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May 15, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 15 May 2025

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General Debate

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Scott

Debanking is a real problem here in NZ. We saw it in the UK when Nigel Farage was debanked because of his politics. The debanking was so egregious that even Rishi Sunak was moved to strongly intervene and sit down with the bank’s governors to stop the debanking.

But it’s happening in NZ. The good folk of the Free Speech Union are fighting the good fight. This from their latest newsletter:

“One of our members who is a Kiwibank customer was warned they could be debanked. Why? For a critical comment left in a customer feedback survey.

The comment in question was:
“Great staff. Horrid woke bank. Your ambassador recently was the violent woke indian dumbo who is suffering acute mental issues and does not know his sex.”

Sure, the comment may not have been what Kiwibank were hoping for in their survey results, but it certainly wasn’t unlawful.

Banks provide essential services and occupy a position of unique power in our society. They have a responsibility to uphold viewpoint neutrality and ensure that customers are not penalised for expressing political or cultural opinions.

We’ve challenged Kiwibank on this move, asking them to clarify their policies and to remind them that freedom of expression is not optional. ”

It’s good to see that the Free Speech Union is working hard to stop debanking and promote freedom of speech. And it’s revealing that our NZ owned bank is doing its best to be the wokest bank in the country. Kiwibank is showing themselves to not actually be for kiwis. If you say something that they don’t like they’ll debank you! 🤔
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May 15, 2025 8:01am
- I remember when
  
  Is the size of the debanking problem even bigger than thought because of the bank use of regulation which makes account operation onerous.
  Many charities, clubs and small operators are having restrictions and additional requirements placed on their accounts.
  In a supposedly paperless society the amount of paper and small print seems to be constantly growing and time consuming.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:55am
- John Loveridge
  
  Ah yes, the bank that removed the “s” from “Maoris”.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:48am
- kowtow
  
  Obviously not your case but some “debanking” was due to banks , rightly protecting themselves from the ever intrusive Big State .
  
  Anyone else noticed how this has stymied the drug , corrupt pollie , etc trade .
  
  ‘The mandatory rule for enhanced due diligence is to confirm that the PEP’s source of wealth and/or source of funds have legitimate origins. ‘
  
  https://www.transparency.org.nz/blog/financial-crime-risks-politically-exposed-persons
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:33pm
- bennerg
  
  Reminds me of the old saying, “Don’t ask a question that you don’t want answers to“.
  
  KiwiBank should have instead thanked the customer for their honestly.
  
  Sadly any person or institution that gets “political” these days is instantly demonising half their audience, because politics as we know has got centered around the left / right debate, and with both sides attempting to capture “the centre”, the line between them is right in the middle.
  
  Best advice to KiwiBank and any other Bank, or any other institution is to stay well clear of the edgy side of politics, or politics all together.
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:41pm
Cassandra

Quadrant is an Australian magazine which “publishes materials of the highest standard that seek to encompass the cultural traditions that endure within, and enrich, our civilization. The culture we defend derives from the Classical and Christian traditions of Greece, Rome and Jerusalem, as well as those of the British sceptical Enlightenment.” It’d be fair to say that it is not left wing.

A recent article was entitled The Science Is Settled. It’d also be fair to say that it’s not the science Al Gore espouses.

“Recent (and very recent) developments in the understanding of climate change strongly support the view that the underlying existing rationale is indeed deeply flawed. Not surprisingly, these developments have not been, and will not be widely reported by media outlets obsessed with catastrophism. In particular there is now overwhelming evidence that climate change is not driven by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the key elements of which I will summarize below. Indeed there is not even any evidence of a “climate crisis”.”

The author goes on to demonstrate that recent research shows that anthropogenic CO2 has almost no effect on the climate and any change is part of Earth’s normal pattern over millions of years. At the very least the world should stop shooting itself in the foot – the hysteria of the last 20 years has cost a fortune and achieved precisely nothing.
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May 15, 2025 8:05am
- Grunt
  
  Yep, it pretty much dawned on me 19 years ago when I saw climate graphs, the CO2 peaks lagged the temperature peaks! That’s all I needed to make sense of it. The lack of logic these days amazes me!
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:19am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Carbon dioxide can time travel and exist before it was created !
    
    It is a worry that many scientists can’t read a graph (or won’t ).
    
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    May 15, 2025 9:52am
    - kowtow
      
      These climate ‘crisis’ scientists can read , very well .
      
      The bottom line .
      
      Cui bono.
      
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      May 15, 2025 12:53pm
  - R
    
    I guess. that NZ isn’t the only country whose education system isn’t suffering from the equivalent of Langes ‘ Tomorrow’s Schools education reforms
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:33am
    - peterwn
      
      Actually ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’ in the main was a very positive thing especially with respect to governance of schools. In particular the old ‘Education Boards’ who governed primary, intermediate and area schools (then ‘District High Schools’) have not been missed. It has operated for over thirty years with little change. Chris Hipkins as Education Minister wanted to upend it but failed because of the depth of engagement of parents.
      
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      May 15, 2025 1:36pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  I tend to support Dr Steven Koonin, author of “Unsettled”.
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:22am
  - Phronesis
    
    He’s very good on the science. Bjorn Lomborg’s economic analysis is also very interesting. Even if the warming that is predicted occurs, the cost to the global economy over time is far less than the cost of the Covid-19 debacle. This is why you never see cost benefit analysis of “fighting climate change”. There are very few economic benefits. The claim has shifted to climate change will be bad for the planet, which is a bit implausible given how much higher carbon levels have improved plant growth.
    
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    May 15, 2025 9:35am
    - John Loveridge
      
      All that money goes somewhere. Somebody does alright out of climate change.
      
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      May 15, 2025 10:49am
      - Cassandra
        
        Al Gore.
        
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        May 15, 2025 11:51am
      - Conservatarian
        
        Gore is founder and chair of the firm Generation Investment Management. That firm is on the managers’ panel of the NZ Super Fund. This charlatan, and other climate scammers, have quite a portion of our money. Let’s hope that our money is pulled out of the climate scam while the market price for investing in such scams is high, rather than at the time the scam collapses.
        
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        May 15, 2025 3:44pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      the cost to the global economy over time is far less than the cost of the Covid-19 debacle
      
      Apparently overall temperature changes can disrupt the flow of ocean currents. Imagine what Europe will look like if the Gulf Stream stops. Adapting to that would cost an unimaginable sum. Extreme el nino/la nina events can lead to serious climatic chaos.
      
      As the Siberian bogs melt, a truly awesome methane megafart is in the works. Enough to help the warming along just nicely.
      
      The world is a complex equilibrium. Changing one thing will result in all sorts of other adjustments. That’s how equilibrium systems behave.
      
      I envy people the bland confidence that she’ll be right …. 🙂
      
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      May 15, 2025 1:42pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        The Gulf Stream changed its course around the 12th. century. Many settlements in the far north of UK – the Orkney & Shetland islands & northern Scotland ,in large part, had to abandon their settlements as the supply of fish disappeared. They had to move south, where the fish were available & cropping & pastoral were more productive. Mankind adapts to changing environments
        
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        May 15, 2025 2:04pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        re the Gulf Stream – it still gets around the top of Norway. We did the up-the-coast Bergen-Kirkenes boat trip a few years ago. I was blown away by the fact that they can grow strawberries and lettuce and stuff north of the Arctic Circle …. shortish growing season of course.
        
        Whatever.
        
        There’s a few more people around since the 12th century.
        
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        May 15, 2025 2:12pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Ian,
        I have lived(MSM, Govt fear mongering)
        thru the treat of
        Nuclear war. Cold war
        The invasion of communism (Vietnam war)
        The coming Ice age (1960s)
        Peak oil 1965. (Run out of oil)
        The Millennium Bug, when all computers would crash.
        Over Population, run out of food
        and of course the Covid, end of the world scenarion.
        
        So you think that using my rational brain.
        Think that Global warming is an existential threat
        
        or even a serious threat to man kind???
        
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        May 15, 2025 6:22pm
      - judith8409121
        
        yep apparently anything can happen if you use the word can liberally and you can get money for the use of the word. You can be run over tomorrow, you can have all your money stolen. See how you can make up stuff with the word can.
        
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        May 15, 2025 6:47pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘achieved precisely nothing’
  
  No ,it has helped create even more methods of state interference in the economy , society and our daily lives .
  
  Maybe not what was originally intended , but very useful for modern governments.
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:39am
  - R
    
    Modern governments of the Marxist persuasion
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:34am
    - kowtow
      
      Indeed , but with one or two notable and constantly attacked exceptions , which aren’t ?
      
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      May 15, 2025 11:42am
- Phronesis
  
  The hysteria of the last 30 years has achieved precisely what it was always intended to do. It has provided an imminent catastrophe that only government control can save us from. It’s no coincidence that the rise of climate change as an existential threat exactly mirrors the decline of nuclear war as an existential threat. Now that Russia is again considered an existential threat that requires massive government expenditure on defence to keep in check we will see the decline of climate change catastrophism. We can’t afford to address both “threats” anyway so one will lose.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:30am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Take away the common enemy and you will get Chaos.
    Karl will be pleased.
    The brain child of you will own nothing and will be happy has been displaced along with
    All the Global partners.
    I can think that the only logical conclusion was to crash the capitalist system through Debt then bring in new rules etc.
    Net Zero being catalyst for changes.
    Then Covid came along and all was exposed.
    You only have to ask yourself why the “Net” Zero and not Zero ?
    NET in this context means you can offsett your emmissions by owning a jungle in S. America and us mere mortals are restricted by digital currencies, Ids and credit scores etc etc.
    
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    May 15, 2025 1:16pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Oh, it’s done much worse than achieve nothing. It has turned the industrial heartland of every western country into a wasteland of unemployment, drugs, violence, hopelessness and deprivation.
  
  Our “elites” have destroyed the West. For what?
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:34am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Our “elites” have destroyed the West. For what ?
    Control over the masses.
    
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    May 15, 2025 1:19pm
- alloytoo
  
  Also much of the apparent warming can be attributed to heat Island effect as land use changes and faulty/ insensitive equipment.
  
  Interesting video here about how equipment changes can effect accuracy.
  
  Luckily the scientist who noticed actually does science.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7UtJjOkKCM
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:07am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5nnA8ZvUOw
India & Pakistan Will Now Live at the Edge of War.
It sounds like a cold war; with a slightly better chance of getting hot again soon. China wants an oil pipeline through Kashmir.
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May 15, 2025 8:09am
- Jack5
  
  The India-Pakistan dispute centres on Kashmir, and one man created the problem.
  
  When India and Pakistan were formed at the end of British rule, some state princes had the say on which country their state would join.
  
  Mainly Muslim Kashmir was under a Hindu Prince and he chose to take it into India.
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:50pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Agreed; and the Indians won’t give it up any time soon, as a sacred river flows through it.
    
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    May 15, 2025 5:09pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep to supply the Chinese Port on Pakistan.
  It appears only the Chinese and Russians understand supply chains mean while in NZ
  Food comes from the supermarket
  Power from the plug
  Fuel from the petrol station.
  
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  May 15, 2025 1:23pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, no pipeline, no oil to the port in Pakistan.
    
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    May 15, 2025 5:10pm
sungsamning

https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2025/05/13/new-trump-administration-scores-another-court-win-as-judge-weighs-in-on-aea-removals-n2189044
Trump Wins in Court.
The Trump administration scored another court win on Tuesday, as a Pennsylvania District Court Judge found in favor of the administration (mostly — we’ll get to that) on a case involving the removal of illegal alien Venezuelan gang members pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
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May 15, 2025 8:09am
Sarge

With all the furore over the Pay Equity bill, most people missed Brooke’s proposed changes to how Annual Leave is calculated — and this will cost shift workers $X0,000’s.

She is proposing a shift to an ‘hours based’ system, to remove complexity and costs — a noble aim!

But most of the complexity actually comes from how to handle workers with variable rates of pay due to Penals (e.g. Nurses).

In my own household, penals/allowances raise the Nurse’s income by 33%! People who work weekends/nights deserve additional pay for this — I’m sure this blog will agree.

If Annual Leave is calculated purely on base pay (and not using existing methods, that include penals) — the value of earned annual leave in my household will fall by over $10k. And many nurses will have be in a similar position.

ACT needs to clarify if the changes will exclude penals from the ALV calculations or not. (There is of course room for discussions on how penals are included, as long as they are.)
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May 15, 2025 8:10am
- Phronesis
  
  Penal rates are by definition due to working outside of ordinary hours. People get paid for those shifts when they work them. When you’re on holiday you aren’t working outside of normal hours so why should you get paid penal rates? The current system also picks up overtime in a lot of cases, but again why should you be paid overtime on days you don’t work?
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:52am
  - Sarge
    
    Because that’s what the law is, and that’s what the existing pay rates are based on (e.g. people accept lower base pay, knowing the penals make up for it — including while on leave).
    
    Unilaterally and retrospectively changing existing contracts isn’t something those supporting small govt should get behind!
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:20pm
    - judith8409121
      
      well looks like its not going to be the law anymore. And i don’t think you should be paid holiday pay on these extra payments.
      
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      May 15, 2025 6:51pm
- Skippytony
  
  Not sure if they still do, but in Aus you used to get a leave loading (12.5% from memory) to cover absence of shift or overtime income.
  
  Was a pretty simple solution.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:58am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Simple maybe. But ot applies to everyone even in a standard 9 to 5 Monday to Friday role. So it’s a nice perk (Bob Hawke election bribe IIRC) bit not so much relevant to the shift issue.
    
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    May 15, 2025 12:01pm
  - Sarge
    
    Doesn’t work with variable rosters.
    
    When everyone has a fixed pattern, that’s fine.
    
    When people request shifts (and has different rosters), that gives the same loading to everyone, *regardless of the number of unsocialable hours worked*.
    
    Seems kinda socialist to me.. 😉
    
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    May 15, 2025 12:27pm
- pdm
  
  Surely the simple answer is to base holiday pay on hours worked thereby over riding variations in actual pay between normal time and penal rates.
  
  I have worked for the same employer for over 12 years and gradually reducing my hours by mutual agreement where I now only usually work 7 hours a week with occasional times of extra hours when someone is sick or on holiday or its necessary to extend my shift by an hour or two – which happened twice last year.
  
  I have in recent times accumulated 43 hours of holiday leave and 120 hours of sick leave.
  
  Seems simple and works for both my employer and I.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:59am
  - Sarge
    
    It is now, e.g. you’re not entitled to the same amount of annual leave as a full time worker. If you work 7 hours a week, then you get 4 * 7 hours of annual leave a year.
    
    That also glosses over the loss in value from ignoring Penal Rates, as mentioned above. If your base pay was $30 an hour, but you got an extra $15 per hour for penals/allowances (not an uncommon ratio in some industries) — when you take annual leave, should it be paid out at $30 or $45 p/h?
    
    Brooke (and maybe you?) seem to be positioning for the former — representing a massive loss in value for many workers.
    
    Other countries manage to include Penals in ALV calculations — this isn’t complex.
    
    Mods: What do I need to do to avoid Moderation Purgatory? Is the only way still to email real life ID to the blog?
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:16am
    - Manu-Rau
      
      Using the figures you have used, I would have thought leave would be paid at $30 per hour.
      
      I can’t believe anyone would think it reasonable to be paid overtime rates when you aren’t working.
      
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      May 15, 2025 2:05pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        I have always been a fan of the 8% option.
        ie total holiday pay is based on 8% of the previous years income.
        
        100,000 previous year 8,000 holiday pay.
        Take 8 days a year get 8,000
        Take 14 dasy get 8000
        
        etc
        
        It was never hard for me to calculate holiday pay back in the days when I had 63 staff
        
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        May 15, 2025 6:38pm
  - Sarge
    
    Should read “It *pseudo* is now…”
    
    But again, we need to avoid it being a massive loss of value for workers.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:34am
  - alloytoo
    
    most payroll systems inevitably use hours. The complexity comes issue is people who consistently work higher rate overtime and the system has to account for that.
    
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    May 15, 2025 11:10am
- Jethrod
  
  That will be explosive!…. if penal rates are denied in the calculation.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:17am
  - Sarge
    
    All indications are that it will be.
    
    If it’s not, there’s no complexity to remove.
    
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    May 15, 2025 12:28pm
- imalwaysright
  
  I don’t think the government should interfere with citizens procuring work and workers.
  Especially the minimum wage, which is slowly strangling the economy.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:32am
  - Sarge
    
    But they are interfering!
    
    Brooke is taking a system that everyone has agreed to, and changing it.
    
    If you don’t want the govt interfering, you should oppose Brooke’s bill.
    
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    May 15, 2025 12:25pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      I’m not sure everyone agrees to the current system.
      How can the government setting the price of labour be acceptable to a free market?
      It could be that there are many employers who are unable to price the value of labour as a component of their product because, instead, they have to price their product according to a set labour cost.
      It may sound like semantics, but a set minimum labour cost keeps potential employers and employees apart.
      Employers don’t offer just money, they also offer training and a certain element of security.
      
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      May 15, 2025 3:25pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Who is this everyone you refer to. Surely you have forgotten the many thousands who opposed the original bill when it was introduced
      
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      May 15, 2025 6:59pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360688847/former-top-cop-jevon-mcskimming-sells-property-amid-criminal-investigation

Looks to me as though he is getting ready to quit the country, ASAP.
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May 15, 2025 8:10am
- cmm
  
  Maybe he’s getting ready to be run through by the lawyers.
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:23am
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: what do you mean “run through by the lawyers”?
    
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    May 15, 2025 8:27am
    - cmm
      
      Have every last coin squeezed out of his pocket.
      
      Otherwise he could be bolting or maybe just taking early retirement.
      
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      May 15, 2025 8:33am
      - kowtow
        
        That’s a polite way of saying “reaching for the lube”.
        
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        May 15, 2025 8:50am
      - Phronesis
        
        Kowtow – pretty sure that’s exactly what got him where he is in the first place!
        
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        May 15, 2025 10:09am
      - Jethrod
        
        How about marriage settlement?
        
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        May 15, 2025 10:18am
      - kowtow
        
        Phro
        
        Good one!
        
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        May 15, 2025 11:39am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      He’s about to lose a hundred thousand dollars fighting his corner. KCs are not free, and he is going to need one, regardless of the merits or otherwise of his case.
      
      He’s probably also just lost his marriage and is about to lose half his assets (including his pension) and will have to pay that out too.
      
      This is regardless of the merits of the claims made – but notice how they were leaked, he now has the courts and the court of public opinion stacked against him – bent copper goes down. He is going down.
      
      100 years ago, this would be revolver in the top drawer old chap material (cf Major General Sir Hector MacDonald)
      
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      May 15, 2025 10:41am
- David Garrett
  
  Grey:. Yes, my thoughts exactly. I wonder where he’s planning to go?
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:24am
  - Colville
    
    He oído que Argentina es agradable en esta época del año.
    
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    May 15, 2025 8:30am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Tonga?
    Any vacancies in the police there?
    
    16 1
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    May 15, 2025 8:46am
    - David Garrett
      
      Gravel: LOL…well there was a vacancy for a commissioner here – until Monday when the new one was sworn in, another Aussie.
      
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      May 15, 2025 8:49am
  - cmm
    
    Well Thailand might me a good place.
    A dollar goes pretty far there and the (inaudibles) go further.
    
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    May 15, 2025 11:26am
- Inandout
  
  grey, stuff is doing some digging here even though most of that info is in the public domain. Now could they do some real journalism and investigate that Green MP?
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:47am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yes it is remarkable that [Mod – use correct names]is an impenetrable (sic) mystery for journalists but a bent cop has them digging through the bins.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:42am
- Manu-Rau
  
  I thought that article was an absolute disgrace. Notwithstanding what he might have done and his intentions in selling, what has his selling his properties to do with anyone else?
  
  The report gives enough information to enable a potential buyer to identify the second property that’s up for sale, which may significantly impact the sale price. Maybe that’s what the (unnamed) journalist had in mind?
  
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  May 15, 2025 2:12pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Maybe realising that Wellington will no longer be his centre of employment???
  
  He is of an age where retirement to a quiet place should be high on his agenda, as he wont be getting any high profile appointments in NZ.
  
  If I was him I would sell up and go on a looong holiday travelling the world to find his retirement spot.
  
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  May 15, 2025 7:01pm
Frank the tank

At a time where center-left parties have moved to the dull center (Canada/Australia) in electoral-winning strategies it appears our center-left want to move further to the radical left:

1). Now if you vote right you are not a true woman (even though you can’t define what a woman is).
2). Not ruling out anything in the Greens alternative budget.
3). Tacitly supporting the Maori’s party’s Privilege’s meltdown.

Chris Hipkins appears to be snatching defeat in the jaws of victory and going full retard in his quest to take back L9.
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May 15, 2025 8:10am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Today he says much of the greens traces are to
  be looked at. He reminded level headed hitters just how weak, woke and pathetic he is, and no the polls have shown since March he had no showing of being in a winning position, the swing in the polls correspond with Greens wanting police abolished, or Maori pension at 55
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:20am
artemisia

Funding dries up for two Auckland charities as demand increases

Both seem to mainly provide clothing. The first has 200 partner agencies, and has lost a major philanthropist donor plus another $100k in donations. The second has 23 referring agencies and was declined $230k in funding last year, though no mention of who declined.

Don’t get me wrong, philanthropists supporting charities is excellent and praiseworthy. But here we have two clothing charities in Auckland where big donors’ minds have recently changed. They will have reasons.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/560882/funding-dries-up-for-two-auckland-charities-as-demand-increases
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May 15, 2025 8:17am
- cmm
  
  Ummm, what was wrong with the op-shop model?
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:24am
  - R
    
    Come,…..one has to pay for any items from the op-shop. Not free, more important to most charity recipients to purchase ciggys or maccas.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:40am
- I remember when
  
  Every year tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill.
  Much of it will be from charities and commercial second hand shops, and it can be costly for them.
  Second hand charity shops are numerous, if not always where the needy are.
  I understand, quite a bit gets shipped to the islands by both charities and family.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:20am
  - pdm
    
    mrspdm volunteers one morning a week at Pregnancy Help in Hastings. As far as I can see this works on the same basis as the various op shops around town.
    
    She often brings donated kids stuff home to wash and mend but, a lot of it is either filthy or totally inappropriate and it goes out in our wheely bin. That of course does not include the stuff that is weeded out on receipt on site and only reflects one morning a week too.
    
    It is obvious some people are just happy to get it out of their sight.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:07am
  - John Loveridge
    
    When cleaning out my late mother and stepfather’s house a few months ago, a lady came and took all the clothing for shipping to Vanuatu.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:53am
- Simon
  
  Iquique in northern Chile is the dumping ground for second clothing from Asia which then gets sent all over LatAm.
  
  NZ could hook up with this as LatAm is NZs future. All of south Auckland & the poors in the provinces in clothing discarded by Asians.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:22am
  - kiwi_chileno
    
    I’ve seen it. About 60,000 tons of clothing arrive each year, incentivised by Iquique’s status as a tax-free commercial zone. About 20,000 tons is resold and remainder is dumped in the Atacama Desert https://www.wired.com/story/fashion-disposal-environment/
    
    Iquique was also the centre of saltpetre / nitrate mining (for explosives and fertilisers), a vital strategic interest for the British. It’s also a destination for illegal immigrants, mainly Venezuelans – the locals have been attacking them.
    
    Iquique was Peruvian until Chile’s victory in the Pacific War 1879–1883. A famous naval battle was fought in Iquique Bay – the out-gunned Chilean victor, Arturo Prat, killed during the battle, is a Chilean national hero. The 21st May anniversary is a public holiday, the Day of Naval Glories. The Navy has played a major role in Chile’s history, starting with the War of Independence https://www.anglochileansociety.org/single-post/21st-of-may-the-day-of-naval-glories-in-chile Admiral Merino was the coup’s prime mover, persuading a reluctant Pinochet to commit. He was a mainstay of the junta from the start to the end (1990) and helped drive economic liberalisation.
    
    Chile had trans-Pacific imperial ambitions in the 19th c, that Chile’s destiny lay in the Pacific – one reason it annexed Easter Island / Rapa Nui (Chileans were trading in Polynesia and beyond, eg, peso’s circulated as local currency). Chile is a Pacific maritime power with a large, well-equipped Navy to project it (of course, the main adversary is Argentina).
    
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    May 15, 2025 7:13pm
- greybeard
  
  What exactly are these “200 partner agencies” ?
  Anyone know ?
  
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  May 15, 2025 4:01pm
  - Ghost
    
    https://www.nurturingfamilies.nz/partners
    
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    May 15, 2025 4:32pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Rewarding the “”poor me”” section of society, with free stuff doesnt solve the problem!!!!
  It makes it worse as more people jump on the “”free stuff”” wagon.
  
  I suggest the major donors have realised the cause and effect (give free stuff, get more with hands out)
  
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  May 15, 2025 7:05pm
Cassandra

The Te Teko RSA has withdrawn from the national organisation, the NZRSA, and renamed itself the Te Teko RSL. Reason? The recently revised Constitution did not include a reference to the Treaty of Waitangi. (Neither did the old constitution). You couldn’t make this stuff up.
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May 15, 2025 8:20am
- cmm
  
  Their president (or whatever he is called) seems to be deeply into Maori grievance culture.
  
  https://www.tpoom.co.nz/kaumatua-korero-hemana-waaka
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:31am
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: right at the end he mentions Ngata…I very much doubt he knows that Ngata was responsible for the “beaten for speaking their own language” policy back in the day.
    
    Ngata was firmly of the view that it was essential that Maori could speak English to succeed in the (then) modern world…so the policy was “English only at school, Maori at home”
    
    And of course Maori kids were “beaten” for breaking the rule at school…everyone got caned, right on into the mid 70’s when i was in high school
    
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    May 15, 2025 8:44am
    - Tarquin North
      
      He sounds like a grievance looking for somewhere to happen. I’m sure the appropriate koha will fix the problem.
      
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      May 15, 2025 8:53am
    - Flossie
      
      “Beaten” is such an emotive word. As DG says, back then just about everyone got the cane, or possibly, the strap, for many and varied infringements. I did myself once, for the dreadful sin of passing a note to a friend in class.
      
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      May 15, 2025 9:04am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I was first strapped in Std 1 – age 7…about 3times that year…
        Probably strapped a few more times in Std 2
        Regularly strapped in Std 3 – at least once a week
        (always for talking ….. never for any other form of disobedience).
        
        However, as I’ve mentioned before… the Std 3 teacher would also invite those who wanted their hands strapped on cold frosty mornings to line up for a leathering…. there was usually half the class (those of us that never had gloves/mittens) who lined up.
        
        My Std 3 teacher was Tommy Hooker – remembered affectionally by all his pupils.
        
        He died in December 1966 after diving into the Whanganui River attempting to save a pupil who had fallen off a boat during a school trip on the river.
        
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        May 15, 2025 9:42am
      - PurplePen
        
        Strap twice from Sister Mary SomethingOrOther for what I can’t recall and then at college for not doing an English assignment, but I reckon it was because I was gay and the priest that taught English didn’t like that idea.
        
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        May 15, 2025 10:48am
      - John Loveridge
        
        I was strapped in 1982, along with some of my mates, for throwing wet lumps of toilet paper at the ceiling in the boys’ toilets.
        
        That was the only time I was beaten. Must have been a goody-two-shoes.
        
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        May 15, 2025 10:55am
    - MCōs
      
      When I went to school corporal punishment was widespread, but not everyone was caned by a long shot. It was the same kids time and again, generally from the lower classes. Needless to say, not me!
      
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      May 15, 2025 9:10am
      - pdm
        
        I too got through 4 years of high school without being caned. Very lucky one third form day that I was home sick – major chalk fight before the teacher arrived apparently and all of the boys in the class were caned.
        
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        May 15, 2025 9:33am
      - cmm
        
        “generally from the lower classes”
        Perhaps you really mean generally from those that misbehaved?
        
        We also had corporal punishment. We also had an academically streamed school.
        
        As a generalisation, those in the “A” stream with me were from the higher social strata, were better behaved and got caned less often.
        
        Meanwhile those in the “D” stream with my brother tended to be from the lower strata, were more likely to cause trouble and got beaten more often.
        
        There were very few fights in my class. There were quite a few in my brother’s class – including a stabbing.
        
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        May 15, 2025 9:39am
      - MCōs
        
        No violence in our schools instigating by the kids, apart from the usual playground fights.
        The violence took the form of caning by teachers who lost the classroom when someone gave them a bit of cheek.
        We also had a French teacher at whacked boys across the head if they couldn’t translate quick enough.
        
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        May 15, 2025 10:05am
    - Colville
      
      DG. I was caned around 1984 for patting my woodwork teacher on top of his bald head.
      He had caught me (after the fact) using the flash table saw which we were strictly not allowed to use. I had trimmed the end off my left index finger and got a few drops of blood on the floor, which he saw and saw I had a bandaged finger. Dammit. Its always the coverup that fails!
      
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      May 15, 2025 9:59am
    - John
      
      The cane or strap for speaking Maori is often used to prove racism, however that fails to take into account the mores of the time, the cane for infringements, was what expected and that rule applied to all. For example in 1966, Year 9 (3rd form in my day) I was caned for speaking English in my French class.
      Ngata, Pomare and Carroll were clear, to get ahead you had to speak English in the classroom, Maori at home or on the Marae! Consequences for infringements was the strap or cane in many, if not most schools.
      
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      May 15, 2025 10:21am
    - lifesgood
      
      I got the strap quite often for talking in class and once for writing a cheeky comment on the black board when the teacher was out. The thing is I felt it was fair dues. We all knew the rules and just hoped we wouldn’t get caught. When we did we just accepted it and quite a few kids boasted about it in a sort of bravado. Rule number one : Never let the teacher know it hurt. The kids today are just soft, namby pamby wimps, cosseted and spoilt. Quite a few of them could well do with a bit of corporal punishment.
      
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      May 15, 2025 12:52pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        I usually got the strap/cane for speaking English.
        Maybe my choice of words was the problem…
        
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        May 15, 2025 3:35pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      DG. So you are asserting kids got caned in your high school in the mid 70s for speaking maori????
      
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      May 15, 2025 7:11pm
  - Cassandra
    
    Interesting background. I joined the Army a little before him (1959), went to Malaya earlier, and served longer (until 1985). Maori culture was much in use. We had a Maori Concert Party, affectionately known as the Haka Bludge, (my daughter was a member) and welcomed VIPs to parades using the wero. I recall explaining the process to the Duke of Edinburgh and getting a curt “I have done this before” response. We had lots of Maori officers and NCOs. Then Lt Col Poananga was this bloke’s first CO. He’s writing BS.
    
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    May 15, 2025 8:48am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: I have often wondered what Phil the Greek thought about “welcomes” which consisted of overweight Maori leaping about while poking their tongues out and rolling their eyes.
      
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      May 15, 2025 8:52am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        And don’t forget the big bare bums.
        
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        May 15, 2025 8:58am
      - Cassandra
        
        DG: in this case (Malaya) it was a young, lean, fit corporal, accompanied by a similar Lt who is now not any of the above! OTOH we did have a couple of big fellas. One broke his ankle up on the Thai border, miles from anywhere, so we made a bamboo raft and floated all 18 stone of him down the river. At the parade I found Phil to be somewhat aloof.
        
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        May 15, 2025 9:29am
      - Flossie
        
        I understand members of the BRF are thoroughly briefed on the peccadillos of any country they are to visit, and Phil would not have been remotely surprised by the “welcome” on even his first visit.
        
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        May 15, 2025 9:42am
      - Jack5
        
        DG’s Phil the Greek …
        
        Prince Philip was born in Greece, but left the country when he was 18 months old, and by descent he was Danish.
        
        His grandfather was a Prince of Denmark before he became King of Greece.
        
        Four of Prince Philip’s older sisters married German princes and were in Germany under the Nazis. Two of his brothers-in-law served in the German Army, and a third was an SS officer.
        
        Ethnic soldier performances apart from the haka, include:
        
        – Samoan infantrymen in the US Army singing:
        
        https://youtu.be/QFe97vHRvIE?si=RIdQ1Pm2FqzOcDM1
        
        – Assam infantrymen of the Indian Army singing their regimental song, clearly related to Christian songs. Missionaries were active in their region.
        
        https://youtu.be/E3PRaBU2-aY?si=freetBX_7FAwozJB
        
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        May 15, 2025 11:13am
- jp_1983
  
  Yes also this too
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tamihere-wrote-reference-for-fraud-row-man/AI3NLML6FBNZ5PNRQLI46R3OZQ/
  
  Under Parliamentary privilege, Act MP Rodney Hide yesterday revealed that Hemana Waaka, the head of Maori Sports Casting International, had been arrested and detained at Auckland airport after joking that his friend had a bomb in his bag the day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
  
  For those that might have long memories – way back when – he was the commentator for Sky TV when they first started doing Maori Commentary on their alternate language channel.
  
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  May 15, 2025 8:35am
G the giant from Dunedin

Man, i see Hipkins being quoted as saying some of the lunacy from the Greens tax grab is good and can happen.

A vote for Labout is a vote for far higher taxes, for prisons to be emptied, for police to be abolished, for Maori to get the pension at 55, and for there to be a treaty commissioner to overrule parliament.

Yesterday’s C-Bomb and their attempt to bring the filth of Vance into the house has blown up in their faces, and now Hipkins is being looked to for guidance and is failing miserably. people are now reminded how inept he is.
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May 15, 2025 8:57am
- AitchW
  
  I suspect that the current Labour party is much deeper red that they like us to think. Secretly, or in small select groups behind closed doors, they’ll be delighted with the Green “budget”. It will allow them, if elected, to introduce heavier taxes than those campaigned on, then blame the Greens saying that it was a compromise to in the coalition agreement.
  Vote Labour, get Green and Maori Parties thrown in. Be afraid!
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:23am
  - Phronesis
    
    Exactly.
    
    Unfortunately National really is a centre left party and has no interest in enacting right wing policies even though it has a ready and willing patsy in ACT.
    
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    May 15, 2025 9:56am
- cmm
  
  It is all very well to think one team or another got in a good jab in parliament.
  
  The big question though is whether any of this will sway any voters. I am highly skeptical that it will.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:02am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Hipkins is now the main article on NZ Herald having to apologise because they got it wrong asking the question that led to the C bomb!!!!!
  
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  May 15, 2025 3:43pm
SmokerGuy

Wonderful to see Brooke van Velden skewer Labour yesterday. Wtf is wrong with Labour??? Biggest own goal they could have scored. They are completely lacking any moral compass.
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May 15, 2025 9:03am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The whole pay equality thing has blown up in their face. the pathetic explanation of Tinnetti last night I wouldn’t say that word made it even worse, she can dance on the head of a pin about not using that word, but for the labour party to even let that question be asked was pathetic.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:18am
- mogg
  
  From their statement yesterday Stuff are more interested in hard left rather than feminist values.
  Turns out the only ladies front bum in this matter is Andrea Vance, did she look very awkward yesterday when the camera focused on her. As usual Seymour handled it perfectly.
  
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  May 15, 2025 9:52am
- Jack5
  
  Smokerguy, do you reckon Labour’s 👌 C-struck?
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:20am
- JJ56
  
  Interested to read in Stuff just now:
  
  “Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden repeated the C-word in Parliament while taking issue with an opinion column in The Sunday Star-Times over the weekend, which used the word to describe ministers’ changes to the pay equity law. ”
  
  Now here’s the thing. When was the magic word reassigned from describing the ministers themselves to just the changes?
  
  Backpeddling going on?
  
  Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360605837/live-politics-blog
  
  Vance piece (sans the offensive word): https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360681822/girl-math-budget-will-cut-deep-especially-women
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:41pm
I remember when

Kerre Woodham: Chasing overseas student loan debt is long overdue:
“…more than 70% of those are in default of their loans.”

I do wonder how well this problem is understood.
Many of the ‘defaulters’ are on agreed payment plans already.
These loans are all having interest added to them on balances and while many may be in default they do make regular repayments.
Even those in a current position have not been helped by changes.
UK students were able to get in touch using a UK contact, however, I understand, they now need to phone the IRD (?) in NZ.
Guess the waiting time and potential cost.
This was for people making payment on time and having to change payment methods.
This is not a one-way-street.
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May 15, 2025 9:09am
AitchW

To see Waititi giggling like a school boy yesterday before making what I can only think he imagined to be a witty remark about how long Judith Collins has been an MP and, at same time Ngarewa-Packer hid under her desk, really showed what an infantile mob TMP is.
He made two or three references to a minister not being in the house and was pulled up each time, but his performance really was pathetic.
However it would have played well to the activist support base TMP enjoys.
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May 15, 2025 9:42am
- cmm
  
  Quite.
  
  It really does not matter what reasonable people think of TPM. All that matters is their support base.
  
  An extremely small number of non-Maori and people not on the Maori roll support them. The vast majority of their supporters are racist extremists.
  
  All bad behaviour just looks like giving the white mofos a poke in the eye and will play well.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:06am
  - John Loveridge
    
    That is exactly it. The same can be said about the Greens and their “budget”.
    
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    May 15, 2025 10:57am
  - greybeard
    
    How many of TPM’s “support base” would ever watch/listen to, Parliament?
    Let me suggest a figure: 1%. Being generous.
    
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    May 15, 2025 5:02pm
    - Ghost
      
      Doesn’t matter how many watch, all that matters is that they read the social media posts and newsletters from the Māori party. This is why when people at the treaty protests were asked about the bill they had no idea what was in it or what it did, just that it would get rid of the treaty.
      
      Māori party are possibly one of the best parties in the house at marketing their message to their supporters.
      
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      May 15, 2025 5:12pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Māori party are possibly one of the best parties in the house at marketing their message to their supporters.
        
        Yep,
        
        Reach for tissues as you watch this:
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/te-ao-maori/360690736/hui-te-pati-maori-co-leaders-hit-back-after-parliament-suspension
        
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        May 15, 2025 6:47pm
      - Ghost
        
        Such victims of all the big bad people
        
        In the words of Justin Timberlake, cry me a river. Or perhaps Joe Dolce said it best, dear Māori party Shaddap You Face
        
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        May 15, 2025 7:14pm
      - Ghost
        
        An interesting part in that interview is when she says 50% of the committee didn’t agree with the ruling. The Privileges Committee has 9 members. 5 are national, act and NZ First. So there is no way 50% disagreed, she’s doing that thing that is opposite to being truthful.
        
        This is also an important interview that shows the party will never take responsibility for their actions which is why the Māori party will never have an answer to crime.
        
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        May 15, 2025 8:23pm
- PurplePen
  
  Do you think that his support base would be even watching parliament TV or even know parliament TV exists. Unless there’s a specific Waititi-Support-Base media channel.
  
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  May 15, 2025 10:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Waititi-Support-Base media channel”
    
    That would be the WhatsApp group chat with Tamihere and his daughter telling him what to every minute of the day.
    
    Technology eh….
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:41pm
I remember when

Maori Wards:
Maori voter turnout in the Wellington local elections in 2022 was 35.11%, compared to 45.41% overall.

Except this figure is misleading because the 45.41% also includes a large percentage of the Maori voters.
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May 15, 2025 9:46am
Observant Octagenarian

I was offended by the Maori haka in Parliament, and agree with the punishment. When non-Maori go to a marae we respect their traditions.
But I am even more offended by Brooke van Velden’s language. I expect a suitable punishment to be applied.
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May 15, 2025 10:00am
- Libertarians are right
  
  The Haka wasn’t the problem. The problem was throwing a tantrum and disrupting Parliament.
  Brooke Van Velden was explicitly referring to the insult against her. It wasn’t a vulgar attack on anyone, she was just referring to the attack on her.
  
  Just because you are offended doesn’t mean anything. The only appropriate punishment would be for Vance (the one who used it as an insult) to be banned from Parliament grounds.
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:41am
David Garrett

My comment on the “C word” debate got deleted on the other thread, probably because I used the word – which is currently all over the internet, at least here in NZ.

So I will have another go here, using the laughable *** where required; for some odd reason that seems acceptable even though everyone knows what is meant.

I have genuinely long wondered why there is such a massive fuss – equal to “the N word” – over a word which is nothing more than a vulgar colloquialism for female genitalia. On the other hand, you can call someone a “dick” or a “prick” – usually with an adjective to make it more offensive – and there isn’t even a ripple on the pond.

Dick and prick are also vulgar colloquialisms – but for male genitalia. Why is there a massive reaction to c**t but no reaction at all to the male equivalents? Genuine question…I would love to hear some of our resident females explain the difference to me, because I just don’t get it.
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May 15, 2025 10:15am
- PurplePen
  
  My guess is there’s a ranking of expletives which has developed organically over time and passed down from generation to generation. There’s no science behind the ranking. Someone will have used a word as an expletive at some point in the 1600’s or earlier in polite village society and others within earshot would have been horrified. Presumably the C word was as shocking as it got way back when and no-one yet has been able shock anyone anymore – consider it was unseemly for even a woman’s ankles to be exposed. What would be more shocking than the C word today, the N word? But that hasn’t been used ever as an expletive.
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:00am
  - David Garrett
    
    Purple: Yes, language does indeed “evolve”…and often not for the better.
    
    I first encountered the truly awful “motherf****r – don’t know whether that requires ** but better safe than sorry – in the oilfield in Louisiana over 40 years ago. I was astounded at how freely my fellow roughnecks used it – much like the casual “dumb c**t” usage I referred to below. In 1978, the word was – thank God – totally unknown here, but that is of course no longer the case.
    
    In any rational world, I would have thought mother….r was far far worse than “the C word”, but the majority apparently thinks differently.
    
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    May 15, 2025 11:55am
    - AitchW
      
      I used to work in the shipping industry. In my experience everyone on board our ships (NZ registered and crewed) used the f word rather like punctuation, to the point that it was quite meaningless. There were no female officers or crew to regulate the profanity.
      
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      May 15, 2025 12:12pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      “Yes, language does indeed “evolve”…and often not for the better.”
      
      Correct. It may explain why most of the country seem incapable of reading a simple document from 1840.
      Or maybe the language has devolved through the laziness of its users and abusers.
      
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      May 15, 2025 12:47pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      Arlo Guthrie, from his Alice’s Restaurant song, recorded in 1967 used the term “Father raper” as well as “Motherf**r”. Frank Zappa’s group was originally named the MotherF**rs” and shortened to “The Mothers” so I’m pretty sure both terms were prevalent in NZ well before the late 1970’s.
      
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      May 15, 2025 1:58pm
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      The dockers in the US used the term all the time in the 60’s.
      
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      May 15, 2025 2:50pm
- John Loveridge
  
  It’s a word with a long and chequered history. I think Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary about his wife catching him with his fingers in the maid’s c**t. Probably edited out of Victorian editions, mind.
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:00am
- cmm
  
  DPF finds the word particularly irksome. His house his rules.
  
  Further than that, it appears that the word “triggers” the Google Ads algorithm meaning that DPF does not earn any advertising money on pages which contains the full word.
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:23pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    I remember back to the early days of internet censorship when content filters tried hard to erase English town Scunthorpe and Swiss town Cunter from existence.
    
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    May 15, 2025 12:59pm
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: Of course David is entirely free to set the rules on his own blog…I wouldn’t dream of suggesting otherwise.
    
    My wider point however remains.
    
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    May 15, 2025 1:03pm
- cmm
  
  DG: Maybe it is a protected class thing like the N word or gays calling eachother fag but nobody else can.
  
  Perhaps only those endowed with a c-word are allowed to use it?
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:38pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Like Marama Davidson. (Note the the surname – embedded in her Maori whakapapa 😆 )
    
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    May 15, 2025 2:10pm
David Garrett

…and further, at least for men of my generation, calling another man “a dumb c**t” is not necessarily an insult; it depends entirely on context, and how close the friendship between the two men is.
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May 15, 2025 10:32am
- PurplePen
  
  Somehow the phrase ‘ya dumb c…’ softens the use of the C word. Using it on its own seems more powerful and shocking. I guess ‘ya f… c…’ might be worse.
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:03am
  - John Loveridge
    
    The former is a term of endearment. The latter is something you call other drivers.
    
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    May 15, 2025 1:36pm
- AitchW
  
  I have to disgree David and I suspect we’re from same generation. (1963)
  That particular word is just vulgar. I f and blind with the best (well, maybe not the best but you know what I mean) and I never, ever use it.
  It just feels wrong. In my exerience many of those who do use it frequently have little or no respect for women.
  
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  May 15, 2025 11:37am
- Colville
  
  yeah dumb c**t can be for someone doing something grotesquely stupid but possibly quite funny!
  
  and if you say “he is an absolute good c**t! ” he is safe to have a beer with!
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:22pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    That’s right Colville.
    There is a term “all round GC” which is a compliment.
    G=Good.
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:48pm
Hugh Jarse

In my view, for Andrea Vance, opinion writer for Stuff to come out so strongly supporting the lefts position on pay equity was so good for the right considering how detested the media are, for her to support labour skewers Labour as much as the Greens fantasy budget.

Another left own goal ably assisted by BVV very cleverly bringing the Vance article into the public arena yesterday as it wasn’t getting much media coverage before then.
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May 15, 2025 10:44am
- kowtow
  
  Not to mention her editor Tracy Watkins , has been named by stuff who’re ,doubling down , as they say , in support of this new low .
  
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  May 15, 2025 12:41pm
  - Quail
    
    DPF is correct!
    Casual profanity may be part of todays society.
    But highest Court in the land ,Parliament is certainly not the place for profanity from anyone.
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:43pm
Vidar

A summary of the Trump visit to Saudi Arabia by perplexity:

Saudi Investment: $600 billion committed to U.S. energy, tech, minerals, and infrastructure.

Arms Deal: $142 billion U.S. weapons sale — the largest ever with Saudi Arabia.

Tech/Energy: $20 billion directed to U.S. energy infrastructure and AI data centers.

Job Creation: Major projected U.S. job growth through investments and defense contracts.

Diplomatic Ties: Strengthened U.S.-Saudi relationship with strong personal rapport between Trump and Saudi leadership.

Future Prospects: Potential expansion to $1 trillion in total deals.

Amazing what happens when the guy all the old crybabies said “couldn’t be trusted with the nuclear codes” actually runs the show like a President.
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May 15, 2025 10:51am
- John Loveridge
  
  Yet much of the media, and a great number of TDS-types, are telling me that it’s all about Trump cosying up to the Saudis to line his own pockets.
  
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  May 15, 2025 1:38pm
- mogg
  
  You have not mentioned the new US$200 billion deal for Boeing jets. The refusal to accept the offer of a luxury jet replacement for Air Force one would very likely have been seen as rudeness in Saudi culture, the result could have been no more big orders for US industry.
  
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  May 15, 2025 2:46pm
  - kowtow
    
    AF1 replacement coming from Qatar ( known backers of Hamas etc ) not the Saudis .
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:12pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Also big US Navy Base.
      No love lost between KSA and Qatar.
      
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      May 15, 2025 5:45pm
- imalwaysright
  
  I think his method is to offer the hand of friendship or the hand of aggression.
  A good starting point, and a good incentive to shake his hand.
  
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  May 15, 2025 3:51pm
Jack5

More “equality” issues – this time in kids’ sport.

NZ rugby has graded kids by weight for at least 70 years, and now alleged unfairness of this is raised once more.

The case is of a nine-year-old, year 4 Auckland boy. He weighs 54 kg, compared with a rugby grade limit of 45kg.

A parent’s reported in the Herald as saying:”“What is happening now feels like a form of exclusion, singling out children due to their weight.”

In a sport of heavy contact, like rugby, what about the safety of the smaller kids?

Weight and height differences in young folk, especially up to puberty, are going to be a bigger issue as the country becomes more racially mixed. Some races’ children seem to mature earlier, though the difference dtypically decreases a year or so later.

The tall also have an advantage in basketball, but in rugby half-back’s the only ideal role for a little guy.

The short typically have a greater power-to-weight ratio. This can help in wrestling, martial arts, weight-lifting and gymnastics, and perhaps in long-distance running.

Weight grading’s fair for school rugby; for any school boxing, too.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby/young-boy-told-he-cant-play-age-grade-rugby-at-south-auckland-rugby-club-with-friends-due-to-weight/5SIIGEOPR5BA7OPHAXLAP3U54M/
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May 15, 2025 12:43pm
Bridgenag

Critical HHS Updates
The hostile takeover of HHS is succeeding

The Covid shots are to be removed from the childhood schedule soon.
The FDA is removing prescription fluoride tablets for children from the market.
HHS is conducting the first comprehensive review of baby formula since 1998.
The FDA is bringing domestic baby food formula manufacturing back to the United States.
President Trump has issued an executive order with essential steps to bring down the costs of prescription drugs.

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/critical-hhs-updates?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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May 15, 2025 12:53pm
rouppe

Waitangi Tribunal hears it could get an ‘anti-Waitangi Tribunal’ in new ACT bill

All Treaty clauses could be wiped from law books and an “anti-Waitangi Tribunal” set up under ACT’s latest bill, the Waitangi Tribunal has heard.

I thought this was what National was supposed to be doing already? They’re supposed to be pulling all Treaty Principles from all (well 28 pieces of) legislation.

Is it not so?
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May 15, 2025 12:56pm
Ghost

I agree with Winston. Time the standing orders committee met and bring some standards back to the house

Our House of Representatives has become a House of Chaos.

For a long time we have warned that the standards have begun slipping in the House – as former Labour Minister Steve Maharey also wrote about in a Herald article last year.

From relaxing the dress standards in our House to now having utter disorder and the worst of offensive words uttered in question time – no matter which side of opinion you’re on – and with no reaction or repercussion.

X Post
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May 15, 2025 1:11pm
- Jethrod
  
  It’s all very well Winston saying he is shocked and appalled, but these things for change must come from the members themselves. The Public can rant and rave but until the House Procedures committee (or the lot that decides things out of sight) grabs this trend by the short and curlies it will just persist. Shock and horror in the MSM just sells more papers.
  
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  May 15, 2025 1:30pm
- AitchW
  
  Maharey is in no position to preach about standards of behavior.
  He was obsessed with destroying the career of Christine Rankin in the 90s (I think), going so far as to criticise her choice of earrings.
  Her crime? She ran WINZ, or whatever it was then, efficiently and with compassion. Sadly for her she succeeded in getting folks off benefits and into work and Maharey found that offensive. He finally succeeded in driving her out of her job.
  
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  May 15, 2025 2:46pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    That’s right, I think it was Richard Prebble’s brother who ran the public service who “tried” her. He seemed engrossed with her skirt length!
    Between Maharey and the earrings, and Prebble and the skirt, she couldn’t win.
    
    She has more between her earrings than those two combined.
    
    A lost talent.
    
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    May 15, 2025 3:56pm
    - AitchW
      
      Far more. I remember Ruth Dyson being questioned in the hearing. She was the very epitome of what Maharey seemed to want. Dressed in a very drab grey suit, butch haircut and no makeup or jewellery, just hideous.
      Rankin was a ray of sunshine in a dire public service. Smart, insightful, and progressive. And outspoken when she saw waste and inefficiency, the very opposite of what Labour wanted.
      
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      May 15, 2025 5:40pm
Ghost

Willie Jackson has a go at assistant speaker Greg O’Connor and gets booted from the house

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360605837/live-politics-blog

O’Connor told Jackson to resume his seat, but he refused. He hit back, telling O’Connor: “You don’t walk over our kaupapa as it suits you, Mr Speaker.”

That led to O’Connor ordering Jackson to leave the debating chamber. As he did so, he shouted back: “Who do you think you are?”

Ummm, he’s the person who kicked your butt out.
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May 15, 2025 3:47pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Looks like labour is coming apart at the seams..
  
  Hipkins has no control over his senior MPs
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labours-chris-hipkins-admits-question-that-led-to-brooke-van-velden-c-bomb-was-mistake/OQNQX5HT5RABZCYDBIDF3653JE/
  
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  May 15, 2025 4:42pm
  - Ghost
    
    Two important points for Chris to keep him positive today
    
    – with the current mess of labour no one will want his job anytime soon, including himself.
    
    -the three suspensions coming next week aren’t for his party, just his partners in a future government,
    
    Chin up Chris, soon be local elections, you can go around with the labour candidates for council and eat pies and junk food with them
    
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    May 15, 2025 4:58pm
  - AitchW
    
    Did he ever have control? Do they just tolerate him until a real leader turns up?
    
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    May 15, 2025 8:56pm
- greybeard
  
  “Who do you think you are?”
  That is the typical reaction from someone who knows they have been wrong but will not admit it.
  A juvenile response. Not surprising.
  
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  May 15, 2025 4:55pm
- AitchW
  
  He really should be in the Maori party.
  
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  May 15, 2025 5:41pm
Master Mariner

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/560956/fijian-indians-in-nz-not-giving-up-on-pasifika-classification-battle
This piqued my interest.
The law of unintended consequences springs to mind.
The percentage of identified indigenous North Americans during the last 2 decades has risen 300%.
Since it is biologically impossible the only conclusion is economics.
Ie there is financial gain.
Who would of thought//
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May 15, 2025 5:31pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360690762/neighbours-take-opposing-sides-ali-williams-anna-mowbrays-fight-have-helipad
If Ali Williams had not met Ms. Mowbray would he still be interested in helicopters?
Without her, would he actually have been living in such a salubrious location?
What is it that drives bloody ordinary human beings to try to be superior , notable, revered and outstanding?
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May 15, 2025 6:26pm
AitchW

I recall listening to the house in, I think, the late 90s.
Ron Mark made a comment about someone’s “cunning stunt”. Only, he slipped verbally and spoke of a “stunning….” You can guess the rest. It took the speaker a good 10 minutes to regain control…..
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May 15, 2025 9:09pm

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