe the Tax Payer’s Union could ask some questions instead? Why not, it could be fun (seeing Labour MP’s squirm)!
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:11am
  - The Redbaiter
    
    nathie- “you’ve missed the mountain of hypocrisy coming from the leftie MSM”
    
    I am not concerned about the corrupt legacy (fake) MSM. I know they are partisan leftists and this is why I have never let them make my decisions for me.
    
    I say this is wrong, that it reflects poorly on Luxon, and that is my opinion made without paying any attention to or allowing the slightest influence from the MSM.
    
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    December 20, 2023 11:25am
  - Paulus
    
    Look the so called Media Party lost the election despite the lies and innuendoes it put out, so will continue to attack everything the Government does irrespective of its virtue or otherwise.
    When they go out of Taxpayer’s money then we may see these predominantly women think for a change.
    People are getting rather sick of their attitude.
    
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    December 20, 2023 2:10pm
Chuck Bird

The weather for Christmas less than a week away is uncertain and the climate alarmist think that can predict what the weather will be like in 2,100.
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December 20, 2023 8:03am
- Benedict Yu
  
  You are conflating ‘weather’ and ‘climate’.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:09am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    It does not matter. Climate predictions 77 years from now are more unreliable than predictions of the weather this Christmas.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:13am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      You are also making the fundamental error of assuming that long term trends are less predictable than short term events.
      
      Would you rather place a bet on one throw of a die landing on one, or on about one-sixth of a million throws landing on one?
      
      Would you rather bet on one particular share price going up or down tomorrow, or on whether the stock market as a whole will be up or down in ten years’ time?
      
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      December 20, 2023 8:21am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “Would you rather bet on one particular share price going up or down tomorrow”
        
        Depends on what I know about the company.
        
        My point is that shafting our farmers now for what may or may not happen decades in the future is wrong. National has rightly lost much of the farmers vote to Act and possibly NZF.
        
        4 1
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        December 20, 2023 1:30pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I disagree. Predicting the climate 77 years from now is much easier than predicting the weather in one location 30 days from now, which is essentially impossible.
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:11am
      - rockape
        
        In 1965 they were predicting we would be in an ice age now. That was just58 years ago. “
        NOAA: Since World War II our winters have been growing colder”
        
        Scientist claiming 85% Accuracy for his predictions says: . . “Europe will be covered with the glaciers of a new ice age” by the year 2000
        
        20 2
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        December 20, 2023 10:05am
  - Burtland
    
    yes, the only trough in “climate” is the pig trough
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:14am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “You are conflating ‘weather’ and ‘climate’.”
    
    You are confusing conflating with confusing.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:40am
    - Dave
      
      Hmmm. Yes and no. Here’s wiki:
      
      Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas or opinions into one, often in error.[1] Conflation is defined as ‘fusing blending’, but is often used colloquially as ‘being equal to’ – treating two similar but disparate concepts as the same. Merriam Webster suggest this shift in usage happened relatively recently, entering their dictionary in 1973.
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:13am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I disagree.
      
      “conflate A and/with B to put two or more things or ideas together to make one new thing or idea, especially in a way that is not accurate or could be harmful because the two things or ideas are not really the same..”
      
      https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/conflate
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:14am
  - Bruce C
    
    The media and politicians do that every day.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:52am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I agree 🙂
      
      10 1
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      December 20, 2023 9:14am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Ben: ok, so I guess you mean ‘weather’ is short term and ‘climate’ is long term, but when have you ever heard any ordinary person ask, ‘What’s the climate like in….?’ People ask, ‘What’s the weather like in…?’ And they mean long term weather. That is what ordinary, down to earth, everyday day people say and mean. You are dancing on the head of a pin with your niggly differentiation.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:57am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I disagree. Words matter.
      
      Let’s say I was planning on moving to Houston. One of my considerations would be “What is the climate of Houston?” The weather that Houston was experiencing today or tomorrow would not be relevant.
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:23am
      - Nukuleka
        
        Ok Ben. Point taken. You’re not your average, ordinary everyday bloke.
        
        11 0
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        December 20, 2023 9:54am
    - septic skeptic
      
      The original point was that because we can’t reliably forecast the weather a week ahead long term climate predictions are worthless. But nobody is trying to predict the weather for Xmas day 2050.
      
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      December 20, 2023 9:40am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Rod probably would as he may not be alive then.
        
        1 1
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        December 20, 2023 2:09pm
  - I remember when
    
    Conflating, inflating, deflating – so many choices with ‘climate change.’
    
    4 1
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    December 20, 2023 9:34am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Confusing, infusing, defusing post.
      
      5 2
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      December 20, 2023 10:20am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    You only conflate the two when A, it’s very hot for more than three days in a row or there is flooding preferably with a named storm attached.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:25am
  - Ra Henare
    
    I think Chuck is highlighting predictions.
    
    Whether it be lotto numbers tonight, who wins the first race at Ellerslie or the climate/weather in some future time.
    
    2 1
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    December 20, 2023 5:12pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Benedict Tom Nelson’s podcast will see you right. Believe me on that.
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:23pm
- kowtow
  
  St Greta can see Rudolf’s methane emissions.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:17am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    She lights their farts?
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:23pm
- Rusty
  
  @Chuck
  
  At the moment the new fear porn is global boiling but don’t be surprised if that’s downplayed or changed in the near future.
  
  The North Queensland floods is the latest proof these numpties are preaching an ideology and not a science on climate.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:00am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    How do the Queensland floods disprove a thesis that the climate is changing? They neither disprove or prove it. Queensland has been getting severe floods caused by cyclones and tropical storms forever and that will continue.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:06am
  - I remember when
    
    Despite all the fear in the media about temperatures, shouldn’t excess rainfall be the greatest fear?
    Increased temperature means inceasing evaporation.
    More melting ice and increasing sea levels result in increased evaporation.
    How much has the world’s annual rainfall increased?
    More water vapour results in an increase in temperatures.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:43am
    - Flossie
      
      I’m confused. I thought we were to expect more droughts. Now I’m learning it’s probably more rainfall.
      
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      December 20, 2023 11:16am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Its OK Flossie, they just spun the chicken raffle wheel(forecast numbers) l a little bit faster than last time.
        
        1 1
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        December 20, 2023 5:14pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Alarmist “Climate Scientists” are all over the shop on stuff like that and demonstrably have NFI. Listening to a lot of older and more sensible ones it really depends on where in the world you are and what various cyclical climate phenomena are doing in and around where you are.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:28pm
- Handyman
  
  In the same vein, do not conflate weather presenters with people who know about weather, or maths.
  They breathlessly state that tomorrow’s temperature is going to be “above average”. It will be above average about half the time!
  Also, they do not realise temperatures increase in the spring months, so it is not unusual for temperatures towards the end of November to be “above average for November”.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:31am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    They don’t “breathlessly” state that.
    
    It’s their job to say what they expect tomorrow’s weather to be like. If they expect tomorrow’s temperature to be above average, they say so.
    
    What would you expect them to say?
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:48am
Yvette

It will surely be a measure of the Government’s intent to return their governance to being strictly secular and not favouring any particular ethnicity (treating them with exceptionalism), if they remove te Puna from Taumata Arowai, which they have said they will keep, but surely not in its complete present form –

Māori Advisory Group
Te Puna
Te Puna (the Māori Advisory Group) was established under the Taumata Arowai–the Water Services Regulator Act 2020 and was appointed by the Acting Minister of Local Government on 20 May 2021. Te Puna is chaired by Tipa Mahuta.
Te Poari o Taumata Arowai (the Board) is responsible for the governance of Taumata Arowai and Te Puna is integral to the success of that governance. The Memorandum of Understanding sets out their expectations and intentions to work as partners. Ministers have appointed two dual members of the Board and Te Puna to act as a bridge between the partners.

Te Puna advises on Māori interests and knowledge as they relate to the objectives, functions and operating principles of Taumata Arowai and the Board’s collective duties. This includes:
• developing and maintaining a framework that provides advice and guidance for Taumata Arowai on how to interpret and give effect to Te Mana o te Wai
• providing advice on how to enable mātauranga Māori, tikanga Māori , and kaitiakitanga to be exercised
• any other matters as agreed by Te Puna and the Board.
https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz/about/who-we-are/

Since being established on December 15th 2021, “Taumata Arowai” has not had an English name –

After 11 weeks, will Queenstown’s boil water notice lift on Friday?
December 07 2023
… The Queenstown Lakes District Council imposed a boil water notice in the town and was then issued with a compliance order, requiring it to upgrade the water supply by national water regulator Taumata Arowai.
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December 20, 2023 8:05am
- Paulus
  
  So much a foreign language that I did not understand any of it –
  but that is is what is intended – bullshit and big money to it in another language.
  
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  December 20, 2023 2:14pm
Maggie Pie

OMG! this is absoute ‘X’mas GOLD 😀

Fave comment: It’s missing Jacinda

https://twitter.com/bobscartoons/status/1737163485862092819

(full screen/sound up)
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December 20, 2023 8:07am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, such a laugh and there will be questions of who each caricature represents.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:28am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not hard to spot Slick Willie – he has a boner as usual.
    Don’t know who is represented in the bottom left.
    Ah yes, Mike Obama (see comment below) That is why Barry is looking at him LOL!
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:06am
    - mawm
      
      King Charles massaging Soros’ feet! Billy Goats with man-boobs! Boris floating in the pool of blood in the background and Fauci climbing out of it at the feet of Moloch!
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:56am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Is that Kamala Harris with the appendage?
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:36am
  - sirknz
    
    ‘Big Mike’ Obama.
    
    12 5
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    December 20, 2023 8:40am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Nah….that’s Big Mike.
    
    14 4
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    December 20, 2023 8:42am
  - notreadyet
    
    Michelle obama
    
    12 3
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    December 20, 2023 8:47am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  X say ‘sensitive.’
  Now I just know if I throw that on Facebook the children will give me 30 days jail at least. FB jail over the break may be a good thing – the weird ones come out of their shells/rocks.
  
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  December 20, 2023 1:31pm
- sungsamning
  
  Did the cartoon have a caption, or punchline?
  
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  December 20, 2023 4:29pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Just lines to think about My Curry.
    
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    December 20, 2023 4:40pm
Hugh Jarse

I was in Wellington for work last week and went to a Wokestars cafe on Lambton Quay which specialises in decaffeinated Ecuadorian poo coffee beans with trim possum milk from the enchanted areas of the Uruwera. I was sitting next to a table of ex labour parliamentary wokesters talking about the new government, their upcoming gender transition operations, top places in Wellington for beard trimming and craft beer while they sipped their trim possum milk lattes.

They were very despondent over Labour and Greens and were hoping for new leadership for both parties to come in and take over. They thought they might have to get jobs in the provinces. Sad for them.
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December 20, 2023 8:08am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  They’d look for jobs in the provinces?!?
  
  Possibly some of the more progressive councils I guess…
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:06am
- nathie
  
  Hugh J. How on earth did you manage to contain yourself from bursting out in roaring laughter or telling them to harden up or that it’s time for a cup of tea and a lie down, sweeties?
  
  Well done you!
  
  I think I would have cracked under the pressure and got kicked out then run out of Wokeington by a braying mob of bearded civil servants klunking their high heals down in unison similar to the sound of jackboots stomping at fast pace!
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:29am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Wellington” Central is a Province.
  Did you not know that? Even a JAFFA like me does LOL!
  
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  December 20, 2023 1:34pm
Benedict Yu

Even Chinese folk go mad in Massachusetts. 😢

Michelle Wu is the Mayor of Boston. She was born in the USA to immigrant parents from Taiwan.

She decided that it was a good idea to hold a Christmas Party for the Councillors. However the party was restricted to “electeds of colour”, which means all people except white people. ☹️

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12881299/Boston-Mayor-Michelle-Wu-giggles-no-whites-party.html

Sadly for the Mayor, her personal assistant sent the invites to all the Councillors, so the white folk mistakenly received the invitation. The Mayor apologised, not for holding the racist party, but for the snafu with the emails. She quickly uninvited the white people.🙁

BTW you can always tell a woke person because they like making up new words.

The Mayor referred to “electeds of colour”. The word “elected” is an adjective, not a noun, and it has no plural form.
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December 20, 2023 8:09am
- kowtow
  
  ‘because they like making up new words’
  
  The Yanks have a penchant for making up words . Sadly the media in many contries then pick up and use same.
  
  A current favourite ; “shuttered” for closed .
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:22am
  - I remember when
    
    “Shutters and boards cover the windows…..”
    
    7 1
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    December 20, 2023 9:48am
    - Jack5
      
      The frequency of the colour “white” is the combination of all the frequencies of all colours of the spectrum.
      
      To be “white” is thus to be “coloured”.
      
      Only invisible people could possibly be non-coloured.
      
      3 1
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      December 20, 2023 4:46pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        haha.
        The other interesting observation.
        White is the precence of all colours
        Black is the absence of colour.
        
        Yet the scientifically uniformed refer to “Black skinned “people as coloured.
        
        So, then the interesting debate on whether Brown skinned People(eg Maori ) are coloured or indeed some rural Asians who might be of dark skin but get included the grouping known as white(in the USA)
        
        Philosophical thinking is never ending(thank goodness)
        
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        December 20, 2023 5:22pm
- Raphael
  
  maybe she was paying attention to Ardern’s leadership lecture in Boston?
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:35am
- Biscuit
  
  It’s coming here, too, Benedict.
  
  I see Chris Trotter is suggesting that Labour ‘go full frontal and place Te Tiriti at the centre of a new written constitution: Why not go to the country in 2026 with plans for a full constitutional convention? Why not promote the election of 120 constitutional delegates to draft Aotearoa’s first written constitution – with Te Tiriti at its heart?’
  
  Curious wording, Chris: ‘120 constitutional delegates’.
  
  But we already have that, Chris – it’s called Parliament.
  
  I am thinking Chris is thinking ‘Oh, but we’d need to juggle who gets in as a constitutional delegate’ and that his ideal would be more like the co-Governance model that the electorate soundly tossed out a couple of months back.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:47am
  - I remember when
    
    Does Chris mean a Maori Parliament?
    Like with an upper and lower house?
    Which one will the Treaty choose?
    
    8 1
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    December 20, 2023 9:51am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The Australian Constitution was written in the 1890s.
    
    It is a sensible and straightforward document.
    
    https://www.aph.gov.au/constitution
    
    The founding fathers had the good sense to appoint the High Court as the guardian of the Constitution. The High Court can strike down any legislation which it finds is inconsistent with the Constitution.
    
    Ask yourself – What would be the chances of such a Constitution being written in Australia today? NIL.
    
    I’m afraid New Zealand has missed the boat on a written constitution. Any attempt would be a shit show.
    
    13 1
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    December 20, 2023 9:59am
    - Terry Dalee
      
      “I’m afraid New Zealand has missed the boat on a written constitution. Any attempt would be a shit show.”
      
      Nah, it a lot easier than you think…
      
      “AUSTRALIA’S CONSTITUTION
      The States shall mean such of the colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the northern territory of South Australia, as for the time being are parts of the Commonwealth, and such colonies or territories as may be admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as States; and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called a State.”
      
      Just take up the invitation to join the Commonwealth….
      It might solve the Treaty debate….
      
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      December 20, 2023 1:53pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    I am not sure I like the idea of labour going “…full frontal…”.
    The mental picture is not good.
    
    11 1
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    December 20, 2023 10:12am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Remember when Andrew Little was exposed at the Wallace Art Awards
      
      Talk about a disturbing image:
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/naked-andrew-little-art-work-at-wallace-art-awards-as-youve-never-seen-him-before/BKMIDF5VY5PWLO3KDBMPTUHCDE/
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:30am
      - Gulag1917
        
        In his wildest fantasies he could never be like that.
        
        3 0
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        December 20, 2023 2:04pm
      - ProtectBabiesFromPredators
        
        There are no recorded images of Andrew Little smiling, published in either Stuff or the Herald, suggesting internal paralysis. Or constipation.
        
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        December 20, 2023 9:40pm
- Raphael
  
  speaking of some US mayors. Nate The Lawyer has been doing some videos on some recent antics:
  
  Town’s First Woman Mayor Becomes Warlord & Holds Town Hostage.
  https://youtu.be/kwC75MRyYA4?si=j97IifK9Qn_WpHVd
  Democrat Mayor Ordered Street Gang To Silence Critics In Power Grab.
  https://youtu.be/6rV0WO5cFd4?si=1M_6ddKHEUN-p6kk
  
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  December 20, 2023 10:41am
Chuck Bird

This is premium but is interesting. Prebble has a different view than Willis on the ferries and the new wharfs. I do not say Prebble is right but he is smart and experienced.

Richard Prebble: Why regulation is the real problem behind the high cost of the interisland rail ferries

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/why-regulation-is-the-real-problem-behind-the-high-cost-of-the-interisland-rail-ferries-richard-prebble/ATLO657SSVG7THNHGF6KYDKJQM/
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December 20, 2023 8:10am
- thetiedarch
  
  As a Structural Engineer with significant experience in seismic design, Prebble has it wrong.
  
  We cannot pick and choose what design codes to design to, nor can we water codes & standards down to suit our budgets.
  
  iRex blew out its budget because the job had never been scoped properly, not because something needed 70m piles.
  
  From what I’ve heard, the project team were already designing structures to an ‘Importance Level’ below what they should have been designed to, in order to reduce the seismic hazard and lower the cost.
  
  Ignoring the scoping issue, iRex’s fundamental flaw was that it was being built within a few hundred metres of one of the largest fault lines in the country.
  
  No amount of watering down could solve that.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Prebble helped shaft a nation for a generation
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:51am
  - plc
    
    So wrong
    
    6 0
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    December 20, 2023 11:05am
    - Sideoiler
      
      Wrong doesn’t begin to describe the magnitude of the error.
      Must be an extremely close cousin of one Wrongly Wrongson.
      
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      December 20, 2023 1:25pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  This is the bloke that embargoed the Mikhail Lermontov report for 50 years!!!
  
  9 0
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  December 20, 2023 8:52am
  - Paulus
    
    I saw the Mickh Lerm report, it but only after signing the Official Information Act – and have never commented.
    
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    December 20, 2023 2:18pm
- peterwn
  
  I cannot understand Richard Prebble’s line of reasoning – he is rambling all over the place.
  1. Nicola is the new girl on the block with respect to the ferries. She cannot be expected to carry the baggage of the past.
  2. It is not Nicola’s job to project manage the ferries project. Her job (with the support of Treasury) is to indicate her support or otherwise to Cabinet when a spending proposal is made. It is up to the sponsoring Minister to make the case. Richard Prebble should know this – perhaps he has forgotten. He should be venting his spleen on Cabinet, not the Minister of Finance. Cabinet could have rejected her advice – but in this case Cabinet whoeheartedly accepted it.
  3. If Nicola was in a rage over the cost blowout, it was rage served cold. I think she was wanting to draw a line in the sand on this and show she does not want to be messed around.
  4. I disagree with Richard Prebble’s interpretation of Nicola’s ‘Toyota’ comment. Nicola merely said that she wanted to see a more modest solution that would do the job. I do not interpret her comment as ruling out the purchase of any rail capable ferry. Anyway it is not Nicola’s job to come up with alternatives it is the job of others to go back to the drawing boards and come up with something that is acceptable to Cabinet and if need be to argue why Cabinet should reject the advice of any adverse Treasury Report.
  5. If Railways had settled for two new rail ferries that would have fitted existing port facilities they would have got away with it. By being greedy Railways has most probably lost the lot.
  6. Plan B is very simple – accept that Aratere will be scrapped and not replaced at end of life and purchase or lease replacement non-rail roll on roll off ferries as has been done in recent years. Alternatively purchase two rail ferries that can use existing port facilities.
  7 Apply the KISS principle – Keep it simple, stupid.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:56am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I thought there were two problems:
    
    1. The existing ferries are at the end of life.
    
    2. They are too small to cope with forecast freight and passenger numbers.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:31am
    - rockape
      
      Then buy an extra one and don’t buy bigger ones that need massive port modification. I wouldn’t tear my house down because my Humvee won’t fit in the garage !
      
      16 2
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      December 20, 2023 10:19am
      - Local Miller
        
        Correct, rather not buy the Humvee, buy two Suzuki Jimnys 🙂
        Twice the fun at 1/4 the price.
        
        6 0
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        December 20, 2023 3:09pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    If one is to talk semantics. Being pedantic!
    The Finance Minister did not cancel the new ferries.
    On behalf of the Government she declined to extend MORE credit. (Ie increase Governments borrowings)
    
    If the proposal is so effing good. Why has Railways not looked for alternative sources of Finance. I am sure the Chinese or or Ms Arderns friends at Blackrock would jump at the chance to invest in NZ Infrastructure.
    
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    December 20, 2023 5:33pm
- Phronesis
  
  He lost me when he suggested you could fit more freight in a Ferrari than a Toyota Corolla.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:57am
- ProtectBabiesFromPredators
  
  Prebble writes “Does the new earthquake code make any cost/benefit sense? Have the regulations ever been subjected to a cost/benefit analysis?”
  
  No it has not, and does not, and it never will.
  
  Earthquake codes are a fluid design that keeps changing daily. There are no Earthquake proof buildings possible beyond Titanium Carbon Fiber structures anchored like a Tooth Implant. But then the Bone deteriorates. It is all fantasy regulation.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:47pm
Vinicius

Michael Bassett is having a dig at the NZ Herald in an opinion piece named “Who needs Chippy when we have the Herald?”

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/michael-bassett-who-needs-chippy-when-we-have-the-herald

I agree with what Bassett says about how standards at the Herald have fallen since they started leaning over to the left and caught the long version of Jacinda mania.

I am old enough to have been a voter when Muldoon was in his political prime (I disliked him intensely). Muldoon did one thing very well especially when Leader of the Opposition and PM. He was confronted by a hostile media but was very effective in going over the top of the media and communicating with the voters. (aka Rob’s Mob).

The current government I think needs not fret about the current lame bunch in the MSM. I doubt if a majority of voters pay attention for long spans to the nonsense on media outlets such as RNZ, 1News, Stuff, NZ Herald and Newshub. One of the few political journo’s I always read is Luke Malpass. I don’t agree with everything he writes but is in my view the best of the current very lame bunch.

The government needs to concentrate on the medium to long term delivery of their policies and not get distracted by the MSM.
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December 20, 2023 8:12am
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

A bestie asks….

Since it was revealed Chippy had been shagging the hired-help,
does that mean Tony is now also open season in The House?
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December 20, 2023 8:15am
- pdm
  
  Maggie I noticed Toni has taken Chippie to SpecSavers for some new? glasses.
  
  Perhaps he is going to compete with Robbo for the University job and is trying to look like an academic rather than an out of his depth teenager.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:26am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    😎
    
    11 4
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    December 20, 2023 8:29am
  - thirteenstars
    
    I noticed that during question time.
    
    Reminded me of Trotsky, and we all know how that ended.
    
    14 2
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    December 20, 2023 8:44am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      ‘He got an ice pick
      that made his ears burn’
      
      The Stranglers – No More Heroes
      
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      December 20, 2023 8:45pm
- redeye
  
  Will chippy be knighted for his couple of weeks as PM?
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:43am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    Eventually yes, but not while he is an MP.
    
    9 0
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    December 20, 2023 9:20am
    - R
      
      Might as well give him a Knighthood, they have little real significance now days, Don’t indicated any real achievements now.
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:40am
      - Jack5
        
        Sir Chippy? Like giving a knighthood to a bloody woodpecker.
        
        An acquaintance of mine reckons Chippy bawled on election night. I didn’t see that. Did anyone here see that?
        
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        December 20, 2023 4:41pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Could we then take it off him for the incredible damage he has wrought on NZ’s education system and our children
    
    13 1
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    December 20, 2023 10:03am
- ProtectBabiesFromPredators
  
  There is no evidence of philandering on Hipkin’s part, as a Mummy’s boy, his breakaway partner Tony may be a surrogate mother? Just guessing, Hipkin’s is a Union cutout in the best tradition.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:53pm
Chuck Bird

I got this in my email this morning.

https://mailchi.mp/lomborg/newsletter-624106?e=da3eadba9b
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December 20, 2023 8:17am
- Flossie
  
  Is this something you would normally open? For me it would have been immediately deleted.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:34am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Flossie. Read Bjorn Lomborg. His climate stuff is very interesting.
    
    5 2
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    December 20, 2023 11:04am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    WHY?
    
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    December 20, 2023 1:34pm
imalwaysright

“Te Papa has today announced it will “renew” its Te Tiriti o Waitangi display to “meet the needs of today”…”

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/19/te-papa-to-renew-tiriti-display-after-protesters-paint-bombed-exhibit/

What does that mean? Are they going to change the words?

It seems almost fortuitous, from Te papas perspective, that more than a dozen people were able to enter a building that houses our most valuable treasures and were allowed to commit criminal damage.

Why is an exhibit that has been defaced by activists to promote their view being left on display over the busiest period ?

Why hasn’t it been covered pending replacement ?

Are Te papa trying to tell us something ?
Were the people running Te papa aware that this criminal damage was going to happen?
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December 20, 2023 8:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Te Papa are dicking about:
  “The defaced panel will remain on display at the museum over the summer as specialist equipment is required to remove it.”
  Pig’s arse!
  
  “The panel will be removed and stored at a later stage.”
  No! Destroy it The James Freeman version is a lie, a rogue version.
  
  What must be displayed is the Littlewood Draft. Anything else is a continuation of the lie. Maybe Te Papa are worried about the radical activist Maori?
  
  Te Papa need to come clean and explain themselves:
  “The Signs of a Nation exhibit has been at the museum since it opened in 1998. While it has undergone changes “a number of times” over the years, Johnston and Hakiwai said the move “would be the first full renewal of the area”
  
  Undergone ‘what’ changes? Who has been messing with something that is already a lie?
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:28am
- Yvette
  
  Why is an exhibit that has been defaced by activists to promote their view being left on display over the busiest period ?
  
  The defaced panel will remain on display at the museum over the summer as specialist equipment is required to remove it.
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/19/te-papa-to-renew-tiriti-display-after-protesters-paint-bombed-exhibit/
  
  Pas de merde, Sherlock
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:37am
- cmm
  
  Only a fool would believe that Te Papa staff were not involved in the vandalism.
  
  28 3
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  December 20, 2023 9:40am
Warren

It Shows Nicola Willis has Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson number now after The Labour Party Finance Minister accused National of leaving The 2017 Labour Government with 155 cliffs to negotiate in response to Nicola Willis and her allegations of the devious policies that were supposed to be funded but weren’t and many more traps that were laid to purposely catch the incoming Government the National Party out.
So now the form Finance Minister is crying wolf because the polls have turned against them and many New Zealander’s don’t believe a word of what the former Government are preaching after the latest results from the Roy Morgan poll.
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December 20, 2023 8:24am
- Flossie
  
  Considering that RM poll was a November one things may well have changed since. I mean the media – especially our TV news – have been banging on about the most nit picky rubbish for weeks now in their attempts to make this government look bad. In particular focusing on stuff like the PM referring to a department by its Maori name, rather than the fantastic efforts to sort out our mess of a country. Just speaking to the odd person lately who seem to be lapping up the media’s narrative.
  
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  December 20, 2023 10:12am
Raphael

I’ve seen a number of Lefties on X confidently claiming we’ll be having a snap election by February.

Looking at the latest Roy Morgan, I don’t think that would go anywhere near the way they hope it would.
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December 20, 2023 8:34am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What on earth would be the justification?
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:48am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Because Jenna Lynch, Tova O’Brien and Simon Wilson (et al) have that view Ben.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:51am
  - Biscuit
    
    Exactly. Benedict.
    
    I can only think of the Muldoon snap election that saw National turfed out a few months earlier than they likely would’ve been anyway.
    
    Hell, even Jacinda baulked at a snap election a few months aftef the COVID election – at the height of her popularity (yes, she WAS popular once!) – to cement her legacy.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:56am
  - Ghost
    
    Their justification is they are lefties and their safe rooms are failing to keep the big bad government out. But expect the media and their internet trolls to not give up and go full attack mode to try bring the government down.
    
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    December 20, 2023 8:59am
  - Raphael
    
    their justification is what they constantly call “the coalition of chaos” will fall apart by then.
    
    Because you know members of different parties aren’t 100% in complete agreement with each other on every single topic.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:02am
  - peterwn
    
    They are assuming there will be a falling out between coalition partners.
    
    13 1
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    December 20, 2023 9:04am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      While a snap election seems unlikely, especially any time soon, it’s a sure bet that there will be some severe ructions in the coalition.
      
      4 19
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      December 20, 2023 9:21am
      - Clyde
        
        And of course you would know. I bet you also know there are some severe ructions going on in the Liemore Pardy. The East Polynesian Caucus will not be happy, all sorts of fights going on with who is going to replace Hipkins, Parker pissed off, Robertson being more and more exposed each day with his economic vandalism etc etc.
        
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        December 20, 2023 10:14am
      - peterwn
        
        Chris Luxon would be well aware that the coalition would have a bumpy ride at some point and would be prepared for it. He would have noted possible problem area during coalition talks.
        
        9 1
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        December 20, 2023 11:23am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They are lefties doing what lefties do – cause shit!
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:31am
  - Yvette
    
    Benedict
    The rumour comes from the same place as the one that Maori are working on creating their own hieroglyphic alphabet to by-pass the embarrassment of using the colonial English alphabet ( “cringing mass cultural appropriation) for which use they have never paid – hieroglyphic symbols may represent the objects that they depict but usually stand for particular sounds or groups of sounds
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:49am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      There is no English alphabet. English is written with the Latin alphabet, like other Western European languages.
      
      12 1
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      December 20, 2023 10:49am
      - Jack5
        
        Englilsh uses letters from the Latin alphabet, but not j or w.
        
        There is an English alphabet. It has evolved, losing six letters from Old English. The one that sticks in my mind is “thorn,” used for the sound “th” as in “the”. It’s still used in Icelandic, like English, a West Germanic language.
        
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        December 20, 2023 9:12pm
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      I hope it’s a phonetic alphabet, like the Korean one.
      
      Don’t be like Japanese and have four different “alphabets” running simultaneously.
      
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      December 20, 2023 6:11pm
  - MCōs
    
    It’s the first I’ve heard of that ridiculous idea.
    The only justification would be to get rid of Winston.
    On the other hand regardless of what the Roy Morgan poll says it’s a huge risk and expensive
    
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    December 20, 2023 10:02am
- JimBobJoe
  
  Lefties on X are mad, block anyone who disagrees with them or offer diversions. They few on their are sincere in their belief the country is with them – in others they are completely mad and have a tenuous grip on reality
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:52am
- Scott
  
  Regarding a snap election, it’s a really really bad idea.
  Things are going well. Labour’s legislative agenda is being unravelled. Strides are being made in education and the function of the Reserve Bank.
  
  We are winning. The government should carry on their full term and we can enjoy that things are getting better.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:55am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Perhaps Christmas might change their minds.
  
  Going home, talking to family members, locals … getting outside of the Beltway Bubble, they might be surprised that their views are not shared as widely as they think they are.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:49pm
Tricati

I had the misfortune to see a bit of TV1 news last night when at a friend’s place (haven’t watched in over 18 months), and found the inane piece by Benidict Collins the most low-grade appalling piece of so-called journalism I have seen in a while.
Trying his best to degrade the government over it’s returning government departments to English First names, all he seemed to do was reinforce the wide held view sweet FA of us know what the names mean.
If that all the MSM have to go on, then they are in for tough time, especially if Winnie starts getting under their skin.
And by the way, is the puff-piece about Robertson coming out as gay trying to deflect away for Willis’s mini budget, which is likely to show actually, ‘how big Robertson’s hole is’.
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December 20, 2023 8:45am
- MCōs
  
  I watched the news last night and saw a whole bunch of MPs who although insisting government departments be known by their English names didn’t know what the correct name for Kāinga Ora is; which is Homes & Communities so I understand
  Amusingly Winston, one of the ring leaders of the pro English movement, tried to conceal his ignorance with bluster which seems to be his modus operandi of late
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:10am
  - Jack5
    
    MPs didn’t know the English-language name for Kainga Ora because it’s been downplayed, buried, near-hidden for so long.
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:00pm
- greybeard
  
  You could drive a bus through Robertson’s hole.
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:57am
kowtow

Given by how obsessed our media are with Gazan hospital shenanigans I’m shocked , shocked I tells ya they’re not covering this.

”
The head of a Gaza hospital has admitted to being a senior Hamas commander — and detailed how the terror group transformed the medical site into an operational hub that once housed a kidnapped Israeli soldier.”

https://nypost.com/2023/12/19/news/gaza-hospital-chief-admits-to-being-hamas-commander/
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December 20, 2023 8:45am
- MCōs
  
  I wonder if that so called ‘confession’ was extracted under duress?
  Hard to believe, but these things happen
  
  3 7
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  December 20, 2023 11:49am
  - kowtow
    
    The “duress” he’ll get from his co religionist terrorist mates will be unimaginable compared to the cup of Wissotzky tea and biscuits the Shin bet gave him.
    
    …….for “collaborating’ you see.
    
    But yeah let’s just ignore the facts here and divert the tpoic from hospitals used for terror and how our fearless media don’t cover that.
    
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    December 20, 2023 1:04pm
  - mawm
    
    Going on past form he was likely helped by the UNRWA.
    
    3 1
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    December 20, 2023 3:53pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Oh dear
  Would believe it if it was reported by Hindustani Times.
  
  NY Post that reported 40 beheaded babies, Pregnant woman killed and fetus cut out.
  
  So, sorry, dont rely on NY Post for loads of truth.
  
  But to be fair. Their real reporter did break the Hunter BIden Laptop scandal
  
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  December 20, 2023 5:46pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

From yesterday’s Stop Co-Governance post “An Example Of The Dishonesty Of Archives New Zealand.”
This is in the comments from the One NZ Foundation:
“ONZF ONZF on December 19, 2023 at 1:11 pm
If it had not been for the One New Zealand Foundation, the Littelwood Treaty would have been hidden by Goverment for ever. We asked the Archives New Zealand for a copy in 1992, but were refused. Luckily, one of our Members, Bill Doby knew John littlewood and we obtained the only public copy in existance until 20o5. This copy was publish in our book, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people” in 1992 and again in 1998 with a story of the Lirtlewood Treaty and how it was the final draft of the Tiriti o Waitangi. Nothing more was publish of the Litlewood Treaty until 2005 when Martin Doutre used our research to write his book,” The Littlewood Treaty, The True English Version of the Treaty of Waiatngi Found”. Copies of this story can be obtained from: [email protected]. au.

This also happened with Queen Victoria’s Royal Charters. Archives New Zealand dismantled the Constitution Room and hid them from the public’s view in 2017 when the ONZF brought them to the publics’ attention in 2015. See http://www.onenzfoundatition.co.nz.”

There are a few typos that I will not correct to keep it authentic.
” We asked the Archives New Zealand for a copy in 1992, but were refused.”
I have a question. On what grounds did Archives NZ refuse? They hold Public Documents. The idea is to store and preserve them, not to hide them!

Then another comment below:
“Christine Gavin on December 19, 2023 at 1:45 pm
What I don’t get is how Maori, who say we are only guardians of the land, & no-one can own the land, or the sea or the forests or the air by extention, but somehow we owe them reparations for it all?”
We are guardians of the land abut we owe Maori reparations? Will someone ask Willie, or JT, or the Maori Cowboy please?
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December 20, 2023 8:51am
- mikenmildagain
  
  The ‘Littlewood treaty’ is a giant red herring.
  And the idea that it and other documents have been ‘hidden’ by keeping them in the national archives is, quite simply, ludicrous.
  
  2 26
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  December 20, 2023 9:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You are employed at Archives NZ?
    
    10 6
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    December 20, 2023 9:34am
Maggie Pie

And here’s something I didn’t know till this morn.

One of the girls from tennis was just telling me that comedian and filmmaker
‘Taika Waititi’ is his stage-name.

Taika’s real name is….. ‘Cohen’

Perhaps that doesn’t fit the narrative?
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December 20, 2023 8:57am
- mikenmildagain
  
  He describes himself as a Polynesian Jew.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:14am
- Clyde
  
  Yes, Taika David Cohen is his legal name. Raised primarily by his Jewish mother and he describes himself as a “Polynesian Jew”. Yet another person of very mixed blood lines that decides that the Polynesian line is the favoured one.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:24am
- MCōs
  
  Cohen is his mother’s surname & Waititi his father’s surname.
  
  8 1
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  December 20, 2023 9:36am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    And your point is, Cossie?
    Mary’s surname was Christ.
    
    6 5
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    December 20, 2023 10:12am
    - MCōs
      
      There is no point
      It’s just the way it is
      
      5 1
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      December 20, 2023 10:22am
- Blog-aholic
  
  It could explain why he has had success in hollywood…..
  
  5 5
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  December 20, 2023 9:36am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  He’s never made a secret of his Jewish heritage.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:49am
Maggie Pie

God Save Us.

If there was ever a Poster-Boy for the re-introduction of the death penalty…..

https://stuff.co.nz/national/crime/301029198/notorious-child-killer-remains-highrisk-parole-board-refuses-early-release
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December 20, 2023 9:26am
tknorriss

Out of all the retarded comments going around Twitter, this one has to be right up there:

https://twitter.com/TeArawa1971?post_id=1736607471056396296

Based on the percentage who didn’t vote for National (62%) Act (91%) and NZ First (94%),
the election result was somehow invalid.

This is despite the fact that the maths logic is that adding the amount of voters who did vote for either of those parties produces a majority. Hence, surprise surprise we have a new government.

A lot of these people seem still to be in the denial stage of grief in that they just can’t accept the fact that their side lost so come up with retarded logic such as this.
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December 20, 2023 9:31am
- MCōs
  
  You must be new here.
  For years after the 2017 election that sort of logic was commonplace on this forum
  As it happens Labour in 2020 was the first party in about seventy years to win a majority of the popular vote.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:50am
  - mogg
    
    Here is Bob Jones’ opinion on why that happened,
    also why Ardern now needs half a dozen security guards to project her. There is also another vid of John Key saying that she “did plenty of hugging but just couldn’t make decisions, that is why Auckland was closed down for so long”
    
    https://youtu.be/KHM5z0mK0To?si=aIG4kBRjsaxPaN2J
    
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    December 20, 2023 9:59am
    - Clyde
      
      Is Ardern using these 6 security people now? I thought she was swanning around in the American academic world. People there on the street wouldn’t even know where NZ is, let alone know who she is. I sincerely hope that NZ is not paying for her belief that she is important. Maybe if she shifted to somewhere where her beliefs were really appreciated she wouldn’t need protection. I’m thinking Albania.
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:26am
      - Taieri
        
        I’m thinking Albania.
        —————–
        
        Perhaps Romania would be better?
        After all, the Romanian people are well known for their hospitality and friendliness towards former politicians…
        
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        December 20, 2023 12:29pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The situation in 2017 was different to 2023. The 2017 election gave National 44 percent of the vote and it was by far the largest Party in Parliament.
    
    17 1
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    December 20, 2023 10:03am
    - MCōs
      
      44% ain’t a majority
      
      2 8
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      December 20, 2023 10:19am
    - MCōs
      
      The deciding factor in both elections has been NZF; as it was in two previous previous elections.
      On the three previous occasions an administration has relied on NZF to make up the numbers they went on to lose at the next election
      
      2 1
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      December 20, 2023 12:08pm
      - Libertarians are right
        
        But the big difference between 2017 and 2023 is that both times NZFirst’s voters came from the Right and expected him to go with the Right and expected him to go with the policies he’d run on.
        In 2017 he went with the Left and threw out most of the policies that got him elected (and he got kicked out of parliament in 2020 because of it).
        In 2023 he went with the Right and actually announced the policies he’d campaigned on.
        
        That’s a big difference. You’d still be a fool to trust him though.
        
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        December 20, 2023 12:47pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Sorry MCos, but my logic in 2017 was of the view that it was perverse that Mr 7% determined which party formed the government, and that he even got the Greens shut out of cabinet. Even though the votes of the Green party were required to support the govt between 2017 & 2020.
    
    As for the phoney maths of the left media, unlike 2017, the PM is coming from the party that scored a larger share of the vote than in 2017.
    
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    December 20, 2023 2:07pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Can this be right?

The Labour Government spent over $1.2Billion on the 3-Waters reforms…..

Sam Uffindell: What advice has he received on how much money has been spent on three waters reforms to date?

Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, I’ve received advice that the total expenditure by the prior Government to 6 December was $1,202,062,000—all talk, very little action.

Oral Question #6
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20231219_20231219_32
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December 20, 2023 9:47am
- Swifty
  
  Just imagine the benefits, now foregone, of doling that 1.2 Billion out to the regions with the weakest three-water networks.
  
  It would have made a tremendous difference.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:57am
- hullkiwi
  
  Maggy, am I missing something?, else there is one obvious question begging to be asked:
  
  “where is the water reform that the spending of $1.2bn bought?”
  
  The level of spending and non-delivery during the period 2017 to 2023 by the Labour governments is getting way beyond a joke and getting to the point that Robertson, Hipkins, Ardern, MacAnulty, Mahuta, Woods, Wood, Little, Verell & Parker should be being prosecuted for being negligent in public office with public funds and be barred from public office.
  
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  December 20, 2023 2:22pm
tknorriss

Something I think should concern all of us, whichever side of the political fence we are on, is the amount of money that gets tipped down the toilet when a government changes.

Labour has undoubtably spent a huge amount on the stuff that National is now dumping. And the same will likely happen again when the left gets into power again (hopefully a long time in the distant future).

So, the question is, what can be done to avoid all this collosal waste of money? Perhaps we need to have a lot more agreement in strategic direction on major issues so that the substance doesn’t get dumped and changes are more around the margins.

Unfortunately, this means a lot of stuff will end up with more of a left wing influence than we would like. But, I don’t know what else can be done. Perhaps shifting to a four year term will help a bit.
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December 20, 2023 9:53am
- NothingLeft
  
  4 year terms of govt would help. More time to do unpopular reforms and get them through to showing benefits. Also to initiate projects that get well along process to completion.
  
  Politicians promising to do things more than a term in govt away really mean ‘never’
  
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  December 20, 2023 10:25am
- hullkiwi
  
  No, what is reprehensible is:
  
  Spending $1.2bn on water reform & have nothing to show for it.
  
  Spending $15bn on 2 upgrade programmes, have nothing to show for it, and the accounting was so “poor” that the auditors couldn’t trace what the money bought.
  
  Spending $20million on pumped hydro over 3 years and have nothing to show for a project that is in the wrong part of the country.
  
  The Housing Agency adding $10bn of debt to the public books, and trading in a manner that this debt will never be repaid.
  
  Committing taxpayers to an over specified rail/ferry programme with costs blowing out in such a manner that the cost of the new ferries was only 20% of the programme cost.
  
  The spending of over $100mill on Auckland Light Rail & still not having a business case that adds up….
  
  I could go on, but why such largesse with the public purse to achieve so little? The politicians responsible should be prosecuted and barred permanently from public office (elected or appointed)!
  
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  December 20, 2023 2:34pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    It achieved distribution of mountains of taxpayer coin to Labours chardonnay swilling bureaucrats and consultants and to the maori neo-aristocracy – to help them win elections. Which was always the true goal – not improving NZ.
    
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    December 20, 2023 4:24pm
Swifty

Celebrating achievement makes a pleasant change from celebrating whingers and the crazed who wallow in self-described victimhood:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/505148/king-country-shearer-breaks-wool-lamb-shearing-world-record
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December 20, 2023 10:29am
Benedict Yu

I can report that Chris Luxon made it to Sydney 🙂

https://www.flightradar24.com/KIW907/334c7c21
11 1
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December 20, 2023 10:44am
- MCōs
  
  Where is Anthony Albanese?
  Did he remember he was coming?
  
  6 1
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  December 20, 2023 12:13pm
  - Paulus
    
    Albo lives mostly in Sydney, like other previous PMs.
    Kirribilli House I believe.
    
    3 0
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    December 20, 2023 2:24pm
imalwaysright

This character is desperate to save the maori heath gravy train from well deserved derailment .

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/crown-opposes-urgent-waitangi-tribunal-claim-to-halt-disestablishment-of-maori-health-authority/TRTJOKVJPBAFBFGTFYKH2COSX4/

It’s a shame she doesn’t devote more of her time to the health prospects of the maori infants who are currently being subjected to torture and abuse.

No money in that I suppose.
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December 20, 2023 10:52am
- Swifty
  
  I’m surprised she’s got the time in between her trips to visit her son at Oxford University.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/oxford-graduate-te-aro-moxon-is-all-in-for-the-long-maori-health-inequity-haul/YPPFU7IVB5D73D54BEV4XJXNNU/
  
  Oh yes, the Maori elite are doing very well for themselves – not quite so much for the locals around my way.
  
  15 1
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  December 20, 2023 11:25am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Swifty,
    
    Maybe the plan was for him to be the gravy train driver !
    
    No train set for him this Christmas, poor chap, and after all that colonial education as well.
    
    9 2
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    December 20, 2023 11:48am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    British Govt Scholarship.
    
    6 0
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    December 20, 2023 1:15pm
    - Swifty
      
      Immaterial, but if anything that’s even worse.
      
      Why are rich and successful Maori applying for and accepting scholarships instead of funding their own way?
      
      Why are already successful Maori perpetuating their privilege through their children as opposed to leaving the scholarships to Maori who have no other sources of funds or who may never had family in tertiary education?
      
      It has been a long-standing point of mine on KB that decolonisation and elevating Maori to treaty ‘partners’, and all the ‘by Maori, for Maori’ stuff etc will merely advantage a thin slice of Maoridom, generally speaking those already successful, with the hoi polloi largely unchanged and unadvantaged.
      
      Expect to see much more of this.
      
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      December 20, 2023 1:55pm
Pope Punctilious II

Education Minister Erica Stanford has pleasantly surprised me by appointing Elizabeth Rata as an advisor.
23 1
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December 20, 2023 10:53am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Excellent news.
  
  14 1
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  December 20, 2023 11:01am
- imalwaysright
  
  Pope,
  Probably the most important appointment of this administration .
  If Stanford lets her run the place she will be doing herself and our children a great favour .
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:14am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I don’t think Rata will “run the place” – she’s one of 12 people appointed to an advisory board.
    
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    December 20, 2023 12:01pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  ‘Tribalism and Democracy are incompatible’
  
  – Dr Elizabeth Rata.
  
  17 1
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  December 20, 2023 11:36am
- ProtectBabiesFromPredators
  
  The Adults are back in charge.
  
  1 0
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  December 20, 2023 10:04pm
Surely Knott

Interesting article proposing we scrap rego and wof stickers from our cars like Australia, and go digital.

The Rego currently generates $470 million for the govt, but costs $50 mill to administer. Plus less clutter on windshield is nicer looking, safer (more visibility) and less wasteful.

https://www.autocar.co.nz/time-to-ditch-the-rego-and-wof-stickers/
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December 20, 2023 11:10am
- peterwn
  
  There are four main users of rego and WOF information:
  1. The vehicle owner. Admittedly a email (or snailmail) reminder system should suffice.
  2. Any driver of the vehicle. There is strict liability on the driver to ensure the vehicle he intends to drive is registered and has current WOF (and meets other requirements for passenger or heavy vehicles). This is a reason to retain physical stickers.
  3. The Police – they do not really always need the info as they can run the plate. However it is easier for police at drink drive checkpoints or when dealing with the driver of a deficient vehicle.
  4. Parking wardens. Running the plate of any vehicle they see is not really their job.
  So TANZ may consider the stickers are still useful.
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:38am
  - Local Miller
    
    All nonsense. Everything you mention can be one through an on line hand held device like a Tablet. With a basic app you can scan the number plate, ACR gives the number to the system and a lookup will return the relevant data in seconds. Even better, anything that’s wrong, like expired WoF or out of date rego can be highlighted in the app so they show up clearly. Much less likely to an error.
    The only benefit in the WoF sticker is to the driver who can check when the car is next due, but that’s it.
    I agree with SK, go digital and e-mail (or snail mail for those who ask for it) a reminder.
    
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    December 20, 2023 3:42pm
    - ProtectBabiesFromPredators
      
      I have found peterwns legally based observations to be correct, in general.
      
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      December 20, 2023 10:06pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  The article is flawed. Most of the revenue from the licence fee (“rego fee”) is used to fund the ACC motor vehicle account (to pay for the care of road accident victims) and for the system that administers drivers licenses.
  
  The article does not even mention either of those.
  
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  December 20, 2023 12:44pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    Fair enough. But it’s not about not paying the Rego or ACC. It’s about not having to have an obstructive sticker on your windshield and going digital instead. Both the UK and Ozzie have ditched the stickers. It would save $50 million.
    
    5 2
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    December 20, 2023 1:12pm
Maggie Pie

You can imagine there must be heaps & heaps of displaced HAMAS supporters in Gaza
all asking the same question about the events of Oct 7 ……..

https://twitter.com/MOSSADil/status/1737132597757522311

Just saying.

(big screen/full noise)
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December 20, 2023 11:24am
- cmm
  
  … or maybe they are just doubling down… Even though this is caused by Hamas’ actions, I expect your average Gazan now hates Israel more than ever before.
  
  One thing that MOSSAD will have to ask themselves is why they missed some very widely available intelligence. Maybe they have too much faith in their spying?
  
  For instance a poll by the Washington Institute in July found that 65% of Gazans expected there to be a major war before the end of the year, yet somehow the Israelis were lulled into thinking everything has peaceful & happy.
  
  Clearly the Gazans knew something was coming.. but the Israelis ignored the information.
  
  Ditto soldiers monitoring the video cameras on the walls. They saw and reported different movement patterns but were ignored because the higher-ups thought everything was peaceful.
  
  No doubt lessons will be learned.
  
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  December 20, 2023 12:46pm
  - kevn
    
    cmm… and gave Israel the opportunity to go hard in return.
    
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    December 20, 2023 1:10pm
Surely Knott

Will National be bringing back their proposal to require cyclists and e-scooters to use bike lanes when they are provided. Teaching learner driver yesterday. Cyclist riding on the road despite the road having a raised separated cycleway. The road had been made substantially narrower after the addition of the cycleway so learner is forced to overtake without any margin of error.

And pedestrians should be required to use the crossings when they are provided also. The urbanised areas are becoming increasingly complex for new drivers.
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December 20, 2023 11:29am
- cmm
  
  Yup, while they are up, then require cyclists to generally follow the road rules.
  
  In particular:
  * Entering roadways without stopping/yeilding/checking.
  * Ignoring stop signs & red traffic lights.
  * Reckless driving (such as slipstreaming).
  
  If it is unacceptable for a motorist to do it then it should be unacceptable for a cyclist to do it.
  
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  December 20, 2023 12:31pm
  - What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
    
    Agree to all that, so can we now consider the penalties for drivers who see bike lanes as an appropriate place to pull over and take a call?
    
    5 1
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    December 20, 2023 1:48pm
- MCōs
  
  Not as simple as you make it sound
  I’m told that cycle lanes formed by raised concrete blocks are difficult to clean because the machines are too wide to do the business
  Last century I had a contract job at the Lower Hutt Drainage Board (a most stupefying seven weeks)
  I cycled along the Hutt Rd, which has a cycleway that was full of rubbish and impossible to use
  
  5 1
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  December 20, 2023 12:54pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Require cyclists & scooterists on the public highway to pass a test to demonstrate that they know the road code.
  
  Mandatory for all other road users, after all.
  
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  December 20, 2023 8:58pm
JC60

Toby Moore has an opinion piece in today’s Herald criticizing the new RBNZ mandate to focus solely on inflation. He is described as a former Beehive advisor. In fact, he was senior ministerial advisor to Grant Robertson. So, of course he disagrees with the dumping of the additional focus on employment. I am concerned that the Herald chose not to disclose what his actual position in the Labour Government was.
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December 20, 2023 11:52am
NothingLeft

A long while back there was a story about Kieran McAnulty screwing over his Irish ex Suzanne, I couldn’t remember the details, but just ran across it again, Basically spent up their assets (their house and her inheritance) to get him elected, then dumped her as soon as he was sworn in:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ8kamrXEAAcvyo?format=jpg&name=900×900

Duplicitous and exploitative. Not someone you could trust.
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December 20, 2023 11:56am
Maggie Pie

And something else I didn’t know until I came upon their ‘Press Release’….

Te Papa’s co-leaders are Tumu Whakarae and Arapeta Hakawai.

I’d say they’re setting a dangerous precedent, don’t you think?
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December 20, 2023 12:34pm
- Swifty
  
  I don’t know enough to judge.
  
  Before I make an assessment, I wonder if someone could explain to me how Maori managed their national museums how they determined appropriate governance structures.
  
  Many thanks.
  
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  December 20, 2023 12:50pm
- kevn
  
  Maggie… Doesn’t seem very ‘diverse’ to me. Bit of a one way street with these folk.
  
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  December 20, 2023 1:12pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    And very much the ‘old-style’ names if you ask me Kev.
    Most of the Maoris we know go by the handle of Willy, and John etc.
    
    9 2
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    December 20, 2023 1:28pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7O4Mpj9KAk
Regulations Minister David Seymour looks ahead to 2024.
Regulations Minister David Seymour looks ahead to 2024. The MSM think DS is mounting a ‘pogrom’ against Maori for canning some racist gummint programs.
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December 20, 2023 12:44pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Pogrom? A word meaning genocide.
  Typical media who don’t know we all have the google machine!
  God, you media are so fucking pathetic!
  
  11 3
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  December 20, 2023 1:10pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoTbrQwTnuQ
River of Freedom Producer Jarrod Connon on the film’s success and future projects.
Sean Plunket speaks to River of Freedom Producer Jarrod Connon about the film’s success and future projects. [9:11]
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December 20, 2023 12:45pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Do not let activists use ‘Fear’ like Ardern used ‘fear’ with Covid.
To me the key will be to stop Teachers teaching the lies of the James Freeman version, and what the Waitangi Tribunal says.
The Tribunal was set up for one thing – to extort the Net Taxpayer.
Well girls and boys, the Net Taxpayers are getting fewer by the day.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/activist-treaty-ignorance-is-eye-watering-read-this/
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December 20, 2023 1:07pm
- rouppe
  
  Yep, six of those net taxpayers let go from my team because the department needs to find savings.
  
  After hiring dozens of managers in the last 3 months
  
  3 0
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  December 20, 2023 3:11pm
  - cmm
    
    Is this a government department? If so they are not net taxpayers if their whole salary is coming out of the taxpayer’s purse.
    
    5 1
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    December 20, 2023 3:23pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes.
      The Taxpaying purse is funded by the “Net” Taxpayer.
      The Public Sector gets paid from the Net Taxpayer’s Tax.
      Public Sector do not pat TAX!! It is numbers on paper.
      
      2 1
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      December 20, 2023 4:46pm
    - rouppe
      
      Yes it is. By net taxpayers I’m considering pays more tax than they obtain in public services.
      
      I get your point but then you would be advocating for zero public servants. No doctors, nurses, radiologists, teachers, police, road workers, etc.
      
      If that’s how you want NZ to operate, then say it: you want anarchy. Because that’s what would happen.
      
      1 0
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      December 20, 2023 7:53pm
Swifty

I see NZ Rugby have placed their full support behind a new Auckland waterfront stadium.

I trust this means they’ll be paying for the bloody thing too.
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December 20, 2023 1:09pm
- septic skeptic
  
  The Muppets running Auckland could have had Clarke & Cullen fund one years ago. With taxpayer money of course. Got scuppered by an inability to get the various councils to agree – and legal challenges by vested interests at Eden Park.
  
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  December 20, 2023 3:14pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Auckland does not need another stadium. Just better use of the existing ratepayer funded stadiums!
    
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    December 20, 2023 4:36pm
    - Jack5
      
      An article from 2016 about the American spending craze on sports stadiums. It’s still relevant.
      
      It refers to financing by tax-free municipal bonds.
      With NZ local bodies having squeezed all but the last drops of financial blood out of ratepayers, loan financing will be relevant here.
      
      Someone will also then try to introduce the American idea of tax-free municipal bonds. In th US, these bonds are, to the investor, exempt from federal, state, and local tax.
      
      https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-the-federal-government-should-stop-spending-billions-on-private-sports-stadiums/#revenue-loss
      
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      December 20, 2023 8:47pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  What, and lose the Eden Park advantage?
  
  They’re playing with fire.
  
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  December 20, 2023 9:01pm
Maggie Pie

ORAL IN THE HOUSE:

Q7) The Member-for-Tijuana to The Minister for Immigration:
“What is she doing to enable people living in New Zealand, to bring family members here from Gaza?”

A) MoI:
“The government will allow ONE Gazan family member to enter New Zealand, for every Mexican, Iranian, and Canadian, who voluntarily returns to their own country”.
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December 20, 2023 1:21pm
Chuck Bird

I just heard David Seymour being interviewed on The Country by Jamie Mackay. David got some private lessons in te reo and he paid for them himself. This another reason why I am happy I voted Act rather than National.
4 10
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December 20, 2023 1:39pm
- rouppe
  
  At senior leadership levels, “his money” is very opaque.
  
  Is an expense account that is part of the salary package “his money” or department money?
  
  Yes I know it’s all taxpayer money, that’s not the point in making.
  
  Anyway I’m sure Seymour paid for lessons from his salary, but the line between salary and discretionary expense account is pretty fudged
  
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  December 20, 2023 3:08pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

How long before this prick gets sacked – or can he be sacked?

Inflation is the number one evil? No shit Sherlock.
‘All good things take time’ – fuck off.
“Job adds below pre-Covid levels” Really, Orr? Are you looking?

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/adrian-orr-and-reserve-bank-rbnz-tell-mps-new-government-that-inflation-is-number-one-evil-for-everyone/ar-AA1lKUqg
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December 20, 2023 1:43pm
Chris Nisbet

Sigh.
Under the heading of “Climate”, Newshub has a story about Taylor Swift being the world’s biggest ‘polluter’, harping on about her ‘carbon’ emissions. They presumably mean CO2 emissions.
CO2 (the stuff that makes life as we know it possible) is not pollution.
Taylor Swift is not wrecking the climate.
Newshub telling us she is does not make it so.
12 0
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December 20, 2023 2:22pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Newshub make alot of ‘news’ up and spin it accordingly. Most political news is opined analysis of the reporter, reporting it.
  
  7 0
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  December 20, 2023 2:47pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Anything can be pollution if there’s too much of it in the wrong place.
  
  4 0
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  December 20, 2023 2:56pm
  - cmm
    
    In the case of CO2 it is plant food. There is only a small amount and plants are on the brink of starvation.
    That is why growers will pump CO2 into grow houses to fatten the plants up a bit.
    That is why increased CO2 levels have helped green the deserts and reduce the water requirements for plants (as anyone who did intermediate school biology would expect).
    
    The air that people breathe out is 1 to 2% CO2 and that is far from poisonous/dangerous. It works fine for keeping people alive with CPR. That is around 50 times the CO2 level in the atmosphere.
    
    Yes, CO2 could theoretically become a pollutant, but that would be at least 100x the levels found in the atmosphere.
    
    9 1
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    December 20, 2023 3:32pm
  - Chris Nisbet
    
    And yet we’ve singled out CO2 and CH4 for special treatment.
    
    6 0
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    December 20, 2023 3:46pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Just because we need some CO2 in the atmosphere doesn’t mean an increased level is safe. For instance it’s immediately life threatening if breathing at concentrations at or above 4%.
  
  2 6
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  December 20, 2023 3:09pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Good thing its only .04% at the moment
    
    11 0
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    December 20, 2023 3:28pm
  - cmm
    
    By that argument food is life threatening.
    If you eat 100x the food that you normally consume you’d be dead pretty soon too.
    
    10 1
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    December 20, 2023 3:35pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    This is all to miss the point. The concern about CO2 is not that increased amounts of it in the atmosphere will make the air less breathable. It is that it alters the balance between energy entering the Earth’s atmosphere and energy leaving it. Given how complex and interrelated the systems operating on and around the Earth are, the impact of the increased energy levels in the atmosphere isn’t completely predictable but includes higher temperatures in the air and in the oceans and follow-ons from that such as more rapid ice melt and declines in marine life
    
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    December 20, 2023 7:46pm
cmm

So a gang member gets shot and killed at a party attended by gang members and the cops assure us that:

“There is no fear of any gang retaliation or tensions,”

How the hell would they know?

What bullshit. There is always tension between gangs even without a killing and allowing a killing to go unanswered would be extremely unlikely.

Cops are bloody lying.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/301030196/stokes-valley-homicide-victim-named-as-39yearold-rawiri-wharerau
13 0
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December 20, 2023 2:57pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Maybe it’s red on red or blue on blue.
  
  4 0
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  December 20, 2023 3:00pm
- Swifty
  
  You might find that this is an issue entirely within the BPs, so there’s no other gangs involved and hence the police claims.
  
  Just a thought.
  
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  December 20, 2023 3:07pm
cmm

Homeschooling has more than doubled since we did it 15 years ago.

There are now over 6,000 families homeschooling 11,000 kids. These will be the registered kids (6 and up). 5 year olds being homeschooled do not get counted.

Various studies suggest that homeschoolers generally outperform kids who go to school.

Of course there is a bias in this – all homeschooling parents are interested in their childrens’ education and are prepared to put in effort. With that attitude at home, kids will likely do well even if the kids attend a poor school.

The vast majority of homeschooling parents have no teaching qualifications, yet their kids typically outperform school kids. Seems to me teaching qualifications are massively over-hyped.

https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/homeschooling
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December 20, 2023 3:10pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Individually tutored kids do 2 standard deviations better than classroom schooled. It’s all about the one on one attention.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_sigma_problem#:~:text=Bloom's%202%20sigma%20problem%20refers,educated%20in%20a%20classroom%20environment.
  
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  December 20, 2023 4:08pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    And that is the simple reason why most education will be via AI tutors focused on individual students within a few years. Educational outcomes will skyrocket.
    
    4 1
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    December 20, 2023 4:26pm
  - cmm
    
    ” It’s all about the one on one attention.”
    
    That is certainly the case for early reading, but far more important is displaying the right attitude to children.
    
    Unfortunately a very large % of the population care very little about their kids’ education.
    
    And even more are not prepared to put in any meaningful effort.
    
    5 2
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    December 20, 2023 4:50pm
Chuck Bird

Menendez wants to bring in Jews hating Palestinians who are likely Hamas sympathizers and possibly Hamas members.

I think anyone coming here from the Middle East to be asked if they believe that Israel has a right to exist. If they say yes but their actions show they lied they should be sent back.

What do others think?

Question 7 – Ricardo Menendez March to the Minister of Immigration

https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=237424
12 2
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December 20, 2023 3:20pm
- mandk
  
  I watched that question and the first thing that came to mind was: How is Immigration NZ going to ensure that we do not import Islamic terrorists and other people seeking to establish a world-wide caliphate?
  
  10 1
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  December 20, 2023 4:11pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I think it is so hypocritical where we have a Gay member wanting to bring in refugees who would have him defenestrated from a high building at the drop of a hat.
  
  12 1
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  December 20, 2023 4:36pm
  - NoFax
    
    Islam is right about gays.
    
    0 3
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    December 20, 2023 9:19pm
- Jack5
  
  The Green MP listens to his Tijuana electorate.
  
  0 0
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  December 20, 2023 8:36pm
Maggie Pie

I always try to catch a bit of QT when I get the chance.
Mainly I like to be informed should some of the topics come up for later discussion.

A couple of things that caught my attention today….I noticed Golriz was back to wearing her Keffiyeh, and was also a wee bit disappointed to see Nicola in the same carnation-pink Trousersuit she’s already worn on a previous occassion.

Anyone else pick up on that as well?
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December 20, 2023 3:22pm
- Biscuit
  
  You’re too much of a fashinista, Maggie!
  
  Me, I just say ‘Oooh, a play tonight, What SHALL I wear?’
  
  And I just KNOW that, within the minute, the bed will have my partner’s choice of suit laid out on it … and, alongside, will be a tie that will be colour-coordinated with some boxer shorts and some socks, good grief!
  
  Hen-pecked? Moi?
  
  10 1
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  December 20, 2023 4:08pm
- mogg
  
  Nicola always looks good, the trouser suit is just fine.
  Robbo looked like he had been sleeping in his suit and many in Labour look rag bags by comparison. Do you not remember Helen Clark’s Chairman Mao uniform which she wore year after year.
  
  9 0
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  December 20, 2023 4:36pm
- nathie
  
  But Maggie, Nicola looks fab wearing it so why not!
  
  Just saw a pic on the NZH website.
  
  Now … could you imagine a woman MP from Labour, Greens or TPM wearing such a fine and cheerful power suit?
  
  No I can’t picture that either! Never in a million years would a leftie woman MP want to show her femininity! Why is that?
  
  7 0
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  December 20, 2023 5:27pm
- ProtectBabiesFromPredators
  
  They should all wear Uniforms.
  
  1 0
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  December 20, 2023 10:23pm
Biscuit

I see that the marketing company that came up with that inane ‘In it for you’ as the Labour Party’s (losing) campaign slogan is/are still at it.

They clearly ‘do’ the Genesis power company, too.

‘With you. For you.’, Genesis tell me in their latest bill.

My whelm was well-and-truly undered…
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December 20, 2023 3:57pm
- greybeard
  
  “With you. For you. Up you”.
  
  3 0
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  December 20, 2023 6:14pm
Maggie Pie

‘Judge orders names of Jeffery Epstein’s clients to be revealed’

– SKY banner.

Looks like the excrement is about to hit the proverbial. BIG TIME!!
11 2
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December 20, 2023 4:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Who wants some grapes?
Green, seedless at Countdown Glenfield. has them $18 for 500 grams.
Pak’n-save has the same grapes for $9.99 per kilo. (100 grams for you metric learners!)
What gives?
Blow this into the open please. Nearly double (means twice) the price.
I complained and got a person that English is not their main language. Good escape for them.
5 days before Christmas day and Countdown try this shit on!!!!
7 2
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December 20, 2023 4:13pm
- NothingLeft
  
  1000 grams not 100
  
  $18 for 500grams is $36 per kg.
  
  Thats 3.6x $9.99/kg not double
  
  I don’t know why anyone who has the option shops at other than pak’n’save. Same products but average something like 30% cheaper at countdown and new world which may be ok for the odd specialty item or a convenience purchase but not the weekly shop.
  
  5 1
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  December 20, 2023 4:32pm
  - Bridgenag
    
    Just checked out the Paknsave Sylvia Park v Countdown in the city Countdown far cheaper for cherries and blueberries
    
    1 0
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    December 20, 2023 7:19pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yes 1000gm not 100.
    Dunno how that escaped me. Must be seeing the comment as an image again, that’s what the quack says.
    
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    December 21, 2023 7:50am
- Maggie Pie
  
  My partner received his delivery of ‘Pure Otago Cherries’ yesterday.
  Every Xmas he flys up on overnight courier 30 of their 2kg boxes to give out to his clients.
  
  He gave a box to his mum and we’ve got 3 in our fridge.
  Would have to say this year, compared to what I’ve seen here in the Supermarkets, they’re the biggest, blackest, firmest, juciest ones I’ve ever had the pleasure of popping in my mouth.
  
  13 2
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  December 20, 2023 4:42pm
- greybeard
  
  Once you have really come to grips with metrics you will know that a kilogram is 1000 grams.
  And $18 /500 grams is 3.6 times $9.99 /kilogram, not twice.
  Obviously arithmetic is not YOUR second language !
  But Merry Christmas anyway !
  
  11 0
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  December 20, 2023 4:48pm
- MCōs
  
  If it was Bunnings they would match their price plus a further 15% discount
  
  5 0
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  December 20, 2023 5:12pm
Hugh Jarse

Seriously we have just had a mini budget which has outlined the mismanagement and waste of the previous government and the actions and impacts that flow from that, into the billions for the poor old taxpayer and the feeble brained media play gotcha with the coalition ministers on who paid for their te reo lessons.

It seems the true leaders of the opposition sit within the management teams of Stuff, NZ Herald, Newsgrub etc and not within the left parties. Labour can now go back to their usual years of doing nothing and let the media do their job for them.
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December 20, 2023 4:52pm
Inandout

Saw a Palestine demo in some city, possibly NY, where some idiots had the banner with ‘Queers for Palestine’ on display. Real Alice in Wonderland stuff.
14 2
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December 20, 2023 5:26pm
MCōs

The PMs exchange league jerseys
It’s the cricket season boys
Or maybe they could have exchanged valuable works of art
https://x.com/chrisluxonmp/status/1737300431204954478?s=61&t=yFkzCNMWRCaVt1p5eRxUog
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December 20, 2023 5:28pm
- Ghost
  
  Hmmm. Wonder what the conversation was when Luxon left?
  
  “Does anyone know who the warriors are? Can someone google what this shirt is Christoper gave me”
  
  “I think they might be the NZ woman’s netball team”
  
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  December 20, 2023 6:07pm
Swifty

Term 3 school attendance figures just out:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/505194/less-than-half-of-students-went-to-class-regularly-in-term-three-ministry-figures

A new low for Labour.
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December 20, 2023 5:33pm
Maggie Pie

Looks like he’s still their ‘go to’ man 🙁

Well someone needs to tell 1EWES that nobody gives a Flying-Fcuk what Chippy thinks anymore!

SHEESH!!
14 2
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December 20, 2023 6:16pm
Swifty

Three leading US black conservatives discuss matters of race and aspiration with Peter Robinson from the Hoover Institution:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hIiyIEyUxu8&pp=QAFIAQ%3D%3D

Just excellent and the parallels with the NZ/Maori situation are extraordinary.

Truly a great watch.
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December 20, 2023 8:08pm
NZer In Exile

Imagine the USA is now running on wind and solar only.

Imagine it needs a Lithium Ion backup battery for the whole country to supply TWO DAYS worth of power supply to the country (say there is low wind and much cloud across the country).

Using the all the current lithium ion battery cell factories in the world, running 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, how many years would it take to make enough of these batteries to give just two days power backup for the whole of the USA?
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December 20, 2023 10:35pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  The answer is 1000 years of production with current facilities. Remember that’s just for 2 days backup just for the USA (about 330 million people).
  
  Net Zero is impossible with current technologies and is a severe hiding to nowhere for any country dumb enough to try it.
  
  Douglas Pollock on big problems with wind and solar power.https://rumble.com/v1ilnfh-12-douglas-pollock-on-big-problems-with-wind-and-solar-power.html
  
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  December 20, 2023 11:02pm

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