General Debate 07 October 2024

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment202

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (202)

Login to comment or vote

Yvette

Sovereignty
Chat AI – a translation of the Passage Two from the 1835 Māori Declaration of Independence (He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni):

“The authority (sovereignty) and power in the land of the Confederation of New Zealand shall rest solely with the chiefs in our assembly. And it is declared that we will not allow any legislation (law-making) by any other group or any government to be established in the land of the Confederation of New Zealand. Only those persons appointed by us, acting in accordance with the laws we establish in our assembly, will have the authority to govern.”

This passage emphasizes that the sovereignty of the land belongs exclusively to the chiefs of the Confederation and that no external government or laws will be imposed without their consent.

When people argue over the meaning of words in the Treaty of Waitangi, why is it not in the context of the 1835 Māori Declaration of Independence, where it seems the terms used were quite clear – with Maori iwi asserting “their authority (sovereignty) and power in the land of the Confederation of New Zealand …”

Why is it claimed that, at Waitangi 1840, when they ceded overall sovereignty, Maori did not understand such concepts, which they distinctly did five years earlier?
22 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:01am
peterwn

Not sure why the Herald is making an issue of whether a certain person should remain a member of the Northern Club. This is a private club and its affairs are private. Perhaps the Herald thinks there is some prurient interest in the matter and that would put the Herald on the same level as the former Truth or even the Kings Cross Whisper.
President Dr Arthur Morris would not be drawn on the process or likely outcome, only revealing that the club would deal with it privately. That is of course the correct approach. The usual approach would be a discreet request to the person involved to resign. That usually would be the end of the matter.
It is disappointing that some club members are speaking out in public about the matter, they should not be. They should make their views discreetly known to the President or Committee. Indeed they could possibly be in breach of Club rules by expressing a public view on a private matter.
Disclaimer – I am not a member of any gentlemans club or is ever likely to be.
50 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:03am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Prurient indeed. It seems to be a clear case of tall poppy syndrome. Whatever the personal activities of any successful professional, their private life is just that. Private unless it affects their professional life. The family of the deceased are making a meal of a tragic death. (sorry for the mixed metaphor)
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:56am
- Observant Octagenarian
  
  Oh my god – The Kings Cross Whisper! I seem to remember that from the 1960’s. Is it still around?
  It was a marvelous piss take on Sydney society, as it was in the 60s.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:19am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Assume the Herald is badgering the Club President and Secretary to try and get a rise out of them to make it the next story. Either:
  
  Privileged white persons club condones behaviour of evil person or
  
  Privileged white persons club eventually bows to community pressure and sacks evil person.
  
  They don’t really care which, as both will drive ratings.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:39am
- Paulus
  
  I would fully expect now that a verdict has been given that Polkinghorne will just resign – nothing else, for the clueless media.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:05am
  - David Garrett
    
    Paulus: Polkinghorne has already resigned and been given a payout by his former employer.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 12:03pm
    - peterwn
      
      It is unknown if he has tendered his resignation from the Northern Club and the public is never likely to know. Was he ’employed’ by the eye clinic? I thought his relationship to the clinic was more akin to being a partner in a law or accountancy firm. He had a financial stake in the clinic and would have been brought out when he retired from practice, and he was on the point of retiring anyway.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:02pm
- MCōs
  
  Let’s not beat around the bush, the club member involved is Phillip Polkinghorne and there wouldn’t be a story if the various members mentioned in the article hadn’t opened their gobs.
  Furthermore his continuing membership of the club seems to revolve around his drug conviction, if the article is to be believed, rather than that for which he is notorious; the various prostitutes and the strange circumstances of his wife’s death
  Let him who is without sin cast the first stone
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:46am
  - peterwn
    
    First paragraph – exactly!
    From what the President said, it appears that the matter of his continuing membership had yet to be addressed or was being confidentially looked at. The President and Committee would consider the overall circumstances, not just one aspect. As I mentioned earlier, a gentle nudge in the right direction would most procure a resignation if that was the feeling of the President and Committee.
    The President should and probably would remind certain members that they are members of a private club and therefore this sort of thing should remain private.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:34pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Club members are speaking out in public to protect their own reputations As people are known by the company they keep, they now feel the need to distance themselves from the fact that they kept company with a meth smoking sex fiend.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:25pm
Matt Long

Minto is celebrating the rapes and murders of one year ago today.
If you’re a leftist you can keep the Nazi spirit alive and get out there with your rape scarves.
It will be interesting to see Damian O’Connor’s X feed.
There are still 100 hostages being held by the Allies of the Left in Gaza.
64 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:06am
- kowtow
  
  Duncan Webb’s another towel thug.
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:09am
- Tom Hunter
  
  Minto has always looked like a diseased rat.
  
  38 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:05am
  - AitchW
    
    I still don’t understand why the left is so deeply anti semitic.
    They present a face of kindness and rejection of hatred yet they celebrate murder, rape and abduction of hundreds of mostly Israelis at a music festival.
    The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
    
    40 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 9:13am
    - Grumpy Silver Top
      
      I doubt they recognise the meaning of the term, nor have even a passing acquiantance with the history that underpins it. Ignorance is bliss, until it isn’t.
      
      13 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 9:58am
    - Swifty
      
      I’d make three observations about the causes of the Left’s anti-semitism, others may have additional reasons:
      
      1. The Left has always been anti-Semitic, to varying degrees, back well into the 19th Century – I think stemming from the perception that Jews are frequently rich and successful (coupled with their original sin of course – that of killing the Messiah.)
      
      And, this has become worse in recent decades because:
      
      2. Israel is backed by the US and anything associated with or supported by the US is automatically to be condemned
      
      And, very recently,
      
      3. Israel is perceived as a ‘settler colony’ and it to be damned for that too.
      
      They are the main reasons as I see it.
      
      18 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:15am
      - Colinxy
        
        Swifty, on 1, specifically Jews were associated with Marx’s caricature of Capitalism. It’s something their coreligionists, the National Socialists, would expand on (and also associate Jews with Communism).
        
        IOW It is baked into the dominant forms of socialism today.
        
        2 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 12:30pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      The envious left, made up of underachievers and perennial losers forever seeking means and justification for stealing what they will not or can not earn through greater personal effort, hate success and industriousness – it brings forth an endless stream of resentment.
      
      Jews as prime cultural avatars of the the spirit of enterprise and achievement are everything they hate – and they seek any rationale for excusing the expression of that hatred. If Jews didn’t exist they would find the next most conspicuously successful group to hate on, Probably immigrant east asians.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:50am
    - Tom Hunter
      
      The superb City-Journal magazine has an article on that subject by a French philosopher, Palestine of the Mind, explaining it thus:
      
      Radical Islam has become the last great left-wing political narrative, replacing Communism and Third Worldism. In the category of the good revolutionary subject, the shaheed, the jihadist, the martyr of Hamas or of al-Qaida replaces the proletarian, the guerrilla fighter, the Bolshevik.
      …
      This pro-Palestinian activism had its precedent in the twentieth century, when the far Left—having lost the USSR, the working class, and China—first embraced the idolatry of Islam. The neo-Koranic enthusiasm of the lost believers in Marxism forced activists into ideological contortions concerning the rights of gays, women, and other groups, and such contradictions are evident in the current protests.
      
      That’s exactly why a robotic Far Left fanatic like Minto is immersed in this. His fanaticism has found a new cause and, like the Soviet communists from Sep 1939 to June 1941, he just ignores the obvious problems – in this case ones resulting from the cause being the religious Jew hatred of Islam, plus all those other problems with gays and woman, instead pretending that it’s all about land rights and human rights and all that good secular stuff.
      
      13 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 11:17am
  - G152
    
    Sir!
    You insult diseased rats
    
    14 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:55am
  - Paulus
    
    But is he not still a Teacher, of Children ?
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:07am
    - David Garrett
      
      Paulus: He sure as hell would never have been the teacher of MY children.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 12:05pm
    - Ghost
      
      Retired in 2018
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 12:12pm
- G152
  
  How is it that the muslims can rain unguided missiles down upon Israel without censure yet Israel can not deal to such monsters according to the current protesters??????
  
  17 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:54am
  - Paulus
    
    Ask the wordwide media as to who pays them !
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:07am
Chuck Bird

I hear World Visions is lobbying for us to take in people from Gaza. I say let Iran take them.
72 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:08am
- kowtow
  
  Across the west there are huge demonstrations/celebrations even of hatred on a sad anniversary ( while Israel, a democracy , is being attcked on 7 fronts by the most reactionary and feudal of forces ) .
  
  This struggle is literally a civilisational one .
  
  Importing more is not the answer .
  
  11 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:14am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Jordan took Palestinians in the late 60’s early 70’s….the outcome of that is the reason why today no arab country wants anything to do with them ever again.
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:14am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yes, the “Palestinians” have always been pathological. Jordan had to do Black September to shake them off. No other country wants them.
    
    Might be instructive to ask why Egypt feels the need for a wall to keep the good people of Gaza away? Egypt is Sunni, the Palestinians should be surely be compatriots.
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 12:02pm
  - Matt Long
    
    Stable Christian Lebanon got the refugees from Jordan, and that didn’t work out too well either.
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 2:38pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  That is hardly happening. The Muslims in Gaza are IIRC 95 percent sunni. Iran is 95 percent sunni. They don’t get on to put it mildly.
  
  5 19
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:37am
  - RalphT
    
    Iran is Shia, which is why they wouldn’t get on.
    
    26 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 8:47am
  - cmm
    
    Did you get that right BY? If both are sunni then where’s the problem?
    
    The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that: they have a mutual hatred of Israel that is stronger than their hate of eachother.
    
    25 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 8:47am
    - igm
      
      There is no place in New Zealand for any Hezbollah or Hamas supporters, and what World Vision will be trying to relocate here will surely be sympathetic to these mongrels. Look at the trouble in Aus, we do not want that.
      
      35 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 9:19am
    - Inandout
      
      cmm, the figures quoted by BY are nonsensical, well at least that is what appears to be so.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:09am
      - cmm
        
        I don’t think they are nonsense, just that he made a very small mistake saying sunni instead of shia.
        The point he was trying to make is correct: they are on opposite sides of the divide and hate eachother. Don’t expect Iran to open their arms for Gazans.
        
        15 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 10:50am
  - [email protected]
    
    the overwhelming majority of Iranians are practicing Shi’i Islam.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 8:49am
  - Cassandra
    
    Misspoke. Iran is Shia. Shia and Sunni a bit like Orange Lodge and Doolans.
    
    23 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 8:55am
    - cmm
      
      Yup, that’s what I suspected.
      
      However Iran still funds the Gazans and is happy to use them as cannon fodder.
      
      I’m sure the Catholics and Proddies would get on fine if they had a mutual enemy too.
      
      17 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 9:06am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I’m simply stating facts. Increasingly, that does not go down well with many commenters here who prefer their personal facts.
        
        6 35
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:39am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “I’m sure the Catholics and Proddies would get on fine if they had a mutual enemy too.”
        
        Yes, it happened quite recently over the illegal immigrants many of whom are muslims, coincidentally.
        
        https://decripto.org/en/ireland-riots-and-street-clashes-in-belfast-catholics-and-protestants-united-in-protest-against-uncontrolled-immigration/
        
        10 2
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:44am
      - cmm
        
        What facts BY?
        You tried to state some facts and got them wrong.
        From what I can see, 90% of Iranians are Shia – not Sunni.
        
        That is not a “personal fact”.
        
        Still, I understood what you were trying to say.
        
        Clearly they are prepared to cooperate in their attacks on Israel, even if they don’t want to live together.
        
        26 3
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:58am
    - kowtow
      
      Orange Lodge/Doolan
      
      I think that’s too simplistic an explanation for a rather complex issue.
      
      The divide there is as much political as religious .
      In essence and broadly it is the issue of support or opposition to the Crown epitomised on one side by parliamentary rights , political and individual freedoms ( reformation) bourgeois even as opposed to a French Republican and indeed monarchist model of rule , being a central , reactionary ,authoritarian power holder of narrow interests .( republicanism)
      
      Religion is the cloak , politics is the heart of the matter.
      
      And recall tens of thousands of ‘Doolans’ fought and many died side by side with their Orange brethren at Messines in June 1917 , they too for King and Country .
      
      Lest we Foregt.
      
      13 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:55am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        What’s more, those “Doolans” were there voluntarily, as there was no conscription in Ireland.
        
        3 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 12:28pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        T ‘be shur, t’ be shur.
        As Chesterton wrote,
        ” The Gaelic men of Ireland are the ones that God made mad;
        For their wars are always happy, and their songs are always sad.”
        Irishman see a fight in progress: “Is this a proivit foit, or can anyone join in ? ” 😆
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 2:44pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Oops – someone needs a ‘sense of humour’ transplant. 🙂
        
        1 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 5:43pm
  - Dave
    
    Hmmm. Here’s part of a 2020 report on Iran’s declining religiosity.
    
    In contrast with state propaganda that portrays Iran as a Shia nation, only 32% explicitly identified as such, while 5% said they were Sunni Muslim and 3% Sufi Muslim. Another 9% said they were atheists, along with 7% who prefer the label of spirituality. Among the other selected religions, 8% said they were Zoroastrians – which we interpret as a reflection of Persian nationalism and a desire for an alternative to Islam, rather than strict adherence to the Zoroastrian faith – while 1.5% said they were Christian.
    
    From:
    https://theconversation.com/irans-secular-shift-new-survey-reveals-huge-changes-in-religious-beliefs-145253
    
    On the other hand, Wiki gives figures of 96% Muslim, 85% Shia, 11% Sunni.
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:08am
    - Sparrow
      
      Zoroastrian is I believe one of the oldest religions in the world worshiping fire. Indian Parsis are Zororastians. Fascinating and very successful and delightful people. Apologise for forgetting the correct terminology old Bombay (Mumbai) had their towers for their dead. I had the privilege of knowing Parsi families many years ago.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 11:08am
    - ChristopherW2
      
      It’s a relief to know the dictatorship haven’t wiped out all the Zoroastrians, from its inception a religion that inspired a culture of great tolerance.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:37pm
  - Local Miller
    
    Down ticked because you made a mistake and as of my last reading still hadn’t corrected it or accepted it.
    
    Iran is Shia, not Sunni. Easy mistake to make, probably just a typo, but own it!
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:54am
- mandk
  
  Or Egypt.
  Or Jordan.
  Or Saudi Arabia.
  
  What? None of their neighbours want them, so why should we take them?
  
  34 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:02am
  - MCōs
    
    On the basis you’re correct you’re saying we’re no better than those places?
    
    3 19
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:07am
    - Dave
      
      We’re a lot better than those places, but in one way we’re similar; they don’t want Palestinians, because of their known politically destablising history; we (at least, I) don’t want immigrants who reject democratic and enlightenment values.
      
      25 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:21am
      - Paulus
        
        Australia is suffering from the later generations of the Tampa affair, where we should also watch those who came her under Helen Clark, Tampa agreement, I think.
        
        12 2
        Report
        October 7, 2024 11:12am
    - RoboRob
      
      No, I believe he is saying, ‘Given they are much more similar culturally then we are, there must be another reason these other countries wont take them’.
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 10:33am
  - MCōs
    
    An interesting article
    https://apnews.com/article/palestinian-jordan-egypt-israel-refugee-502c06d004767d4b64848d878b66bd3d
    
    2 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:19am
    - Grunter
      
      Thanks MCos – worth a read IMO
      
      The Egyptian President, El-Sissi talks sense and has a realistic viewpoint. He knows his country is an economic basketcase, already overrun by refugees, and the last thing he wants is another war with Israel.
      
      “El-Sissi warned of an even more destabilizing scenario: the wrecking of Egypt and Israel’s 1979 peace deal. He said that with the presence of Palestinian militants, Sinai “would become a base for attacks on Israel. Israel would have the right to defend itself … and would strike Egyptian territory.”
      
      9 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 11:24am
- Homas
  
  I say they follow the three-quarters odd of “Palestine” of which we must never speak. It’s not like they’ve burned that particular bridge…oh wait…
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:51am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Chuck Bird: “I hear World Visions is lobbying for us to take in people from Gaza. I say let Iran take them.”
  
  Yes indeed. Iran would appear to be the perfect home for those who voted for the Hamas tyranny. Hamas is after all an Iranian proxy.
  
  It would appear the “Palestinian” perma-refugees and their supporters in the region would prefer the “Palestinians” to hang around as a perpetual cancer for Israel instead.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 7:13pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Manifold Markets
  “Will New Zealand accept refugees from Gaza by the end of 2024?”
  True = 23%
  https://manifold.markets/BTE/will-new-zealand-accept-refugees-fr-5eee5cbc9cd0?play=true
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:38pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Maye Musk encouraging voter fraud.
You don’t have to register to vote. On Election Day, 10 fake names, 10 polling booths, and vote 10 times. Many did not see the humour. It’s different when the left do it.
“this will be the last election if Trump doesn’t win.” Elon Musk.
“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” he claimed.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/elon-musk-s-mom-encouraged-x-followers-to-commit-voter-fraud-as-she-is-fact-checked-on-son-s-platform/ar-AA1rMOz1?
26 6
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:14am
- virtualmark
  
  Go straight to jail. Do not past Go. Do not collect $200.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 2:50pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    But it’s different when the left actually do that! LOL!
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 3:40pm
Simon

From NZ’s navy substantial and superb performance in the Korean war to the mincing failure of HMNZS Clown Show one mile offshore in Samoa.

NZ navy’s proud, late period British influenced, service record eclipsed by GAE woke “Aotearoa” shit decades later. That’s history.
18 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:15am
cmm

Herald is leading with: “The skipper will be feeling it”
Is this sexism?
Would they be concerned about the feelings of a male skipper?
45 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:22am
- Blog-aholic
  
  She may very well be feeling it. Without being too assumptive she’ll definitely be concerned as to the outcome. Either way grounding a ship is never a good look on a C.V.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:25am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  It’s a lot less sexist than many of the comments posted on KB yesterday
  
  6 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 8:28am
- MCōs
  
  What do you think?
  Do you think the Herald would expect a male skipper to just suck it up and move on or something?
  Personally I think anyone who’d just been in charge of the first NZ naval vessel ever lost in peacetime would be feeling a bit glum.
  
  28 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:00am
  - cmm
    
    I am sure they would be feeling it, but would that be the headline?
    
    18 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 9:04am
  - gravedodger
    
    Maybe Yvonne should give Mr Coster a ring, he will be employing will he not. Boat skippering might be blocked perhaps.
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:33am
- Ruahine
  
  Feeling what I wonder.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:19am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Captain will be feeling a right tit apparently.
    
    20 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 9:47am
    - Don Beckett
      
      What about the left one ? 🙂
      
      13 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 11:11am
      - Bridgenag
        
        Thank goodness for the posters with a sense of humour…..Where is Maggie Pie…… BY seems to have alot of influence…..
        
        10 5
        Report
        October 7, 2024 11:46am
      - graham
        
        Maggie Pie could be funny; unfortunately she would also habitually indulge in casual racism, and cruelly mock people who weren’t fabulously wealthy, didn’t live in the ‘right part of town’ or drive the right cars.
        
        As I recall she overstepped the mark once too often and was given a temporary suspension. Following which she seems to have thrown a massive sulk and refused to return. Nothing to do with BY as far as I can tell.
        
        3 2
        Report
        October 7, 2024 12:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        I think you are way off blamming BY. It’s hard to get any sort of ban on this site
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 5:26pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Graham: “and cruelly mock people who weren’t fabulously wealthy”
        
        Never saw her doing that. Looks like an exaggeration.
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 7:20pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  The newspaper should not be concerned about the feelings of the commander regardless of sex. It should report on facts.
  
  I thought that many of the comments yesterday about the commander were sexist. Yes, on face value, a Welsh teacher rising to command a New Zealand naval ship is unusual. However for all I know she may be brilliant. I would prefer to wait for the outcome of the inquiry rather than to point fingers because she is Welsh and gay and female. That was on display in spades yesterday.
  
  Unfortunately, those types of attitudes are becoming more prevalent here. On top of the COVID vaccine nonsense and the climate change nonsense.
  
  21 31
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:00am
  - Local Miller
    
    BY, good to see you finally agree that the COVID vaccine and climate change are nonsense 🙂
    
    33 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:10am
  - Inandout
    
    BY, your grasp of facts is admirable and most of your articles are sensible. That being said your championing Pfizer’s covid vaccines is beginning to sound like their ‘know your risks’ radio ad. Until all of the evidence is made available I will reserve my decisions. Climate change hysteria is of course nonsense.
    
    28 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:18am
  - kowtow
    
    E ba gum lad , thort she were a Yorkish lass .
    
    But, but, but , when the regime make such a bigly deal about the gender/sexuality of new commanders ( and in other appointments too) , post photos of them with walking sticks and all manner of other non naval “identifiers” the public has a right to counter comment .
    
    Her bio is actually very short on meaningful naval experience and bigly on trivia.
    
    Is it any wonder then , and in fairness the regime can expect comment , when they themselves are the ones pushing “equality” issues in these appointments and not merit.
    
    26 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:33am
  - WaynelSexton
    
    Its not sexist or homophobic. The NZ defense force literally brags about it.
    
    https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/news/yorkshire-woman-takes-command-of-royal-new-zealand-navy-ship/
    
    23 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:35am
    - Ghost
      
      Remind us again what he minister said today, possible power failure. Na not on this blog it was all sexisit homophobic crap, thank god she wasn’t a Māori or some of you would of stroked out
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350441801/what-we-know-about-hmnzs-manawanui-disaster
      
      8 19
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 11:03am
      - Cassandra
        
        I posted re power failure 48 hrs ago. Info from my militarily connected son.
        
        15 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 11:40am
      - WaynelSexton
        
        Once again they are the ones bragging about it.
        She still hasn’t been ruled out of causing the accident. From your article
        
        “Collins and Golding saying it was too early to speculate if human error or mechanical failure were involved.”
        
        6 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 11:40am
      - Ghost
        
        Yes you did Cassandra, and people here ignored you and kept trying to make it about her sexuality and gender. Sad that there are still people around who behave like that. Sadly for her these people won’t accept any facts that come out about this, they will just be bleating out their hate and really inability to cope with having a female in charge.
        
        6 13
        Report
        October 7, 2024 11:44am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “Yes you did Cassandra, and people here ignored you…”
        
        The curse of Cassandra.
        
        I blame Apollo.
        
        6 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 12:35pm
      - MCōs
        
        Except Judith Collins, Minister of Defence
        
        5 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 1:31pm
  - Ghost
    
    possible power failure.
    
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/10/07/navy-ship-may-have-lost-power-before-running-aground-collins-says/
    
    5 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:39am
    - Jack5
      
      Ministry of Defence Ron Mark in 2018 on the ship when it was bought from Norway:
      
      “Defence officials have subjected the Edda Fonn to considerable scrutiny ahead of purchase,” Mark said (reported 2018).
      
      “We have been assured by independent experts that it is in excellent condition and will handle well in the operations the Defence Force will use it for.”
      
      Details of the ship from Norway:
      
      https://www.ship-technology.com/projects/edda/?cf-view
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:07pm
  - Taieri
    
    she is Welsh
    ———-
    
    She’s originally from Yorkshire.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:21am
  - Matt Long
    
    Ninr commissioned Naval Ships, four commanded by women, all appointed since 2017. Three of the four appear to have been involved in significant incidents.
    This suggests DEI played a part.
    Every diversity hire means the most competent candidate was discriminated against on the basis of race, sex or gender.
    
    29 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:23am
  - cmm
    
    The inquiry will be a whitewash designed to protect the DEI policy.
    
    20 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:37am
    - Nobby2
      
      I would suggest that the Court Martial will not be a whitewash. DEI policy and her being a female will not be considered when the Court makes it decision. I will predict that the Court Martial decision will not go well for her and her career in the RNZN.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 12:13pm
    - MCōs
      
      When the Aratere ran aground, hit the wharf, lost its power, dropped a propeller I wonder who the various captains and pilots were and whether any of them were gay or former teachers or Brits.
      If any were women or Māori or Muslim I guess we would have known all that before lunchtime
      BTW
      I see old Bishop Brian, always on the lookout for a bit of publicity is blaming Wellington’s debauched lifestyle for the earthquake
      https://x.com/briantamakinz/status/1842610151624503636?s=61&t=yFkzCNMWRCaVt1p5eRxUog
      
      5 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:54pm
  - Observer of Life
    
    BY: “On top of the COVID vaccine nonsense and the climate change nonsense.” … and THAT is your opinion. Good stuff. But you are also showing contempt for those of us with differing opinions to yours Bene.
    On that note, can you confirm that your hematology specialist actually recommended you take all the Covid vaccine shots offered, to keep your ‘blood clotting’ issues at bay? ‘Cause mine certainly didn’t!
    
    1 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 7:24pm
  - Sir Henry Morgan
    
    Sexist comments on a blog are far less important than sexist practices in awarding promotion within a nation’s armed forces. We know the latter type of sexism is rampant in part because those in charge incessantly trumpet their woke credentials.
    
    A young white male (especially if heterosexual) would have to be a complete idiot to join the armed forces across most of the western world. His career prospects will take a back seat to Woke.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 8, 2024 1:06am
- I remember when
  
  The skipper will likely be thinking their future options are very limited.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:02am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Unconscious bias at its finest! Like invariably describing the clothes of a woman or that she is “beautifully made up” in a press article but only mentioning what a man is wearing if he’s a fashion icon. Or introducing the “lovely” (female name) and the “highly respected” (male name). I won’t go on, it gets tedious.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:02am
- imalwaysright
  
  You would think the first rule of driving a ship would be don’t hit countries with it.
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:31am
  - Bridgenag
    
    🤣
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:55am
Bridgenag

Sunday Strip: Slip Sliding Away –
Fifty years of “social progress,” and where are we exactly?

Good Dave Allen videos with this one

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/sunday-strip-slip-sliding-away?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
21 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:26am
Nukuleka

I’m not sure if this has already been commented upon on KB but Mary Richardson, who has been interim CEO of Christchurch City Council since 2023, has agreed to continue in the role until 2026 on the proviso that her annual salary by reduced by $100,000. Yes, reduced! At least one person within local government is heeding the PM’s call for fiscal restraint! Good on her.
54 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:41am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  I second that. Leading the way, I hope but I’m not holding my breath.
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:05am
- John Loveridge
  
  As a Christchurch ratepayer, I am heartened by this news and will send Ms Richardson an email expressing my gratitude.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Still going to pocket $450,000.
  Less Tax I guess, but the Public Sector do not oay Tax. It is just numbers on paper.
  
  10 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:39am
- sungsamning
  
  Yes, well done her.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 1:51pm
sungsamning

https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/10/05/pinkerton-what-jd-vances-federal-land-bonanza-means-for-the-50-states/
Pinkerton: What JD Vance’s Federal Land Bonanza Means for the 50 States .
The ground is shifting in the 2024 presidential campaign. If Donald Trump and JD Vance win this November, that will be literally a true statement because Trump and Vance want to use federal land to create more housing and wealth for Americans.
18 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:41am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IMXwo6jrNA
Hezbollah Dislikes LBGTQ Stuff.
Radical Islam doesn’t tolerate other religions and peoples, especially when it comes to LGBTQ. Better cancel the flight if you were thinking of going there. The locals seem unfriendly. [Who knew?]
21 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:42am
cmm

I saw an interesting thing on my Linked In feed which occasionally gives me a serving of news from my old universities, including Cape Town.

There was an interesting thing where someone was just awarded a PhD in Mathematics. He had done very poorly at school and had just passed with 30%. After a remedial maths programme at UCT he found his calling and came out the other side with a PhD.

Perhaps this is what we need in NZ. Forget trying to fix maths in schools. Rather have bridging programmes for those that need/want it.
19 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:52am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Reinforces my belief that no one is bad at maths, but many are badly taught. If a child is badly taught, in any subject, their antipathy remains with them. There are few who ‘go back’. I know that the excellent basic teaching in english, maths and science that I received supported me throughout my studies and careers. (With the proviso that whoever taught me basic calculus didn’t get through so that I struggled with that facet of maths.)
  
  15 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:10am
  - cmm
    
    No, not really some really are bad at maths – but not nearly as bad as they are if education is poor.
    
    I was lucky enough to have an extremely good maths teacher. My brother had him too. I typically got 97%+ in my maths exams, my brother 60 to 65%.
    
    This teacher was amazing. He always had at least 3 ways to teach any new concept. If people still struggled then he would get one of the better pupils to explain. That was more often than not me. He would then sit quietly and watch the interaction – making notes – and the next year he would have more ways to teach.
    
    All teachers should really be like that.
    
    But generally you are correct – nobody should be really bad at maths. I did a bit of tutoring. I took a guy who was getting around 20 to 30% and got him to pass with about 60%. It took us less than 2 days of intensive 1:1 to achieve that.
    
    There is no world in which we should be getting what we see in NZ schools of only 22% passing.
    
    19 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:02am
  - sungsamning
    
    By the time I got to Standard Two; NZ schools had switched to ‘new maths’. 6 is a factor of 3, or vice versa. Couldn’t see the logic, and switched off.
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:53pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

No cheating in the US Election, then we have this.
Yep, it’s the Democrats again.

https://dailyallegiant.com/nevada-election-chief-halts-investigation-of-voter-registration-issues/
22 8
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 9:16am
I remember when

Te Reo Maori trauma: Barriers to language revival unveiled in new report: Te Ao Maori News.
“The Te Reo Maori Trauma Literature Review, authored by Dr Raukura Roa and Professor Tom Roa, explores the often-overlooked issue and offers strategies for healing and language revival.
The report defines “te reo Maori trauma” as emotional, psychological, spiritual, and/or physical distress caused by historical or contemporary harmful events.”

I wonder what this could be used for?
26 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 9:31am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Trauma” was 19 year old men watching their comrades blown out of the sky or blown to pieces in the battlefields of Italy in WW2. Those who survived came back to New Zealand and built the country.
  
  “Trauma” is not caused by your Maori language lessons being suboptimal.
  
  53 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:47am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, my father was in Italy during WW II – he was with the 27th. Machine Gun Battalion, which were attached the the 28th. Maori Battalion during that theatre of the war.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:24am
    - sungsamning
      
      Oh! My uncle was in the 27th. They got turned into assault infantry. He was killed as he jumped out of his Ram Kangaroo APC to attack a stop bank. That was three weeks before the war ended. [PM me if you want.]
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:56pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Hi Sam. That was most tragic for your dad. Condolences, even though it was so long ago.
        I was 1 -1/2 y/o when dad was sent on the troop ship out of Wellington in 1943. He was in Mardi camp in Egypt for some months & missed being sent to Monte Casino. He landed at Faenza? I think on the Adriatic coast for the push up through Rimini & the Po Valley. He injured his back handling ammunition cases & was sent home on a hospital ship in late 1944 I think.
        He & some others were used as guinea pigs, learning how to repair damaged backs. He had a small piece of his spine taken out & kept it in a glass jar. He was in hospital for nearly a year. He had to take pain killers for the rest of his life. He died in 2005 aged 93.
        
        5 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 2:58pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Oops – misread your uncle for your dad. Comment still stands tho’.
        
        5 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 3:30pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Comment still stands about sending a PM if you want.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 4:59pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Ok – my email is: [email protected]
        
        1 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 5:34pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Members allegedly exposing their true identity get the option to private message other members?
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 7:28pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Bene: Quite so…one small correction: in addition to fighting in Italy, New Zealand troops fought with distinction in Greece, Crete, and North Africa.
    
    In addition, we punched well above our weight in the Battle of Britain, and in Bomber Command; 6000 New Zealanders flew with Bomber Command, 1800 of whom never came home.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:15pm
    - Groggy
      
      And in the Pacific, the (incomplete) 3rd Division took part in the Solomons campaign landings while the Navy and RNZAF contributed to many of the Island hopping landings
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:59pm
    - cmm
      
      ” we punched well above our weight ”
      
      Ummm… NZ soldiers punched well above THEIR weight.
      
      But no matter the side they were on, soldiers faced real trauma – especially those in junior leadership roles.
      
      It is one thing being 18 and being shot at. It is another being 18 and having the duty to command another 18 year old to charge the enemy and get killed.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 4:14pm
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Excuse me while I laugh out loud! What a load of tosh!
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:10am
- John Loveridge
  
  These people go looking for trauma and prejudice and, unsurprisingly, find it.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:23am
Bridgenag

a world without rationality
low identity + high trauma = useful idiocy as personal identity

“people have become so subsumed and consumed by their ideas and ideals that that have been driven quite mad and what’s left behind are not even people, they are parasitic infections of ideology roaming around in human guise absent any sense, sensibility, vestige of rational capacity, or (increasingly) even any instinct for self preservation.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/a-world-without-rationality?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
15 6
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 9:46am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I fully agree with the excerpt you post. However IMO you personify what is described by the author. That is because you are addicted to posting nonsense about COVID vaccines.
  
  “… parasitic infections of ideology roaming around in human guise absent any sense, sensibility, vestige of rational capacity…”
  
  A perfect description of the menace to society. The anti vaxxers.
  
  16 35
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:51am
  - newview
    
    So right Ben
    
    10 21
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:15am
  - cmm
    
    BY: Rather than call others a menace, perhaps it is better to reflect on where all this distrust comes from.
    
    Lying to people may work in the short term, but when it comes out trust is eroded.
    
    23 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 10:46am
  - Grunter
    
    Bene – keep clinging to your Jan 2023 cum deaths chart 🙄(hint – it’s out of date now….)
    
    Meanwhile, latest NZ data – still tracking between 10%-20% excess deaths each week. I don’t know why but no one wants to investigate the root cause which seems more than strange…
    
    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-p-scores-average-baseline?country=~NZL
    
    Dig in a bit more and look at age-based data, the same trend across all age brackets over 14 yrs;
    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-p-scores-average-baseline-by-age?country=~NZL
    
    17 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:05am
  - Miritu
    
    Year | Number presenting to Emergency Departments with chest pain
    2019 2219
    2020 4406
    2021 13063
    2022 21416
    2023 20005
    2024 (to June) 14639
    
    https://www.roadshow24.nz/uploads/9/3/2/4/93247258/hatchard_report_22_sep24_-_staggering-data-from-health-nz.pdf
    
    13 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 11:23am
    - cmm
      
      The quality of the data they gather is rather poor. I wouldn’t read too much into this. I think you would have to dig a level deeper to get anything useful.
      
      What is a “chest pain” anyway? Is a lung complaint a chest pain?
      
      There seems to have been a massive step after 2020 which makes you wonder whether their way of counting changed.
      
      Still, there is clearly smoke here. Time to go looking for a fire (if there is one).
      
      9 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 1:17pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      My questions
      1) Why did 11,000 health/medical staff apply for and successfully receive exemptions from getting the jab?
      2) Why did ACC staff point blankly refuse to get jabs and adhere to the mandates?
      
      2 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 7:45pm
      - Ghost
        
        It wasn’t 11,000 and they were temporary exemptions
        
        Misleading. Temporary vaccine exemptions covering 8,051 workers (previously incorrectly reported by New Zealand’s public health agency as 11,005) applied only to health and disability sector workers so services could continue while they completed mandatory courses of COVID-19 vaccination.
        
        Article
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 7:57pm
      - Observer of Life
        
        “It found 102 applications were in fact granted covering 8,051 workers.”
        OK, but can we be sure those exempted actually received the jabs in the end?
        
        “Temporary Medical Exemptions (TMEs) were another type of exemption available to over-18s, including politicians and the general public, who met clinical criteria, opens new tab approved by a registered health practitioner including illness, a previous vaccine reaction, and pre-existing conditions impacting vaccinations.” Really?
        Our youngest’s flatmate got pericarditis following the first jab. Dr’s at the hospital told him he wasn’t eligible for an exemption, instead he had to have the second jab, HOWEVER it had to be done in hospital, with medical staff monitoring!!! He didn’t go back.
        Reuters Fact Checkers – call me cynical, but are they as good as Kate Hannah and her lot too?
        And the ACC staff?
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 8:07pm
      - Ghost
        
        ACC staff were required to have the vaccine as stated in their website to work in the office, those that didn’t worked from home. There is nothing online that states any mass acc exemption or refusal
        
        https://www.acc.co.nz/newsroom/stories/our-new-vaccination-policy/
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:23pm
      - Observer of Life
        
        “There is nothing online that states any mass acc exemption or refusal”, do you seriously think there would be?
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:29pm
      - Ghost
        
        Well provide evidence to your claim about acc or is it just another made up ‘fact’
        
        1 1
        Report
        October 7, 2024 9:34pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    That is because you are addicted to posting nonsense about COVID vaccines.
    
    I dare you, no, I double dare you, to say that to the family of people that dropped dead almost immediately from the vaccines, or that were diagnosed with a rare terminal condition / turbo cancer and were dead within weeks.
    
    I triple dare you to say that directly to someone who has been given a life sentence / early death date.
    
    Benedict, you will actually know several people thus affected, possibly even relatives or friends.
    
    However you do not know of people thus affected, because they know that you are judgemental and dismissive, and will not speak to you about it.
    
    8 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:44pm
    - newview
      
      JR I dare you, no double dare you to stop the emotional garbage. I know just as many people as you would and none have serious side effects that can be proven to be caused by the Covid vaccination’s they’ve had. Seems your circle of acquaintances is riddled with covid issues. Why is that.
      
      6 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 4:00pm
    - Ghost
      
      Sounds like kindergarten. Anyone want to do an infinity dare?
      
      0 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 4:03pm
  - wsk12345
    
    Funny I suspect (know) that many of us see you similarly. Smart guy but why on earth is he so blinkered in the covid vaccines. They undoubtedly did way more harm than good, particularly in under 50s
    
    8 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 3:17pm
NothingLeft

Melania Trump talks about having her bank kick her out, email provider kick her out after end of Trump’s presidency. https://x.com/i/status/1842943447759745162

Cancellation of essential services on basis of politics – as seen in UK and USA in recent times – seems like it should be strictly prevented in law.
30 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 10:05am
- kowtow
  
  Once again it’s the west’s equivalent of the Soviet unpersoning.
  
  No bank , no money ,no freedom.
  
  Another reason to resist ‘digital currencies”.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 10:59am
  - Dave
    
    And China’s social credit policy for constraining wrong-thinking citizens.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:40pm
- quarterpack
  
  Ah yes the law…. certainly something her husband has an interesting relationship with
  
  3 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 12:12pm
I remember when

Haka controversy: East Coast rugby supporters warned not to haka with team.
There has never been any reason for supporters to be on the field during a pre-match haka.
Supporters on the sideline doing the haka has long been a tradition at many rugby matches.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 10:11am
hookerphil

What does the All Blacks, the Black Ferns and the Silver Ferns all have in common?
( Rugby, Rugby , Netball)

Once upon a time we ruled the World.
13 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 10:16am
- MCōs
  
  The Silver Ferns have generally lagged behind Australia
  The Black Ferns 15s haven’t been able to compete with England since the game went professional because the best players and the resources are all going to the 7s team. A number of top players have also moved over to the NRL to make a living, which they can’t do playing rugby in NZ.
  NZ still produces the best rugby players in the world because the kids have the natural attributes required for the game and from a very young age they’re running round chucking a rugby ball around not kicking a football or playing the cello.
  I went to watch a schools sevens tournament and there were scouts there from half a dozen NRL teams taking names, talking to Dads and signing up the sons.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 5:03pm
John Loveridge

I can’t find the link again, but it amused me to read that Environment Canterbury has finally figured out that practically nobody uses most of their buses. Their solution? Add more buses.
21 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 10:25am
- cmm
  
  I typically see 3 or less passengers on buses in Christchurch. Around rush hour the numbers are typically a bit higher and there are a few more passengers on some routes (eg. past the university).
  
  A bus uses about 30 litres of diesel per 100km, so at an average of 3 passengers that’s 10litres/100km each. It would typically emit far less CO2 if everyone just drove their own cars.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:33am
  - John Loveridge
    
    That tallies with my observations, cmm. Rarely do I see more than 3 or 4 passengers, and I live near an urban hub with buses going past me all the time.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 12:09pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Shock and horror. On Saturday, I saw a family of six people riding on a St Albans cycleway that is usually vacant.
    
    I think that in 5 years I have seen maybe a dozen people in total.
    
    It was like a rare sighting of a Unicorn or a Moa.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:49pm
- pdm
  
  JL I heard the same thing was happening in Hawkes Bay in a news bulletin on Friday.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:46am
- rouppe
  
  Part of the problem is the persistent use of 40 seater buses.
  
  In Wellington the buses used to be (I avoid it now) full only at rush hour, rest of the time max 10 people.
  
  I’ve often wondered why they don’t use smaller vehicles. Halve the bus size, and increase frequency by 25-50%. I guess that would mean more drivers which would change the financial equation.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 12:19pm
Swifty

“And so it’s a critical function for our state and a critical use for our taxpayer money, and I’m very concerned if the Government is reducing its investment in prevention.“

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/530001/cuts-looming-for-critical-public-health-services

What a damned pity it was then that Labour pissed away billions and billions of taxpayer dollars during the period 2017-23 on non-critical spending – to the point that National and their coalition partners now have to sort out the bloody mess Labour left behind.

Isn’t that right Michael Baker?
24 4
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 10:54am
- rouppe
  
  …reported burnout or signs of burnout in the last 12 months, due to workload (46 percent), lack of resources (45 percent) and what they called “bureaucratic challenges” (60.5 percent).
  
  Ah… “bureaucratic challenges”…
  
  Remove the bureaucracy, which will mean less time spent on everything, which should lessen the workload, and at least close the gap on resources.
  
  But that means getting rid of managers, and devolving decision making to clinical staff. Which I have not seen happen in any of the staffing changes anywhere.
  
  In Police, before I left in July, they needed to lose 175 people in “back office”. What I saw was cuts in ICT, but no cuts in PNHQ.
  There are now 8 deputy commissioners and 15 assistant commissioners, with all their attendant staff, when 20 years ago there were 2 and 6 respectively.
  Get those Superintendents out solving crimes, I say.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 12:31pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Another one who should be in jail.
  
  8 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 12:59pm
  - mawm
    
    We need to protect our language!
    Gaol – English.
    Jail – Americanese.
    
    7 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 2:30pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      How about “hinake”
      
      1 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 4:25pm
      - mawm
        
        ??? eel pot. It must be a colloquialism on the North Shore.
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 7:25pm
      - Swifty
        
        mawm – aka eel trap.
        
        Hinaki is a New Zealand slang word used as a substitute for stir, slammer, big house etc and popular in certain circles.
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 7, 2024 8:40pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Inside – can’t get out
        
        0 0
        Report
        October 8, 2024 7:44am
cmm

Can someone draw me a picture explaining how TVNZ could possibly need to employ 600 staff?

It was 730 before staff cuts.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tvnz-set-to-unveil-new-strategic-plan-proposals-sense-of-anxiety-and-sadness/INMWHIND4JGAXABXS4IPWBB3DY/
20 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 11:21am
- Ghost
  
  They have two different news websites. Don’t know why youth need their own special news websites. More than likely repeated in the business with a lot of extra unneeded waste
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:38am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  730 to 600?
  It is a Govt Department. Call it what you want but TVNZ is the propaganda arm of Govt no matter which Party rules.
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 4:27pm
  - MCōs
    
    You mean our version of RT or KCTV?
    I don’t think so
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 5:10pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Get real MCos. The NZ Govt relies on TVNZ no matter which Party.
      Imagine TVNZ if the Green Party was the Govt, just then, no TPM, no Labour, no Act, no NZF, and no National.
      Who would the Greens want as MAJOR TV???
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      October 7, 2024 5:52pm
Gravelroad

I see that $tuff is now censoring stories,via the fade-out method, for readers who won’t pay a subscription.
Yet there are more and more and more paid adverts and “content” cluttering up their site which makes the stories almost unreadable anyway.
They have also diminished the accessibility to the provincial based papers, which is just an insult really.
As a former newspaper employee, albeit many years ago, it was the advertisers who paid for the paper. Subscribers were necessary and important, obviously, but their financial contributions did not make the news run.
$tuff is now a dead duck.
31 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 11:27am
- Flossie
  
  Just don’t even click on the site.
  
  25 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 11:53am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    I gave up my sub to the local paper over two years ago and have boycotted Stuff since that.
    
    Stuff can rot in the filth they have curated for all I care of their so called journalism.
    
    Now they are controlling TV3 that too has one less viewer.
    
    The amount of obfuscated, skewed, left slanted mediocre, judgementally one sided and lazy reporting is so bad I often wonder how they are still in business……
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 12:43pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Fossie: I quite enjoy the Stuff quiz, even if I only get 15/15 once in a while. As for the rest, there might be ONE or sometimes two stories every day that would not, back in the day, have been more likely to have been in the Women’s Weekly. “Six ways to tell your husband is cheating on you” and “Duty sex – a necessary compromise or the beginning of the end?”
    
    11 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 7, 2024 1:22pm
- John Loveridge
  
  For some years I’ve avoided Stuff, but I’d still occasionally find myself clicking on links posted here, or ones friends sent me. However they’ve now reached a stage of awfulness where I won’t even give them the benefit of a click, no matter how tempting. I hope they disappear right up their own wazoo, as soon as possible.
  
  12 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 12:18pm
- Jack5
  
  If the State stopped subsidising Stuff it should be free to lock out all non-payers completely. It’s doomed regardless.
  
  4 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 1:18pm
Jack5

On speculation that Rachel Smalley might become head of communications for Prime Minister Luxon …

Remember Smalley when the illegal migration surge into Europe began? On radio she rabbited on that barriers to their entry to Europe were evil. Pull down the fences, was her theme.

On her return from a trip to Europe she continued her campaign, and even led to John Key increasing the refugee entry quota to New Zealand.

Any appointment of Smalley to a communications post will confirm that National really is Labour Lite.
22 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 1:24pm
bythesea

Have you read through the Fast Track release and the list of projects? There are PDFs with the individual projects on this page:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/fast-track-projects-released

Quite the list. Woodend bypass is in there for the Cantabrians!

It’s by region so you should be able to look up your own area. Looks like there are about 5 solar power plants and a few wind power schemes. No geothermal, so unreliables it is then, and also half of them are in the South Island with transmission losses to the NI.
.
In NZ my understanding is that there are no subsidies on power price but the projects get substantial grants for installation and grid connections (which is effectively an upfront subsidy). Anybody more knowledgeable want to comment on these

The “controversial” ones are the seafloor mining and the extension of existing coal mining area on the West Coast. Sea floor mining might take a bit of refinement initially but who wouldn’t prefer this to an on land mine. I would expect this to be very successful

The list looks like a big win for the country if they get stuff moving.
14 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 1:28pm
Surely Knott

Thomas Cranmer is consistently one of our best investigative journalists.

On twitter “The sinking of the Manawanui comes only a few months after HMNZS Te Kaka (TEK) collided with a jetty at the Defence Armament Depot at Kauri Point (DADKP) on 16 May.

The Fleet Navigating Officer’s initial incident report issued on 21 May makes interesting reading.

The report found that TEK “was unable to extract bridge voice recordings from the Ship’s Voice Data Recorder system, meaning no recreation of bridge conversations was possible.”……..”

Read the whole thing here. Looks like we have had a few naval problems of late. https://x.com/CranmerWrites
16 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 1:34pm
- JackRabbit
  
  “was unable to extract bridge voice recordings from the Ship’s Voice Data Recorder system, meaning no recreation of bridge conversations was possible…” …after technician “accidentally” clicked on “delete” files instead of “copy”…
  
  10 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 1:54pm
- Damocles11
  
  ‘At the time, the Defence Force said the accident took place as the ship berthed in “gale force winds.” However, details released under the Official Information Act reveal it was a strong breeze.’
  
  Fudging, lying, cover ups.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 1:59pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

NZCPR. Dr Muriel Newman. The Judiciary on Trial.
The Marine and Coastal Area (Customary Marine Title) Amendment Bill.

https://www.nzcpr.com/the-judiciary-on-trial/#more-39969

Guest Post. Frank Newman.

https://www.nzcpr.com/the-marine-and-coastal-area-amendment-bill-a-step-not-far-enough/
6 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 2:08pm
Swifty

Identify your goddam target!

And always ensure a missed shot will end up in a safe place.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/530038/manslaughter-charge-laid-against-father-of-child-who-allegedly-shot-hunter-john-atkins

What a tragedy that these basic rules were not followed in this case.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 2:12pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Haitian Chaos Leads Springfield Police to Cut Radio Contact with the Outside World.

https://rightsideoffers.com/redbloodedconservative/haitian-chaos-leads-springfield-police-to-cut-radio-contact-with-the-outside-world/?
3 7
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 2:13pm
BeaB

Was the skipper first or last off? No mention at all of her in media.
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 2:43pm
- cmm
  
  Confusing. Which has precedence?
  
  * The Birkenhead Drill (women and children first)
  * Captain goes down with the ship.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 4:02pm
Ghost

So basically leaving us with what? Stuff and nzherald?

TVNZ will axe its 1News website from early next year, according to a proposal released to staff today.

Article
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 3:18pm
- Ghost
  
  Reminds me. Yesterday stuff changed around all a the regional newspapers on their website
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350440029/regional-news-stuff-changing
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 3:23pm
- MCōs
  
  RNZ
  There’s Spinoff, but it’s not a news outlet so much as analysts
  Cricinfo has most of what you really need to know
  For local rugby news All Blacks is pretty ordinary
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 5:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Drowning Hurricane victim gets $750 check.

https://babylonbee.com/news/drowning-hurricane-victim-relieved-as-rescue-chopper-drops-750-check?
5 2
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 3:24pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Ozzy Osbourne endorses Presidential candidate.
(Word salad included)

https://babylonbee.com/news/ozzy-osbourne-endorses-presidential-candidate-but-no-one-could-understand-which-one?
5 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 3:29pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Ivanka Trump Flies Starlink Terminals to Hurricane Victims After Slow Biden Assistance.
“Starlink terminals will now work automatically without need for payment in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene.” Elon Musk.
The Dems seem to have a leadership and action problem.

https://pjnewsletter.com/ivanka-trump-just-made-biden/?
8 3
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 4:43pm
Ra Henare

and for something completely different.

Driven to look behind the sudden drop in NZD USD value. Down from 63c to 61c. I first looked at the USDIndex to find that it has risen from 100 to 103 in the last few days (ie USD stronger).

Why is the USD stronger.
Increasing tensions in the Middle east and escalating military actions.

So what about oil, Israel has threatened to bomb Iran oil refineries and Iran has indicated it would bomb ALL Middle East oil sites in retaliation.

Oil price would go thru the roof. If you could find some.

Which lead me to think about US strategic oil reserves, which President Biden had reduced to try and hold petrol prices at the pump in USA

Seems that the Strategic reserves have been “”topped” up, an increased by 9% over the last 12 months.
But from a very low base and nowhere near the reserves of 20 years ago, even tho oil demand has increased significantly.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcsstus1&f=m

I knew you would love this detail to take your mind off the emotions and dis information about 7th October 2023.
10 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 4:54pm
- Inandout
  
  RH, the oil barons of the ME won’t disable the oil wells because that would be classified as shooting yourself in the foot. Would KFC stop growing chickens?
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 6:09pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Israel now also has oil assets, which Iran will target if Israel takes out Kharg Island.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:45pm
John Loveridge

Given TVNZ’s parlous and declining financial state, do they still pay their top “talent” huge six-figure salaries? The raison d’etre for such prodigious remuneration has always been the bums on seats that big names attract, so why would TVNZ bother now all the bums have voted with their remotes and gone elsewhere? The talent has proved worthless.
9 1
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 6:00pm
- Graeme Hall
  
  Reminiscent of the prodigiously talented Paul Holmes. When he left TVNZ & went to Prime his audience stayed. Turned out the time slot was the key to his large audience not his talent.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  October 7, 2024 9:33pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Paul’s giant ego must have had some of the hubris knocked out of it by that. He was crowing from the rooftops when he announced his departure, and Prime paid a fortune for him.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    October 8, 2024 7:46am
Swifty

Is it poverty that has caused this, as the Left would have us believe?

Or is it that we’ve got some people in New Zealand who don’t care about anything but themselves and who think stealing from others (including their home) is a perfectly acceptable thing to do?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350442202/christchurch-womans-stolen-tiny-home-found-after-police-search
4 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:50pm
Swifty

Oh, look! More effects of poverty in New Zealand.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350443192/two-charged-murder-after-auckland-man-allegedly-run-over-his-own-vehicle

//
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
October 7, 2024 8:51pm