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August 12, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 12 August 2024

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Apropos of all these media stories saying that poor people can’t afford fresh food – I call bullshit on that.

I went to the Wellington fruit & veggie market yesterday morning, down by Te Papa. Varieties of apples, $1.49 per kilo. New season Agria spuds, ditto (& cheaper by the 10 kilo sack). Broccoli – more expensive – $1.50 per head. A range of root vegetables, onions etc – circa $2.00 – $2.50 per kilo. A good sized pumpkin for $3.00. Avocados – 10 smalls for $6.00. And so on.

By contrast, Big Mac Combos are $15 each.
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August 12, 2024 8:00am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I suspect that it is an inability to cook. I could feed a family of four 3 meals per day for $150 per week. It would require some planning.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:56am
  - wsk12345
    
    We are vegetarian and spend about that per week to feed two of us. No planning, just see what veg we have bought and go from there. Costs more to feed the per week as they are 99% carnivore…
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:30pm
  - artemisia
    
    Being poor and inability to cook are not mutually exclusive. Being poor and buying fast food might be related.
    
    There was a food bank that asked people not to donate chickpeas or tinned tomatoes.
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:50pm
    - Sacha
      
      A social worker once told me that most of her clients lived on take-aways because: a) they didn’t have any cooking utensils, and b) they didn’t know how to use them anyway.
      We were talking about the apparent difficulty heart patients had in controlling/losing weight.
      
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      August 12, 2024 6:02pm
  - Drone
    
    Food and electricity or gas. Food doesn’t cook itself..
    
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    August 12, 2024 5:06pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Mrs Loveridge, an excellent economical cook, manages just that. About $120-150 pw for four of us, aged 13 up.
    
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    August 12, 2024 6:26pm
- kowtow
  
  What about some decent meat and poultry cuts .
  
  Decidedly ridiculously rippoffery.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:59am
  - cmm
    
    Sure, but those are luxuries.
    
    Nobody in NZ is starving for lack of food. Lack of common sense, maybe.
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:01pm
    - MCōs
      
      Inasmuch as a loaf of bread can be bought for a dollar something, nobody needs to starve, but scurvy might do you in!
      
      Someone in Paris took a photo I saw in a supermarket of spuds at $9/kilo equivalent, among other outrageous prices
      
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      August 12, 2024 1:19pm
    - cmm
      
      Yesterday I made a huge pot of vegetable soup. It is so full of stuff you could almost say it is a stew.
      
      6 litres of the stuff: onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, pumpkin, dried beans, stock powder and some tomato paste. It took me less than an 15 minutes to make and an hour to simmer.
      Augmented with a few slices of bread that’s 18 meals.
      
      Cost less that $1 per meal.
      
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      August 12, 2024 1:47pm
      - David Garrett
        
        cmm: I once tried to teach my Tongan sister-in-law to make crock pot meals at least sometimes for her growing brood.
        
        Two spuds ($1) two onions (.50c), two carrots (.20c) one pack of six lamb neck chops ($5-7). Bingo, an evening meal for all the family for less than $10. (She regularly spent $60 or more per visit to Maccas)
        
        All I got was Tongan laughing, which can mean any number of things, including not knowing what to say (which was most likely) or simple shyness (Not likely; we knew each other very well by then)
        
        I have noticed when in NZ that six neck chops are now routinely more than $10 per pack, and the offal meats we frequently consumed as kids are no longer available at either of my usual supermarkets.
        
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        August 12, 2024 1:57pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Forget supermarkets. You can get anything you want from a good butcher. They even deliver chilled packs New Zealand wide.
        
        https://gourmetdirect.co.nz/lamb/lamb-sweetbreads-frozen-1kg/
        
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        August 12, 2024 2:38pm
  - alwyn.a
    
    Pac’nSave (in Kilbirnie) are currently selling skinned chicken breasts at $9.99/kilo. That would be enough for two meals for a family of 4 I would think. It is all usable.
    That is pretty well always available at about that price.
    Other meats are much more expensive but I would suggest chicken is not at all out of reach on the grounds of price
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:15pm
    - Paulus
      
      This morning at New World special I bought 6 chicken legs for $4.65.
      Keep us for three meals each.
      Spuds and Carrots to go along.
      
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      August 12, 2024 2:09pm
Scott

The Saturday morning attack on a Gaza school has generated many headlines condemning Israel.
Here is a typical report, this from the BBC –
“An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 70 people, the director of a hospital has told the BBC.

Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital where many of the casualties were taken, said those were the victims who had been identified so far, with the remains of many others so badly disfigured that identification was difficult.

An Israeli military spokesman said al-Taba’een school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility”, which Hamas denies.

The strike has been criticised by Western powers, as well as regional countries which have said it shows Israel has no desire to reach a ceasefire or end the Gaza war.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8erk37yn2no.amp

Notice that Israel’s point that Hamas is using the school as a base is denied.
The point is made that the west says Israel has no desire for peace or ending the war.
It’s clear that Israel is the bad actor and that’s why every Sunday around a dozen people protest in Masterton waving their Gaza flags and feeling good about their virtue.

But if you read Israeli reports we find that Israel did everything it could to minimise casualties and used targeted munitions to hit Hamas terrorists operating out of the school. Hamas are leaving the tunnels and hiding among civilians, using the schools and hospitals as military bases.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-slammed-globally-after-hamas-claims-at-least-90-dead-in-strike-on-gaza-school/

Why does the BBC trust Hamas as a reliable source? And why are they so sceptical of Israel? The coverage does not seem at all neutral in my opinion. Israel even names 19 terrorists killed in the attack. Will the BBC release a correction?
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August 12, 2024 8:01am
- Biscuit
  
  Trust not the judgement of the BBC too much, Scott.
  
  They were, after all, the last people to (very reluctantly) condemn their ‘star’, Jimmy Seville, and they are only now realising what a ginormous piece of excrement Huw Edwards was/is…
  
  Actually, trust not the judgement of ANY UK media outlet, ha: ITV were just as lax re Philip Schofield…
  
  And remember Andrea Vance’s former employer, ‘the “News of the World’?
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:21am
- Ra Henare
  
  Who to trust.
  The PR Machines of major players. ie BBC, CNN, Israeli sources
  
  In this highly spun world. The 10 second sound bite wins the attention of most.
  Drilling down for real information is a time-consuming and sometimes fruitless task.
  
  As a basic stance, I don’t believe any of the main players.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:30am
  - Matt Long
    
    My view is it’s similar to the new Zealand situation, everything from Labour and Green, Maori parties can be taken as a lie, and nothing National,Act or NZF says can be trusted.
    
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    August 12, 2024 5:02pm
- kowtow
  
  In their keen ness to cover all things anti semite and pro Gaza they’ve got the perfect excuse not to cover the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh .Or the increase in hangings in Iran ( the sponsors of the current outrages in the Levant and elsewhere)
  
  How very queer.
  
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  August 12, 2024 12:02pm
artemisia

So emergency housing numbers and costs are dropping fast. Minister Potaka says down 32% in 6 months. Cost down from a million a day to half a million. Though this doesn’t take into account the cost of alternative housing support for those households leaving the motels – that will not be trivial.

One indicator is the number of distinct clients receiving Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants. Not the same as the number of grants. October 2023 – 4,003, June 2024 – 2,473.

The number of single people in motels has dropped faster than the 32% – from 1,497 October 2023 to 921 June 2024, down 38%. There has been little incentive for singles to move on from heavily subsidised accommodation. But 38% down? Does rather look like those did find other options fairly quickly. Because the rules started to change?
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August 12, 2024 8:08am
- artemisia
  
  Anecdotal but from several property managers who report applications for rentals but nothing further, and strong suspicion some are in motels and aim to meet the requirement to prove they are applying.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:40am
- 76_special
  
  I caught this on the 6am radio news but was a bit surprised by the framing of it – something along the lines of “emergency housing numbers are down but barely scratching the surface” followed a few sentences later by the 32% figure.
  I thought that surely a 1/3 drop is more than just a scratch?? My skepticism of media reporting increases as I imagine the framing had Labour announced such figures.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:33am
  - Conservatarian
    
    Journalists are typically innumerate.
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:33pm
    - sirknz
      
      Most seem to be barely literate.
      
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      August 12, 2024 4:04pm
- ISeeRed
  
  That’s nice but they’re still all on benefits, accommodation supplements, WFF tax credits etc. right? No relief for the poor suffering taxpayer apart from some tax bracket adjustments already swallowed up by inflation.
  
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  August 12, 2024 1:21pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350374596/police-association-raises-serious-concerns-about-act-minister-nicole-mckee
From the article:
“But he said Paula Bennett, who was police minister at the time, “ignored all significant changes proposed” while “under pressure from a gun lobby headed by Nicole McKee”.
“The changes that should have been made could very well have meant a much different outcome for New Zealand on March 15, 2019.”
I get it that Mr Cahill must still be hurting because people voted for a new government last year.
But to claim the dreadful massacre that occurred in Christchurch could have been avoided somehow by different gun laws stretches his credibility too far.
Shame on him for trying to party politicise a tragedy caused by a criminal from Australia and blame NZ politicians.
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August 12, 2024 8:13am
- Blackbob
  
  Trying to take attention away from Police failures that actually could have prevented the tragedy.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:19am
- Matt Long
  
  Yes, he’s complaining about not being consulted and therefore calling for the removal of the minister when consultation hasn’t even opened yet.
  Plus trying to remind Luxon that National is labour lite and shouldn’t stick to the spirit of the coalition agreement.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524842/police-association-urges-pm-to-strip-gun-reform-portfolio-off-nicole-mckee
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:22am
  - Simon
    
    Its same old slop linking. Not an original thought to be seen anywhere. Slop linking.
    
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    August 12, 2024 8:49am
- Yvette
  
  Any linking of gun law to the Christchurch “gunman” is as spurious as linking ‘hate speech” to the heinous massacre.
  Those who read (and cannot now “unread”) the Tarrant ‘manifesto’ before it was banned, will know that the terrorist considered a van full of explosives, so had firearms been not available he would have resorted to other means to perform his mentally distorted aim – possibly with much greater loss of life.
  
  Tarrant chose the wrong country – the lazy security here was compounded by Tarrant’s lazy decision to select New Zealand as his venue. Consider if he had acted in the UK – would it have precipitated the present riots not now but back in 2019, and have therefore a result closer to what his manifesto espoused. Tarrant was not intent of any impact in New Zealand, but the world wide media reaction which he desired to inflame a civil war again in the USA.
  
  Tarrant did not involve himself in ‘hate’ speech to any degree that attracted any attention to his agenda, so the spurious attachment to hate speech to the Christchurch massacres, is as erroneous as the riots in the UK being due to the motive, yet unknown, of the killer in the UK knifing of three children.
  
  At the moment the Police Association is perhaps wrong in their association with Tarrant
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:46am
- cmm
  
  There are no gun crimes.
  There are criminal crimes.
  
  Imposing more draconian restrictions on legitimate gun owners is not going to solve criminality.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:47am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Same as cars. People have crashes so ban cars. ///
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:29am
  - Souvlaki
    
    Surely, there must be SOME police of above average IQ ?
    The current union leader might be better in the Maritime Union, …complaining about the low temperature of staff showers, or their pies, at the start of each school holidays on the Inter Island ferries ?
    
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    August 12, 2024 10:00am
- wsk12345
  
  Or the police could have done THEIR job and not given the guy a licence.
  
  Always someone else’s fault.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:59am
- sirknz
  
  Wasn’t it the police not doing their job and actually vetting licence holders properly that, at least in part, led to the Christchurch thing?
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  That is complete rubbish. The reason that Tarrant obtained a firearms licence is well documented in the Royal Commission. Two police officers granted Tarrant a firearms licence despite Tarrant not meeting the requirements for such a licence.
  
  The Royal Commission report reproduces the actual application for a licence. IIRC it was written by Tarrant in a coloured pencil. It reads like it was written by an eight year old.
  
  One of the nominated referees had never met Tarrant.
  
  It was not the law at fault. It was the administration of that law by the police, in this case two particular police officers.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:31am
  - cmm
    
    “It was not the law at fault.”
    
    That needs to be underlined.
    
    The cops always want more laws and parliament thinks it can fix things by making more laws.
    
    That is not what is broken. What is broken is the application of the current laws.
    
    Until they can show that the current laws are being applied and are not being effective, no more laws.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:38am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      These were the two referees that the police contacted to support the firearms licence application.
      
      A “friend” who lived somewhere in the North Island. The friend had met Tarrant online in discussion groups online when Tarrant was in Australia. The friend offered Tarrant a place to stay when he arrived in New Zealand. IIRC Tarrant only stayed there for a short time before he left for Dunedin, where he lived and prepared for the attack.
      
      The second referee was “the friend’s father” who had never met Tarrant.
      
      The police should have insisted on Tarrant nominating referees from Australia. IIRC Tarrant was close to his mother. His mother had expressed alarm at his escalating extremist views. The police could have phoned her.
      
      (I am relying on memory for the mother. I don’t have time to go through the report. I am confident about the accuracy of the rest of my comment)
      
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      August 12, 2024 10:06am
      - gravedodger
        
        The Commission of Inquiry was like many others designed to reach a desired outcome, in particular here to gloss over how an itinerant with scarce proof of established residence and very flirtatious relationship to the legislated requirements of establishing stable character, secure storage, and no hint of mental problems should have raised so many red flags the application should have never even been considered.
        Not omitting the relaxing of the process by a certain appointed Prime Minister who had come second in a recent election and reduced requirements for face to face investigation by an issuing agent in granting the licence allowing access to the arms and ammunition used in the slaughter.
        Commission,? err perhaps whitewash?
        
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        August 12, 2024 10:39am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “The Commission of Inquiry was like many others designed to reach a desired outcome…”
        
        Um. No it was not.
        
        Disclosure. I was employed by the Royal Commission. I have not, and never will, disclose or discuss any matters that are not in the Report of the Commission.
        
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        August 12, 2024 12:00pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Addendum.
        
        “in particular here to gloss over how an itinerant with scarce proof of established residence….”
        
        I am astonished that you conclude this. The Commission Report covers in forensic detail the application by Tarrant for the firearms licence and the processing of that application.
        
        You are quite literally making things up.
        
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        August 12, 2024 12:06pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The two police who granted the licence could be blamed for what happened but I suspect Tarrant had his mind set and he would have obtained firearms and amo anyway. He would have stolen them if he had to.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:52am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes perhaps. However, he had literally never held a gun before he obtained the licence. Once he had a licence he could freely buy multiple weapons and join a gun club to learn to shoot. Yes he may have proceeded without a licence but things would have been much more difficult for him.
      
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      August 12, 2024 8:08pm
  - cmm
    
    Don’t blame the two cops. Blame the system.
    
    But ultimately it is not access to guns that caused the killing. It is that he wanted to kill to inflame the situation.
    
    There is always an attempt to find the “silver bullet” cause of a problem:
    * it was just two cops who didn’t do their job.
    * it was guns.
    * we need more gun control
    …
    
    He could have done the job with dynamite if he had wanted to.
    
    But navel gazing about Tarrant is rather pointless. What is far more important is looking forward at far more problematic issues such as the gang violence that we see almost daily.
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:11pm
  - Sacha
    
    The method of granting a Fire-arms licence was quietly changed by Ardern I think in 2018. The Police claimed that the then current procedure was too time consuming, and that it could be done more simply – mostly on-line.
    Tarrant was one of the first –
    
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    August 12, 2024 6:23pm
- Quail
  
  Gravel ,
  Ardern and her incompetent government have responsibility . They changed the law so MSSA could be bought on line without Police vetting of the user.The terrorist should have been vetted several times by police.
  This did not happen see attached..
  Ardern and the police have to live with all that.
  
  https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/this-was-avoidable-nz-police-botched-mosque-shooter-s-gun-licence-20200616-p55314.html
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:02am
- KiwiSapper
  
  “But to claim the dreadful massacre that occurred in Christchurch could have been avoided somehow by different gun laws stretches his credibility too far….”
  ,
  Fact is, Mr Cahill has no credibility to stretch.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:33am
- rouppe
  
  What Benedict has said above about the process of issuing Tarrant a firearms licence is true.
  
  But there is also law at play.
  
  There are several categories of firearms licence for different types of firearms. At the time there was Category A fit general long barrel firearms, and Category E for MSSA. The key thing about Cat E was the pistol grip.
  
  Cat E licence holders had enhanced vetting, increased gun safe requirements, and were required (I think) to show up at a gun range regularly.
  
  It wasn’t uncommon for ordinary rifles to have a thumb hole. Literally just big enough in an ordinary stock for the thumb to slip through to aid grip and stability. Your basic 303 type rifle.
  
  A certain gun shop owner lobbied the government to exclude rifles with thumb holes from Category E requirements. Then he imported AR style weapons with stocks that he argued were the same as a thumb hole because the stock connected to the bottom of the pistol grip.
  
  That’s how Tarrant got that weapon. Lax vetting for his licence along with lax categorization of AR weapons.
  
  All that was required was for a reclassification of those weapons to Category E. If the licence holder only had a Cat A licence then they’d have to either sell the weapon or apply for Cat E licensing.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:40am
  - cmm
    
    The pistol grip, magazine capacity and such MSSA restrictions only applied to semi-automatic weapons (the hint is in the name).
    
    There were no restrictions to bolt action rifles with pistol grips etc. Heck you could even have a belt fed bolt action if you want.
    
    What was really stupid is that the pistol grip etc have absolutely zero impact on their danger level. It was just a silly point for illiterate people to latch onto because it makes guns look “dangerous” and “military”.
    
    An SKS (which is a real military semi-automatic), made in their millions by Russia, China and others, was not classified as an MSSA only because it was missing the pistol grip. From a functional point of view an SKS is almost identical to a semi-automatic AK47.
    
    Stupid laws made by stupid politicians…
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:22pm
- Paulus
  
  I understand that many Police are pissed off with him as he did not get the settlement that he said he would but after Arbitration, he did not.
  Bye Cahill – you did not perform as you assured you would.
  
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  August 12, 2024 2:13pm
- GJM
  
  Why shoudl a trade unionist like Cahill, a proven liar at that, be given special treatment. Despite some appearances, it isn’t a Labour government.
  If the cops had actually done their job, Tarrant wouldn’t have been able to do what he did.
  
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  August 12, 2024 6:11pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Apropos of the dirty coal we import from Indonesia & burn at Huntly. Presumably there is clinker. What happens to that? Do we ship it back to Indonesia? Is there a mountain of slag somewhere?
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August 12, 2024 8:15am
- cmm
  
  Wherever it is, the slag is not carbon. It is silica etc.
  If it was carbon it would have burned and gone up the chimney.
  
  But it CO2 is evil, then it is far better to burn either methane or oil – both of which are part carbon and part hydrogen – thereby making more heat with less CO2.
  
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  August 12, 2024 1:25pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  There are massive pipes running along the ground from the plant heading north, there to dump into settling ponds, which are in an old gully. As the older sections are filled in I think they just cover it with topsoil and extend the pipes to the next section.
  
  CJames and one or two others would know the full details.
  
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  August 12, 2024 2:21pm
Colville

Cahill trying to push the idea that the vetting by police (at least twice) wasn’t to blame for this weirdo to have a restricted licence and bulk ammunition with zero sporting interests.
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August 12, 2024 8:20am
I remember when

What a marvellous medal ceremony the golf provided, especially fitting for the achievements of Lydia Ko.
The armed services leading the way down through the crowd to the dais.
On the green where the victories were finally confirmed.
Truly Magic!
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August 12, 2024 8:23am
Matt Long

The public seems to have gone off the wokeblacks. When they said they’d be uncomfortable playing against Folau, I lost all interest too.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/many-are-saying-the-same-thing-about-worrying-all-blacks-trend/
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August 12, 2024 8:25am
- Simon
  
  Wokeblacks? Lying clown. The article lists economic conditions effecting crowd sizes.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:37am
- 7kiwi11
  
  Used to be a fan. I haven’t watched a game for several years now. I’d be lucky if I could name 3 players. I think it was the arrogance that turned me off. The over the top haka’s and throat slitting gestures were also tiresome.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:56am
- pdm
  
  Seems to me that a few Senior AB’s want to do things there way – Perenara, maybe Beauden and Jordie Barret and perhaps Savea among them.
  
  In Saveas case I have never rated him as a tactical Captain so that may be part of the problem. Perhaps the captaincy should go to Taylor while Scott Barrett is out.
  
  Will there be changes next week – only a couple I would think. Jordan starting at fullback, BB to the bench, Jacobsen into the loosies and maybe Tamati Williams for Tu’ungafasi on the bench – Bell may replace Aumua there too.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:00am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Finlay Christie put in a good performance for the Tasman Mako yesterday against Manawatu.
    Tasman won 54-21.
    Manawatu average in the first half, but to their credit fought back to match the skills and pace of the Mako in the second half.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:15am
    - pdm
      
      Christie would not make my team – probably number 5 after (a fit) Roigarrd, Ratima, Hotham and Fakatava. Like Perenara he is too slow clearing the ball but is better defensively.
      
      We are well served for half backs and the Highlanders back up to Fakatava in Super Rugby looked okay in a struggling team. Cannot recall his name but he may be another up and comer.
      
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      August 12, 2024 9:48am
      - Biscuit
        
        Nathan Hastie, pdm?
        
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        August 12, 2024 11:53am
- Jade Warrior
  
  My wife and I currently have an exchange student from Germany staying with us. Two weeks ago we thought it would be a good idea to take him to see an All Blacks game.
  
  So I log onto Ticketek and find tickets which are advertised at “from $70”. That didn’t sound so bad until I chose three tickets, went on to the checkout only to find that the actual price was more than twice what was advertised on the opening page (about $145 a ticket as I recall), not to mention the additional transaction fees and so on.
  
  As a result of that, we decided not to purchase any tickets to the game. And given the result on the weekend, I think we made the right decision.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:54am
  - Biscuit
    
    That’s my big bugbear, Jade.
    
    All I want from a site if I am scouting a ticket or two is the actual price I am going to pay.
    
    Them telling me that GST is/isn’t included or what extra fee Tikitek (Spelling?) is gonna rort me for is irrelevant: it’s MY money paying for it all.
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:35am
  - alex Masterley
    
    JW, we are also hosting a German exchange student.
    We are taking him to the game in Auckland. I bought reasonable seats in the upper south stand which were rather expensive. I am wondering if the decsion to go to the game is justified.
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:29pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    High costs are rapidly shrinking popularity of Rugby – a lot of kids are growing up never seeing or even being aware of the game. The efforts to cash in on it by current admin at cost of developing new generations of fans have likely doomed it.
    
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    August 12, 2024 2:06pm
- MCōs
  
  Every time the ABs lose a game or two it’s the same weeping and gnashing of teeth
  The coach is useless. Wrong captain. Halfback is too slow. Too woke??
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:04am
- Paulus
  
  They are not women players are they but simple All Blacks.
  
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  August 12, 2024 2:15pm
Maggie Pie

Someone’s been telling furphies?

Looks like taxpayers are still funding those who want to learn Te Reo.
I’m sure this isn’t what we voted for…..

https://x.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1822467495833268480
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August 12, 2024 8:26am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Some people think things would be better if Willis replaced Luxon. I hope those people are paying attention now. The problem isn’t Luxon, it’s the National Party. The Nats want a slimmed-down – but still woke – public service.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:52am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Pope
    I agree. I think that National are not averse to keeping, or reinstating, many of the antidemocratic policies of the left.
    Mitchell told Plunket last week that he was against the Police efforts regarding Hate speech, and in the next breath he says it is an “operational matter”. The police aren’t the legislature, is Mitchell saying that they are?
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:25am
- Benedict Yu
  
  The public service should fund public servants to learn the language who need it for their jobs. That is not many.
  
  The problem is that all public servants “need” to learn the language because they need to recite Maori prayers before the team meeting on Monday mornings. Does not matter whether they are Catholic or atheist. Refusal would be career ending.
  
  No I am not joking.
  
  None of that has changed under this government. Nothing.
  
  The reason I keep going on about this is simple. I believe that it is wrong. The Public Service should be secular. The other reason is that to learn a language, someone needs to be motivated. They need to enjoy it. Simply because it takes on average 1,500 hours of applied learning.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:11am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    I don’t agree that removing Christian traditions and prayer’s — our National anthem being one example – completely from our public institutions is the answer to this problem. It is not respectful to the roots of our nation. It should certainly not be the response to stopping the activist minority factions continual scope creep.
    
    A number of western people are saying they want to retain our cultural Christianity whilst having no religious belief of their own. An example of this is the atheist scientist Richard Dawkins. Keeping on removing Christianity from our culture is not going to protect our culture from maorisation, islamification etc
    
    Ben, as a fairly recent kiwi, atheist and from a non-western tradition you may place no value on these traditions. However, for many they are part of NZ culture and should be respected as such.
    
    I can see that it is more difficult to preserve these traditions and aspects of our culture when many NZers are turning away from Christianity. In this regard we are largely responsible for the demise of our own culture.
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:59pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      For most of my life I have resided in western, English speaking countries.
      
      I don’t see declining adherence to Christianity as the key factor in New Zealand’s decline. Destruction of family is much more important
      
      However, this warrants a debate more extensive than is practical here. 😃
      
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      August 12, 2024 2:20pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Ben – I appreciate that you haven’t taken my comment personally! While you may have resided in Western countries most of your life, I would suggest your formative years were when you were growing up in Taiwan and thus you have less appreciation of cultural Christianity and these traditions than the majority of NZers born and raised here. For instance, do you have stronger positive memories of Chinese New Year than Christmas? Have your foundational values been derived from Christianity or Buddhism or Confucianism? Do you have an appreciation of the Christian principles in our laws and world views?
        
        You are not alone, many NZers would say let’s take religion out of the state. But this is ignoring the fact that Christian wisdom is ingrained in our laws and philosophy’s and traditions. Should we throw our National anthem away – it is a Christian Prayer?
        
        I didn’t say the decline of Christianity was the key factor in the decline of NZ. What I did say was the decline of Christianity is the biggest reason for the decline of our culture. Strong cultural Christianity leaves less of a vacuum for other cultural values to creep in and supplant what has made our society the place that it is.
        
        I also agree that the death of the family is a massive part of our decline. Hedonism and Marxist ideology – the growth of the state – have been the biggest threat to the family. While all strong civilisations have been built on strong families, in the west Christianity has encouraged and taught many values and ideas that create a strong family unit eg monogamy, lifelong commitment between husbands and wives, love, instructing and disciplining children, justice and mercy, forgiveness, humility, being productive and hard working etc. But I know from interactions with strong families from other cultural traditions eg Indian & Chinese, that many of the philosophies that make strong families are universal.
        
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        August 12, 2024 5:15pm
- Lara
  
  It’s not surprising since the media are going along with TPM and saying all things Maori are being cut and that the coalition is anti Maori.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:45am
- imalwaysright
  
  Wouldn’t they be better teaching Pidgin English?
  Not many speak maori and even fewer seem able to speak English.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:09am
Matt Long

Wow, with 22 billion pounds of subsidies this power plant run on imported wood pellets still emitted four times the carbon of a coal fired plant.
Green energy is amazeballs.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/09/biomass-power-station-produced-four-times-emissions-of-uk-coal-plant-says-report
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August 12, 2024 8:28am
- Jethrod
  
  And we worry about a few cows farting!
  
  Early rise again Matt?
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:42am
- Spam
  
  The FTSE 100 owner of the Drax power plant made profits of £500m over the first half of this year, helped by biomass subsidies of almost £400m over this period. It handed its shareholders a windfall of £300m for the first half of the year.
  
  Saving the planet requires the government to tax poor people to pay off the rich investors.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:44am
  - kowtow
    
    Saving the planet means poor people will no longer have jobs ( in the west) due to deindustrialisation , will no longer be able to stay warm in winter or cool in summer , our economies will suffer due to down time ( we see that now in NZ) and eventually when the lights do go out there’ll be rioting , looting , murder and mayhem.
    
    All this to save the planet / net zero from mostly but not exclusively left poiticians , but the idiot “centrists” aren’t far behind .
    
    At least I can say I didn’t vote for any of this.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:16am
  - peterwn
    
    Those ‘rich investors’ would be predominantly ordinary people in Kiwisaver type investment funds or direct ma and pa shareholders. These people have invested money for retirement and expect a reasonable return on it.
    If the Government stiffs power generation companies then investors will stop investing in them and either new power stations will not be built or the Government will have to build them or at least guarantee any lenders who lend money for them to be built.
    In the New Zealand context, the Electricity Authority stiffed Genesis some years ago. Genesis concluded it would not be allowed to make a return on Huntly (which was running very intermittently then) therefore Genesis planned to decommission and dismantle the Rankine units. Meridian started screaming since Meridian depended on the Huntly Rankine units being available to cover dry years particularly in the South Island. Electricity Authority was taught a sharp lesson here.
    At present in NZ, electricity is available at the spot price which admittedly is very high. Because of this electricity is available to those who have contracts (and domestic and small business customers are collectively mostly covered by bulk contracts) and those prepared to pay the spot price, there is effectively a rationing system in place that matches demand to supply. However some people have the impression that there is a mysterious supply of extra electricity that can be tapped into if only the spot price was controlled. They are daydreaming.
    If the Government (or its functionaries like the Electricity Authority) limit the spot price (as Shane Jones is effectively advocating) then demand will potentially exceed supply and the government will be forced to set up a rationing scheme.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:59am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Drax has won the support of the government thanks to claims that its generation is “carbon neutral” because the trees that are felled to produce its wood pellets absorb as much carbon dioxide while they grow as they emit when they are burned in its power plant.
    
    Ah no. Trees retain almost as much O2 as they do CO2. Irrespective of that, a tree neither adds to or subtracts from CO2 throughout its life.
    
    Lichens and moss, and later grasses are what created our oxygen rich atmosphere. Trees came along much much later.
    
    If you compare sqm of grass vs full canopy trees, trees emit less than 1/6 of the O2 of grass. Any appearance that trees emit lots of O2 is the O2 emitted by the grass around the trees. Trees and forests also create an ecosystem that attracts O2 consuming organisms.
    
    Most of the O2 that trees convert from CO2 is locked up in the Timber. If trees were solely CO2, they would be far more difficult to burn, and catch fire. And as they pass maturity they start converting the stored O2 back to CO2.
    
    Drax is just another in a long line of cons by idiots that don’t understand science. A 22Bn con.
    
    The Drax scenario is not driven by science, it is driven by subsidies.
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:15pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Goodness knows where you learnt your biology/botany…. but it’s nothing I recognise.
      
      1. Trees retain almost as much O2 as they do CO2.
      
      I’ve no idea what you mean by this.
      
      2. Trees came along much much later.
      
      Gymnosperm trees evolved millions of years before Flowering Plants (including grasses )
      
      First evidence of Gymnosperms: 380 Million years
      ago
      
      First evidence of grasses: c. 145 Million Years ago
      
      But our oxygen-rich atmosphere was well-developed by the time of the arrival of woody trees… O2 levels had started increasing 2.5 Billion years ago as cyanobacteria populations started dominating habitats across the Earth.
      
      Any appearance that trees emit lots of O2 is the O2 emitted by the grass around the trees.
      
      You are going to find bugger-all grass in mature evergreen Forests (e.g. native forests, exotic plantations)….. grassland ecosystems typically establish beyond the limits of woody tree growth (either water or temperature limited).
      
      Most of the O2 that trees convert from CO2 is locked up in the Timber.
      
      Again I have no idea what you mean here… unless you are talking of the oxygen component of lignin/cellulose/tannin compounds.
      
      Anyway, Oxygen produced by a plant during photosynthesis comes from H2O (via the Hill reaction) and not from CO2.
      
      But I agree … Drax is a fine example of green bull-shit…. Nearly as good as Carbon Credit farming.
      
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      August 12, 2024 3:15pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Spam, thank you for bringing that article to our attention.
    When one considers the tens and tens of millions spent by Fonterra to convert their Waitoa plant from coal to wood pellets Spam’s piece brings the bs into focus.
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:46pm
- Drone
  
  Matt, ignore the subsidies just consider the payout to the shareholders who will celebrate the greatness of the enterprise.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:46am
- cmm
  
  Yup this is something I have written about a few times.
  
  They cut down native forest in USA.
  They chip it.
  They barge it down the rivers.
  They load it onto bulk cargo ships.
  They ship it to UK.
  They load it onto trucks and trains.
  They take it to biomass plants where they burn it sustainably.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:50am
  - Burtland
    
    The government’s Solid Energy was doing the same here
    – turning clear wood into pallets and bulk shipping from Tauranga to Europe
    I guess this is still going on?
    
    the whole of NZ could be heated by pallets but the government stuffed the market
    
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    August 12, 2024 10:02am
    - david
      
      “pellets” or “pallets”? Perhaps “pallets of pellets”?
      probably not “pallets of pullets” but that is a story for another day.
      
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      August 12, 2024 3:47pm
  - I remember when
    
    Incidentally, what percentage of biofuel is there in any of the 91 octane petrol in NZ now?
    
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    August 12, 2024 10:06am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      AFAIK none. Megan Woods got cabinet to agree to mandated biofuels in petrol. The petrol companies spent millions on a compliance plan.
      
      Then when Hipkins became PM it went on the “policies bonfire”.
      
      Biofuels amazing says Megan Woods.
      
      https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/powering-nz%E2%80%99s-future-biofuels
      
      Biofuels bad says Chris Hipkins.
      
      https://www.autocar.co.nz/government-announces-end-to-biofuels-mandate/
      
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      August 12, 2024 12:19pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Old American Indian saying: “White (Labour) man speak with forked tongue.”
        
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        August 12, 2024 12:35pm
      - Handyman
        
        As usual, pay attention to the language of the left.
        
        — Clearing forests to create biofuels is saving the planet.
        — Burning a few logs on your home wood burner is killing the planet.
        
        It always comes back to identity.
        
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        August 12, 2024 2:00pm
- Damocles11
  
  James Shaw is the poster boy for how much filthy lucre you can make by styling yourself as a champion of ‘saving the planet’. Put on a sharp suit, unfurl a sheet eating grin, brandish some phoney credentials, and you too could make a motza as a greenwashing presence in the corporate world. Unsurprisingly Luxon loves him.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:20am
- Jake Dee
  
  Nowhere is the amount of power that any of those plants produced mentioned.
  There is no apples-to-apples comparison.
  An elephant is bigger than a cow and smaller than a whale.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:43am
Matt Long

When your candidate is so good you can’t let her be exposed to questions.
A Darleen Tana like count on when K Harris will do a press conference.
21 days so far.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/21-days-kamala-harris-has-not-held-press-conference-since-emerging-presumptive-democratic-nominee
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August 12, 2024 8:31am
- Nukuleka
  
  But but but…. RNZ news told me this morning that Joe Biden (remember him?) warned in his latest speech that unless the voters elect Kamala, democracy in the USA will end. The Democrats, smart as they are at effecting a coup, know all about ‘democracy’!
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:57am
  - Grunter
    
    “….RNZ News…..”? 🤣
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:13am
  - I remember when
    
    Joe Biden (remember him?)
    It must be contagious I seem to have forgotten him already.
    
    9 3
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    August 12, 2024 10:02am
  - Burtland
    
    whispering joes speech
    
    https://youtu.be/q34aWrELY_g
    
    6 2
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    August 12, 2024 10:28am
- kowtow
  
  Informed comment in the US is that as per the Biden plan , the left and media ( who’re leftists) are keeping her out of the limelight ( in her basement) while they tell the idiot voter she’s brilliant .
  
  It worked with Biden .
  
  Hopefully the debates might make a difference.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:18am
- Gravelroad
  
  For the socialists, ends justify the means always.
  Getting their hands firmly wrapped around the reins of power collectively is the only aim.
  Doesn’t matter who is standing up the front once the election has been won.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:37am
- sirknz
  
  Be a similar length of time for actual policy positions on her campaign site too.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:47am
Matt Long

It’s not just the rainbow supporters of Hamas who are turkeys voting for Christmas.
Islamists don’t love pop stars or their fans either.
How many people knew about the terror plot and the cancelled Taytay concerts?
Or that the concert last year was for peace and unity?
https://goodoil.news/therell-be-no-swifties-in-this-caliphate/
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August 12, 2024 8:35am
- David Garrett
  
  What’s a “Taytay concert” may I ask?
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:37am
  - cmm
    
    I take it from the mention of Swifties that this must be a Taylor Swift concert.
    There was some terror plot which resulted in her European tour being cut short with many heartbroken fans.
    
    One of the usual suspects on a mission of peace.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:45am
  - Cassandra
    
    Saint Taylor, but I’m sure you know that.
    
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    August 12, 2024 10:17am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    You got an answer to your question in eight minutes, going by the time stamps.
    
    A Google search would have given you the answer in about half as many seconds. So it can’t be the case that you asked the question here merely because you genuinely wanted to know the answer.
    
    So why do it? Do you perhaps think that your ignorance in this regard makes you look big and clever to fellow Kiwibloggers?
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:21am
Matt Long

Jan Tinetti we screwed up education before, and we we’ll it again.
https://x.com/MattLon13470215/status/1822482969694748932
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August 12, 2024 8:38am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  She is a truly awful human.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:53am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Saw her with Tame on Sunday.
    She reminded me of a slightly inebriated housewife, trying to talk herself out of a ticket for no wof or rego, on the way back from the liquor store.
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:38am
- Chuck Bird
  
  She reckons that Maori should be taught maths differently. I do not think Seymour was taught maths differently and he would be much better at maths than her or Seymour.
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:59am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    her or Seymour. Should be her or Tame.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:31am
  - John Loveridge
    
    So what, are they to be taught the ancient pre-Western science of matauranga maths?
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:54am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Two moas minus one moas equals no more moas.
      
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      August 12, 2024 11:42am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Maybe use the maori maths to invent the wheel
      
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      August 12, 2024 11:55am
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      From the new algebra curriculum, solve the equations:
      
      3 x C = 2
      
      2 = 100% ^2
      
      Solution:
      
      C = clauses in the Treaty of Waitangi
      3 clauses = partnership between Crown and Māori.
      Partnership = we have 100% control which you will 100% pay for
      
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      August 12, 2024 1:09pm
      - Jethrod
        
        My God!!!!!!
        No wonder we have maths problems in NZ
        
        2 1
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        August 12, 2024 4:19pm
- Swifty
  
  The question that Labour must be asked over and over and over again is “if you are presented with clear and compelling evidence that charter schools are working for parents and pupils, at levels comparable or better than mainstream schools, and at a cost either comparable or lower, will you still abolish them?”
  
  Of course, history tells us that their answer will always be ‘Yes’ and again confirmed by Tinetti’s interview – but in doing so Labour will be forced to reveal that it is ideology driving their decision and their need to protect vested teacher and union interests.
  
  They don’t care about pupil achievement – they only care about perpetuating the state monopoly and looking after the interests of their union mates.
  
  How utterly shameful.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:02am
  - Biscuit
    
    I know I shouldn’t have bothered but Tame Jack had Tinetti on his show yesterday morning.
    
    Tinetti, it seems, is hell bent on getting rid of Charter Schools.’
    
    As was Chippie (or his Mum) when Labour last got into power.
    
    Any chance, do you think that TJ would ask ‘And when National get back in again after you they’ll reintroduce them. How does all the swapping/changing help education standards?’
    No chance, as it turned out.
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:42am
Ipanema69

I dont like saying it but I think Polkinghorne has a good chance of being acquitted.

The cross examination of any witness testifying about Paulines positive state of mind always starts with questions about the episodes of suicidal ideation, use of antidepressants and alcoholism.

None of the victims friends and family were aware of these facts.

I feel for the victims family and Polkinghorne most likely did it. However IMHO he has reasonable doubt at the moment.
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August 12, 2024 8:51am
- Paulus
  
  It appears to me that the media have already found Polkinghorne guilty, as he is a ratbag male, and his wife was such a lovely person.
  Why do they leave it alone for the Judge and Jury to decide.
  
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  August 12, 2024 2:22pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

You know just HOW bad things are getting in Britain, when even ‘Air China’ is warning it’s passengers visiting London…. “to take precautions when entering areas populated by Pakistanis, Indians, and black people” 🙁

https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1822588776679702754
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August 12, 2024 9:05am
- kowtow
  
  There’s an interesting article in the WSJ by English author and historian Dominic Green.
  “What’s behind the violent riots in Britain”
  
  He gives a review of the immediate causes but then;
  “Immigration and crime have turned Britain, until the 1990’s a generally homogenous , high trust society , into a balkanised low trust society.The traditional model of ‘policing by consent’ rather than coercion has collapsed…….unable to control the cities ( non investigation or clearing vast amounts of crime) and intimidated by Islamists in particular , govt officials and police have outsourced policing to “community leaders”.
  The law is applied unequally and sometimes not at all.
  These riots were years in the making.
  England’s poor whites are less “far right” than left behind .
  
  Mass immigration and multiculturalism have failed . The police have lost the public.The govt has lost the plot.And the English have had enough.”
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:50am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Kow
    Good post.
    The current unrest may have started with the childrens murders but, because of the pincer movement upon concerned Britons by the government and the police, to redefine their common decency desire for a safe land for their kids as somehow being far right extremist yobs, it has now become a far bigger issue.
    Britons are now scared of the police and the government.
    That is very dangerous , but my money is on the people .
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:58am
- Deadly pony
  
  I was in Brixton yesterday, seemed peaceful. It is spot the white person in some areas in London for sure. The PM is being called ‘two tier Keir’ as some think he only polices white crime while denying immigrant crime. Think he’s going to need to do more than just call white people thugs.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:50am
- Surely Knott
  
  I wonder what their advice is to people arriving in NZ. Have they named the woman who smashed the kids teeth out. Has she been sentenced? Have they named or arrested the teen who beat the young asian girl after entering her toild stall, in the restaurant bathroom. Any word on who knocked the old lady down on Federal St. She was hospitalised. Was she ok? I mean he was arrested as was bus lady so they know who she is.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:51am
- pdm
  
  We have a friend off to England in a few days. She is English, grew up as an Army brat (her words when we first met her) married to a New Zealander who died just under two years ago.
  
  She is returning to visit family for the first time since hubby died.
  
  We had dinner with her on Friday night and was not concerned for her safety.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:53am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Has she converted to Islam?
    
    17 6
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    August 12, 2024 10:10am
    - pdm
      
      Not as far as I know Maggie.
      
      She wasn’t reading the Koran at the dinner table on Friday night. She is a mid 60’s blonde so would stand out a bit at the mosque too.
      
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      August 12, 2024 10:44am
      - NothingLeft
        
        Not if she was dressed as a properly modest letterbox
        
        14 4
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        August 12, 2024 11:13am
- Jake Dee
  
  Old story. i remember this one from at least 5 years ago. I’m not saying that the pamphlet is faked, just that you are not getting that information for Air China, you are getting it from some entity “Wall Street Silver” who says they are getting it from Air China but without a time, publisher or writer’s name.
  Check your sources. Check names. Check dates.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:54am
cmm

The Olympic spin machine is saying this is NZ’s greatest olympics ever.

In terms of medals earned, certainly.

In terms of ROI, not at all.

NZ has sent 200 athletes , around 40 athletes per million population. USA has sent 600, around 2 athletes per million population.

Of course NZ participates in many team sports which skew those numbers somewhat.

NZ athletes have produced 20 medals – 1 per 10 athletes. USA has produced 126 – 1 per 4.5 athletes.

I would argue that the 1924 NZ team did very well. 4 athletes (one of whom served as manager, so zero support staff). 1 medal. That gives 1 medal per 4 athletes. 2.5x as well as in 2024.
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August 12, 2024 9:08am
- wsk12345
  
  They could have left most of the teams at home if it was all about medals.
  
  What happened to the rowers? I didn’t really watch any coverage until second week so may have missed it but I thought Olympic rowing was huge in NZ?
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:18am
- Damocles11
  
  Sure, if you count on medals alone. But we bagged 10 Golds out of 20 medals in total.
  Canada bagged 9 Golds, Brazil bagged 3 Golds, Philippines bagged 2 Golds, Indonesia bagged 2 Golds, South Africa bagged 1 Gold. We’ve done extremely well.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:25am
- p5
  
  Surely having more athletes that qualify is an achievment? Would New Zealand really be a better country at the Olympics if we only sent athletes that are shoo-ins for medals?
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:32am
- I remember when
  
  Of course we could use a different approach and say the New Zealand has won 10 Gold Medals per 5 million population.
  Based on these numbers the USA would need to win 666 Gold Medals.
  Most of us have made no contribution other than perhaps a small tax deposit.
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:55am
- pdm
  
  3 medals in one day at Rome 1960 was pretty good too cmm – Halberg, Snell, Magee.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:46am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What do you recommend?
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:48am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  I’ve been here for about fourteen years now, a citizen for nine. There is much to like about New Zealand and New Zealanders, but one of the less appealing characteristics of some Kiwis is their determination to find a way, no matter how contrived, to pour shit on fellow Kiwis who’ve achieved something.
  
  It’s not only unattractive, it’s actively damaging. It’s among the reasons why the brightest and best of our young people look to make their lives overseas where talent and ambition are welcomed and supported into realization rather than held back and belittled. The resulting diminution in the amount of actual competence available to get things done here is showing up in the gradual decline of our national wellbeing.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:30am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Anyone with brains or ambition leaves – mostly going to Oz. We have so much parasitical regulatory drag on productivity that it is not possible for NZ wages to match what is available across the ditch.
    
    7 2
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    August 12, 2024 2:03pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      What makes you think there is less “parasitical regulatory drag” in Oz? The main reason for our low productivity is that low-value products make up most of our exports (dairy, meat, wood). Our labour productivity is on a par with Turkey’s. Let that sink in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_labour_productivity
      
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      August 12, 2024 7:19pm
- Burtland
  
  Sport and Recreation has become a $3B sector – whats the ROI on that?
  – and worse, government mandated DEI requirements to get funding
  
  https://sportnz.org.nz/media/2478/futures-think-piece-funding.pdf
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:33am
- Geri Sjovik
  
  How did we go in the breakdancing?
  
  Did we even send an athlete?
  
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  August 12, 2024 8:25pm
Biscuit

More costs ahead for Wellington ratepayers?

Apparently, Days Bay is a no-go swimming area because a wastewater pipe has ‘burst’…

A Tory Whanau/City Council test for an upcoming bid to host Triathlon/Open Water Swimming world championships. Maybe even a Commonwealth Games?
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August 12, 2024 9:11am
- pdm
  
  Does that spoil your skinny dipping plans Biscuit?
  
  7 1
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  August 12, 2024 9:55am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Biscuits “Dunking” plans perhaps?
    
    8 1
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    August 12, 2024 10:50am
    - Biscuit
      
      Mods, they’re picking on me again!
      
      Haven’t skinny-dipped since I was at boarding school, pdm!
      
      [Mod was eating lunch, now I’m not hungry]
      
      8 1
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      August 12, 2024 11:46am
    - Colville
      
      Dunking ginger nuts?
      
      5 1
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      August 12, 2024 12:54pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Kamala Harris is hiding her plans for what she would do as President.
As California Attorney General she sent police officers to “knock on the doors of people” and confiscate their guns. It will happen again if she wins. Americans need to be aware of this.

https://patriotpulse.net/kamala-harris-wants-to-put-americans-on-this-scary-list/?
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August 12, 2024 9:28am
- Chuck Bird
  
  I bet there will be some embarrassing news about Tampon Tim.
  
  11 6
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  August 12, 2024 9:31am
  - cmm
    
    Tim likely misspeaks occasionally.
    
    It is probably due to PTSD from being under the same sniper fire as Hillary Clinton.
    
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    August 12, 2024 9:33am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Those Italians are dangerous I tell you.
      
      5 2
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      August 12, 2024 10:16am
- JackRabbit
  
  Perhaps a Covid Birdflu election?
  
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  August 12, 2024 9:33am
- newview
  
  So you think any nutter should be able to have a weapon Steve
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:42am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I did not say that at all, but yes it happens.
    America has a mental health problem disguised as a gun problem. There needs to be much stronger vetting of gun licencing, but that does not mean taking guns away.
    Far too many with a mental health problem are just doped up so they keep quiet. There is the problem – medication. Then they also self medicate with meth, fentanyl etc.
    So I did not say any nutter should be able to have a weapon. I am saying Harris should not be able to send Police to randomly confiscate weapons.
    
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    August 12, 2024 11:31am
    - Mike
      
      Why do you think mental health in the US is so much worse than in Canada, Steve?
      
      The countries with the highest age-standardized prevalence rates of mental disorders in the world are Portugal, Iran, and Lebanon. We also see high prevalence and disability in Australia, Western Europe, and parts of the Americas, including the US and Brazil.
      
      https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/health-risks-issues/mental-health
      
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      August 12, 2024 1:28pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I don’t see where Canada and other Counties you linked to fit in Mike.
        I was meaning America, the United States. All of those other Countries have different rules and Laws.
        
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        August 12, 2024 5:09pm
      - Mike
        
        You are the one making the claim, Steve. The US has vastly more gun deaths than other developed countries. If you are correct about this being a consequence of mental health issues, you should be able to show that such issues are much worse in the US.
        
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        August 12, 2024 5:38pm
    - newview
      
      People change Steve. If Police feel someone with a licence has become a risk they are at liberty to take any weapons. In essence Harris is doing the same thing and I agree. I have registered guns and if I became unstable the police should take them. If Harris is making an effort to improve the gun problem in the US all power to her.
      
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      August 12, 2024 2:30pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Nutters generally do not get licenses, that is why the vetting system exists, but was not applied to said NZ nutter.
    
    Nutters can only get guns illegally, but if concerned non-nutters are packing, nutters can be immediately be put down by the likes of the guy from Turkey in the Olympic games.
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:18pm
I remember when

Our hydro lakes are reported to be at low levels.
Due to ‘climate change’ rainfall totals are said to be higher.
If only coal was rainfall our problems would be solved.
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August 12, 2024 9:40am
- JackRabbit
  
  I wouldn’t try and find sense with any of that. Climate Change is not science, so any logic is lost in the PR.
  
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  August 12, 2024 12:20pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Olympics closing.
Watching some musicians? trying to play and sing. It is rubbish.
Hope other parts are better.
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August 12, 2024 9:41am
- Biscuit
  
  Steve, why oh why do sporting festivals have to include so much moo-sick?
  
  You never see the host of some big moo-sick extravaganza interrupt proceeding by saying: “and now here’s ten minutes of Hockey!’
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:50am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Hockey.
    It was funny when the German got pissed off with the Dutch men and tried to beat them up.
    Some habits are hard to break!
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:08pm
Surely Knott

More compulsory indoctrination.

Auckland Uni is replacing gen ed with a limited and compulsory option “Waipapa Taumata Rau course”

This means many disciplines eg Engineering and Med that have one general ed student choice course will now have none.

Australia uni says General ed is intergral ..it “broadens and deepens your understanding of the environment in which you live and work and enchances your critical analysis skills. above all it presents you with interesting, challenging and enjoyable opportunities to pursue your own intellectual curiosity”.

Most countries have longer degrees than NZ and more Gen Ed. NZ was already low.

Engineering for example already includes ethics and communications papers.

But marxism doesn’t need intellectual curiosity. So here in NZ we will be having a compulsory “transdisciplinary” course.

Topics include “Embracing Treaty Principles”, Equity, Climate crisis, and “place based learning” etc.

There’s a couple of choices.

“Democracy in the 21st Century” – “Examines the challenges to democracy in New Zealand and globally arising from high INEQUALITY, the changing information environment, and authoritarian movements”

“The rise of authoritarianism, populism, and extremism threatens to erode the values of democracy and the norms of political decency. The influence of vested interests in politics undermines the voice of ordinary citizens and prevents action on urgent policy issues such as CLIMATE CHANGE.. ”

Hmm rise in Authoritarianism? I wonder who they will be talking about. No doubt it will be Trump etc. Even though he wasn’t authoritarian.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/study-options/undergraduate-study-options/evolving-your-education.html
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August 12, 2024 9:45am
- cmm
  
  The concept of having general education to broaden student and make them well rounded etc is nothing new and is common worldwide.
  
  However it seems to always be applied one way – forcing STEM students to take some useless arts subject.
  
  I think it would be far more useful to force arts students to take some real-world engineering subject or accounting or such. That would turn a completely useless degree into a slightly useful degree.
  
  Of course the idea that someone can only become “well rounded” by doing arts subjects at university is preposterous. The real purpose is to create more employment opportunities for arts lecturers (or in this case Maori studies lecturers).
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hahahahaha..
  
  Reminds me of schools foisting Latin on poor unsuspecting children who had no interest or use of the dead, dead language.
  
  But there was a surplus of Latin (and French) teachers in the Education system who seemed unwilling or incapable of teaching more desired/useful languages such as Japanese, Spanish &/0r Chinese.
  
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  August 12, 2024 4:08pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    When my kids were at high school, there was a fad for learning Japanese. It was fashionable.
    One of the really bright ones who lived nearby (not mine) got very high marks in school cert Japanese and we were all very impressed.
    Was that of any use to this student in life, then or now?
    No.
    
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    August 12, 2024 4:28pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      I remember that! In the 80s, when I was still in high school. Those who learned Japanese would become the big movers and shakers, we were told. But that was before the Great Japanese Stagnation.
      
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      August 12, 2024 7:15pm
- Quail
  
  WTR , what ever that means should only continue to be taught in Te Reo .
  Those concepts they are proposing to teach are not comprehensible in English or French, Japanese , Chinese Spanish etc.
  So at least with Te Reo they can make new words to fit!
  
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  August 12, 2024 5:27pm
- GJM
  
  When I did my BE 35 years ago, we had to do a genrlapaper. It covered electoral ssytems and was all in favour of MMP, and the issue of the Party being the one in charge was ignored, statign that “the party will lose votes and that will keep them on track and democratic”. The obvious one being the Labour and Natioanl party at the time (and now) had core vote of 20%+ who vote foro them ono matter what. Get on the top of the listand you have a job for life with no need to bother about pesky votors or elections.
  Naturally, we wrote what was expected to get the pass so we could concentrate on real engineering. I have thought of it often since with the issues of MMP and the unelected party MPs.
  
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  August 14, 2024 9:41am
Maggie Pie

If you do nothing else in the next 5 minutes… watch this!

Mr. Bean on FREE SPEECH and how it’s being threatened both here and the UK

https://x.com/DrEliDavid/status/1822343175739982160
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August 12, 2024 9:45am
- Lara
  
  So good!
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:00am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Yes excellent. Especially the poster “feel free to insult me”.
  
  BTW it is only a matter of time before Kellie Jay Keen is arrested for hate speech in the UK. 🙁
  
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  August 12, 2024 2:27pm
Chuck Bird

8 Minutes

Nigel Farage: This poses the ‘biggest threat’ to free speech we’ve seen in UK history

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id414vM6RdQ
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August 12, 2024 9:50am
- Inandout
  
  CB, Sir Keir is as popular as tooth ache amongst most of the UK population. The election honeymoon is well over.
  
  12 3
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  August 12, 2024 10:22am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Oh well only 5 years to go. 😫
    
    Chris Luxon should pay attention to what happened to the Conservatives. His stance on too many issues is similar. 😕
    
    11 1
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    August 12, 2024 2:30pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      A good reason to oppose any change to NZ’s three year parliamentary term
      
      1 1
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      August 12, 2024 7:26pm
Chuck Bird

‘UK Riots Signal Civil War’ Douglas Murray CONDEMNS PM Starmer As Chaos Continues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-IOuxa6hBw
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August 12, 2024 10:13am
- Grunter
  
  Chuck
  Just more evidence that the traditional ‘West’ is crumbling. The divide/polarisation continues to grow. UK, France, USA are all leading the way down.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:28am
Cassandra

Mike still in bed? Happy World Elephant Day.
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August 12, 2024 10:19am
- kowtow
  
  For pity’s sake , don’t encourage them.
  
  11 3
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  August 12, 2024 12:16pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Them? There’s more than one of him?
    
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    August 12, 2024 7:17pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Are the two sentences related?
  
  6 1
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  August 12, 2024 12:21pm
  - Mike
    
    Just a touch of pachydermia keeping me in bed today.
    
    6 2
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    August 12, 2024 4:08pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Take it easy, Mike. A day without you is a sad day for Kiwiblog.
      
      I hope you’re back on deck tomorrow.
      
      3 2
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      August 12, 2024 5:08pm
cmm

I am really shocked by reading the $1uff article on school mathematics capability.

Year 8 is, I take it, 12 years old or so.
81% taking a test didn’t know what a quarter means!
61% don’t know that 3/4 is the same as 0.75.

When I was at school in South Africa in the 1960s/70s that age would have been Std 4 (6th year at school). We would have been working with square roots etc.

Thee is only one way to fix this mess: stop abdicating your parental responsibilities to educate your children to the state.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350368830/can-you-solve-maths-questions-stumping-some-year-8-students
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August 12, 2024 10:38am
- BeaB
  
  That students are accepted for primary school training with Level 1 NCEA says it all. Level 2 isn’t much better.
  No wonder our poor kids are learning so little. And Jan Tinetti doesn’t inspire any confidence that she knew what she was doing, except for painting her nails silly colours. What an airhead.
  
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  August 12, 2024 10:44am
- cmm
  
  On further reflection it seems that teachers perform no better than the general population, and maybe even worse, at maths.
  
  Yet teachers are expected to be thought of as “professionals”.
  
  Imagine you needed some medical procedure. Would you stop a random person in the street and hand them a sca1pel and ask them to fix your ingrowing toenail? Nope, you’d do better to go to the professional (well generally anyway).
  
  But here we are: a random person in the street has a better understanding of maths than the “professional” that is supposed to teach it. You’d do better getting your grocer to teach your kids maths.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:17am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Imagine going to the doctor and you are told they aren’t very good at hearts or brains.
    I would teach maths but I don’t want to go through “teachers college” and , more importantly , I don’t want to mix with people who do.
    
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    August 12, 2024 12:16pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Where can you find a grocer, these days?
    
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    August 12, 2024 7:28pm
- Jack5
  
  The muddle of NZ education is reflected in the Wikipedia entry on it. This takes about 8500 words and tells of report after report.
  
  Is the decline in arithmetic teaching in NZ primary schools related to the 1990 transfer of teacher training from training colleges to universities?
  
  Our universities have become heavy with social-“science” and Maori cultural and language studies.
  
  The NZ teaching level of maths has been low and falling for a few years.
  
  Fifteen years ago, a Swedish father on business secondment to NZ told me his two sons had to “go up two years” when they started high school in NZ.
  
  This was because Sweden’s maths school standard was higher than NZ’s, though Swedes start school a year later.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:21am
- Bridgenag
  
  Why not utilise all the retirees that did basic everything and remember it all to act as “assistant somethings” to help the moron teachers. There are people out there under-utilised [like the schools ] Classes out of hours for adults please.
  
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  August 12, 2024 12:06pm
- david
  
  Very erudite cmm but ………….. what they don’t tell you is what percentage of the “parents” could perform at a higher level.
  I put “parents” in quotes because to use some of the words I would like to about some of today’s crop of those supposedly charged with the upbringing of these children would distract from the point and probably bring about a visit from the language police.
  
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  August 12, 2024 4:02pm
BeaB

It’s great seeing the medalists at the Olympics but why do they all put their medals in their mouths? Like toddlers!
And think of the number of people who have handled them.
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August 12, 2024 10:41am
Handyman

RE the large number of empty seats at the Cake Tin on Saturday.
The Green Party has the solution based on its track record.
— Buses running half empty so add more buses.
— No solar power at night so double solar farms.
— No wind power on cold calm morning so double wind farms.
— Running short of gas for industry so ban gas exploration.

So obviously the solution is to build a bigger stadium.
New Zealand could be the “world leader” in stadiums, and it would generate thousands of green jobs. It will raise the mana of New Zealand on the world stage. Stadium justice demands Wellington has at least the same capacity as Auckland. Maori and Pacifica are most affected by colonial ticket prices and as the landowners should be granted free entry to All Black games.
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August 12, 2024 10:43am
- Mike
  
  Doesn’t work that way. A few years ago, the Phoenix owners were moaning that they couldn’t fill the stadium. Their proposed solution was for ratepayers to build a smaller stadium in Petone.
  
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  August 12, 2024 6:21pm
Maggie Pie

So, they mock Christ in the Opening Ceremony…..
Then praise Satan in the Closing Ceremony!
And we’re expected to believe it wasn’t intentional?

Well I’m sorry, the can just f**k off 🙁

https://x.com/The_Real_Fly/status/1822758875696693689
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August 12, 2024 10:52am
- cmm
  
  Gotta keep the lunch bars happy.
  
  If Taylor Swift had made some deals with the Muslims she could have kept her European tour going.
  
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  August 12, 2024 11:25am
  - MCōs
    
    So who would have to have made deals with whom to avoid the mosque killings?
    I don’t think fanatics are big on coming to agreements.
    
    10 1
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    August 12, 2024 11:39am
- Benedict Yu
  
  That is 😂. Too funny.
  
  You do realise that Satan does not exist? He is like the Maori Sky Goddess.
  
  You mock Islam almost daily on this blog. Yet you wail when a bunch of sports officials mock Christianity. 😃🤣🤡
  
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  August 12, 2024 12:50pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    [Mod – your account will be unlocked tomorrow]
    
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    August 12, 2024 1:41pm
    - kevn
      
      Maggie… The current year is 2024 AD. Everywhere.
      BY might not know what AD means.
      It automatically gives some cred as to how the west ticks along. Without even realising it. It has even played a part and still does, in creating western government laws and (less than perfect of course) democracy.
      
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      August 12, 2024 4:55pm
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      Mr Moderator,
      Please, I beg of you, do not chase Maggie Pie away from this site.
      She was the one who brought Rowan Atkinson’s piece to our attention earlier today. It is her contributions that very much help make this the best site on the blogosphere.
      Her robust debate is a treasure that I enjoy.
      I am sure that dinner with Maggie Pie and her partner would be much more enjoyable than dinner with a thin skinned moderator. Maggie might upset my wife, but that’s nothing that another bottle of G.H. Mumm would not fix up.
      
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      August 12, 2024 8:36pm
  - Yabster
    
    plenty dumb comment Yu – the fact the dickhead IOC/French leftards are mocking Christianity is fucking pathetic would they mock Islam? Nope. Comparing what Maggie says to that broadcast is just ridiculous.
    
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    August 12, 2024 3:20pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I suggest that you read the excellent book by Christopher Hitchens, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”. He saw this coming 20 years ago.
      
      Yes, radical Islam is now the greatest threat of all religions. However the Catholic Church is not a force for good. It deserves all the mockery that comes its way.
      
      Maggie invites mockery by lauding the Catholic Church, while criticising Muslims on a daily basis.
      
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      August 12, 2024 8:19pm
  - mawm
    
    Bene – Many Christians believe that Satan’s greatest achievement is to make people believe that he doesn’t exist.
    
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    August 12, 2024 5:55pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      That’s good.
      
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      August 12, 2024 9:08pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist!
    
    1 3
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    August 12, 2024 7:23pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    Satan does not exist?
    No offence indented here Benedict but as you mentioned that you had participated in a commission of inquiry, I guess that you are some species of lawyer so I am sure you will be shocked, amazed appalled and disgusted to learn that “The Law” and “The Crown” do not exist. They are just stories we made up to keep things working which are based on earlier stories.
    As the Hindu priest said to the colonial Englishman
    “it’s turtles all the way down.”
    
    1 1
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    August 12, 2024 11:52pm
- Ghost
  
  What makes it Satan? Your ignorance to what it is? It is actually the golden voyager
  
  4 3
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  August 12, 2024 1:02pm
MCōs

Gizzy!
https://www.instagram.com/thenzteam/reel/C-dqktsS0H2/?igsh=MWprYmlteGY1Y3g2Mw==
1 1
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August 12, 2024 11:05am
rouppe

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/kainga-ora-sold-80-million-of-state-housing-in-five-years/JAZROG6ASFDSNNBIEUABS22EKU/

Isn’t this exactly what the previous National government did, and it was accompanied by howls of outrage?
7 1
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August 12, 2024 11:12am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Yes and No.
  
  National sold alot but they sold them to providers of social housing so in effect the government stopped owning them but they still remained as social housing through diffeing models.
  
  Labour on the other hand just sold them but without any howling tantrums from the leftist MSM.
  
  8 2
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  August 12, 2024 11:31am
- greybeard
  
  I would like to know the QV of those Remuera homes at time of sale , to compare to the selling price. And who bought them: friends or whanau of K.O. staff perhaps ?
  
  5 1
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  August 12, 2024 3:48pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Maggie’s new neighbours?
    
    0 1
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    August 12, 2024 7:31pm
lifesgood

That Olympics closing ceremony was utterly boring. What a complete waste of my time. And talk about self praise, shitty river and all.
10 4
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August 12, 2024 11:33am
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

Whenever you listen to ZB talkback, have you noticed
how nobody from Remuera ever calls in?
9 7
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August 12, 2024 11:33am
- MCōs
  
  One is not surprised
  
  8 2
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  August 12, 2024 11:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Two is not surprised either.
    
    6 0
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    August 12, 2024 12:21pm
- peterwn
  
  Perhaps ZB block all phone numbers starting with 52 .
  
  8 1
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  August 12, 2024 11:57am
- Ghost
  
  You could always go to Remuera and use a public phone, or is it too far to drive to from your home? You could always catch a bus
  
  9 4
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  August 12, 2024 12:08pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    How many different ‘log-ins’ have you set up milkey?
    
    LOL!!
    
    10 8
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    August 12, 2024 12:22pm
  - Mike
    
    Folks in Remuera are too busy and successful to whine on talkback, or even listen to it, aren’t they?
    No doubt it’s core listening during the shelf-stocking shift at Fresh Choice Otahuhu.
    
    7 5
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    August 12, 2024 2:53pm
- mawm
  
  Maggie – That’s because they are at work.
  
  3 3
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  August 12, 2024 6:03pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Work? What for!
    
    2 1
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    August 12, 2024 7:32pm
Surely Knott

Fox News report Trump shooter had encrypted accounts in 3 countries. One of which was NZ?!!

Also MSN “And from the MSN

“These details emerged at a congressional briefing with the FBI and Secret Service where the former divulged that Crooks had accounts in Germany, New Zealand, and Belgium.

According to reports, the late would-be assassin accessed said accounts from his phone, which is currently presenting a challenge to investigators trying to decrypt them.”

Wild. I wonder what’s in the accounts? Still much to learn it seems.

https://x.com/i/status/1822769958969073669

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-shooter-had-three-encrypted-overseas-accounts-amid-iranian-plot-threats-fbi/ar-BB1qilQB
5 2
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August 12, 2024 11:37am
- Ghost
  
  It’s not hard to have an encrypted account in NZ. I have several encrypted accounts around the world with my back up photos in them, as well as physical backups. It’s also very normal for your messaging platforms to be encrypted. Having anything encrypted means nothing now days.
  
  8 1
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  August 12, 2024 12:01pm
  - MCōs
    
    Shock Horror
    
    4 2
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    August 12, 2024 12:44pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Gosh,
  if only Hipkins had been able to set up his secret Secret service, then our spooks might have sussed this shooter out.
  
  https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/08/12/labour-was-working-on-a-new-security-agency-hipkins-reveals/
  
  5 2
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  August 12, 2024 4:00pm
  - Swifty
    
    Every single thing Labour and Hipkins messed with ended up turning to shit.
    
    This would have just been one more disaster to add to the list.
    
    9 1
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    August 12, 2024 4:28pm
thirteenstars

Now we have the UK government considering banning masks or face coverings at public protests, and we have government threats to prosecute people who post video of violent protests online. A 55-year-old UK woman was arrested for posting “inaccurate information” online about the suspect that stabbed three little girls to death recently. This is from Starmer who took the knee during BLM protest many of which were violent and involved destruction of public property.

Reminds me of the Ardern COVID-era legislation that gave the police special powers to enter private homes without a warrant and also suspended the right to remain silent in giving personal details.

It’s still going on in NZ with the banning of gang patches and suspending the right to freely associate. All window dressing but like the restrictions in the UK welcomed by a gullible and alarmed populace who are willing to be led by the nose, trading freedom for the illusion of security.
9 4
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August 12, 2024 12:00pm
- Inandout
  
  13, there are numerous NZ Acts which allow entry into private homes without a warrant.
  As for covering one’s face in protests how the hell can this work for Muslim women in a burka?
  
  7 1
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  August 12, 2024 12:22pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    Sure, so why bother with search warrants at all? If you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve got nothing to hide, right?
    
    Imagine how much crime and abuse random searches would uncover. Hard to argue with the idea, isn’t it? A little inconvenience for a better society.
    
    2 2
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    August 12, 2024 2:57pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Correct Thirteen.
  The Starlin regime has been so effective that now we have the so called far right calling for the end of “two tier” policing.
  In other words, let the government apply their draconian laws to everybody, not just the right.
  Then we will be happy!
  There’s nothing quite like everybody being equally subjugated.
  
  6 3
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  August 12, 2024 12:30pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  They make it illegal not to wear masks, they make it illegal to wear masks.
  A reasonable person might get a bit tired of this sort of thing.
  
  10 3
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  August 12, 2024 2:18pm
  - mawm
    
    Or confused. Imagine the number of covid mask fanatics being put into the clink for suggestion wearing masks for the upcoming ~~election~~ bird flu epidemic.
    
    3 2
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    August 12, 2024 6:12pm
Maggie Pie

Is this where the world is really heading?

Elon Musk posts meme that HE says…

“Could get him 3 years in the slammer in Britain”

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1822290335059353965
8 4
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August 12, 2024 1:10pm
- imalwaysright
  
  The question is who staffs the police and the prisons.
  There must be a point where the working man says Fuck That.
  We should all say Fuck That.
  
  Police by Consent ?
  
  Fuck That.
  
  Police by crime.
  
  6 3
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  August 12, 2024 1:59pm
goNZ1

a thought for the day – NZ has done very well in the Olympics so why is it everytime I read a headline about this we are told the athletes are weeping and sobbing, for example ” Finn Butcher says he cried down the phone..”

funny way of celebrating! //
2 3
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August 12, 2024 2:02pm
Swifty

I fail to see what this man’s problem is – far better to be a helmet than an anteater.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hdc-breaches-health-nz-after-a-man-was-circumcised-without-his-consent/AJTR5RSQTVBZDPWVOG74GFHVLM/

😀
5 8
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August 12, 2024 2:31pm
- Inandout
  
  Sw, ah the most unkindest cut of all.
  
  4 1
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  August 12, 2024 3:46pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I suppose because we have ACC he is unable to sue. But I would of thought $500,000 to $1m would be appropriate compensation.
  
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  August 12, 2024 4:23pm
[email protected]

You have to fill out a 40 page form to renew your firearm license. This is to renew an existing firearms license.

Over a 15 year period an average of 10 people were killed by guns. Most were suicides.

Over the same 15 year period an average of 375 deaths occurred due to car accidents.

Why don’t you have to fill out a 40 page form to re-new your drivers license?
6 0
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August 12, 2024 5:36pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Government are nervous
  
  1 1
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  August 12, 2024 6:36pm
Swifty

The Maori Party fascists says Hobson’s Pledge’s ad was untruthful.

Don Brash says it was truthful (and see his interview today on The Platform).

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/524929/waatea-news-cuts-ties-with-nz-herald-after-hobson-s-pledge-ad

In the absence of specifics, I will believe Don Brash until the cows come home – after all the Maori Party MPs routinely lie to advance their political cause.

As for Tukaki, he’s a known and proven bullshitter. Wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
8 1
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August 12, 2024 5:37pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350375270/young-stepmum-accused-stomping-girl-2-death-stands-trial-murder
White woman kills a kid and they publish her photo.
But when numerous maori kill their kids we never see a name or photo.
Why not ?
10 3
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August 12, 2024 5:58pm
- Ghost
  
  Sure you do. Not that long ago a young man was in the papers trying to confess his innocence for the death of his child. All 3, the two Māori woman and white boyfriend have had their photos in the paper for baby Ruthless. Long line of non white people who have had their photo in the paper for killing their child.
  
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  August 12, 2024 6:07pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    IIRC, after conviction. Greybeard’s point is that the photo published of the woman in this case is simply accused, nothing more. Big difference
    
    4 2
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    August 12, 2024 7:36pm
    - Ghost
      
      No, the cases I listed above have not been convicted yet. no difference, the three being investigated for ruthless murder are accused, not charged yet. The young man who went to the murder to claim his innocence has been charged and not had his court case yet. Tipene Te Ahuru Photo across the media before he was found guilty.
      
      I know there is this myth some want to push that only white people get their photos in the media for crimes, it is a myth.
      
      1 3
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      August 12, 2024 7:51pm

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