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May 19, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 19 May 2025

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General Debate

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greybeard

Andrew Little is getting an inordinate amount of MSM coverage at present: obviously the Labour Party PR team is in action and the MSM is compliant.
Does it all count towards his budget for the election ?
How do the other contestants for the mayoralty feel about being ignored ?
It is a disgrace.

I also notice that “Stuff” has had a few articles on Ardern recently, maybe part of a Labour plan for the upcoming local-body and general elections.

“Stuff” must be doing OK out of it
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May 19, 2025 8:07am
- pdm
  
  Little has a couple of problems though.
  
  1. Does anyone believe anything he says?
  2. Does anyone believe anything Stuff Publishes – outside of most of their Sports Coverage?
  
  re Stuff you cannot even believe the answers to their Quick Quiz sometimes – remember when they moved Featherston over the Rimutakas into Wellington.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:15am
  - Colville
    
    Leftards have short and selective memories.
    
    How else could they vote for socialist politicians who fail at everything they do?
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:17am
  - cmm
    
    3. He’s who he is.
    
    No amount of lipstick is going to fix the fact that he is a remarkable unlikable man.
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:23am
    - RoboRob
      
      True, but…. Local body elections are popularity contests. When it all boils down to it people vote for the name they know. That it why so many ex celebrities and sports people become councillors. It is also why so many councils are left wing, as Labour was the only player marketing its people.
      
      Act will now promote right wing people however many people have been taught that Act are right wing extremists and crazies, so I am not sure how well that will work in the short term.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:13am
    - David Garrett
      
      cmm: What is “likeable” about him? Did you perhaps miss a syllable there??
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:34am
      - cmm
        
        Yes, I most certainly did: remarkably not remarkable.
        
        I am dyslexic and anything I post gets read and edited three times before I hit the button. Still I miss quite a bit.
        
        I am a frequent user of the KB go back and edit feature, but that has often timed out by the time I notice an error.
        
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        May 19, 2025 10:31am
      - David Garrett
        
        cmm: Interesting that you are dyslexic – but despite that, 99.9% of your comments are error free – and I would know, being something of a spelling and grammar Nazi!
        
        Mr Poole, who guest posts here more than anyone else, also says he is dyslexic – which apparently “explains” why all of his posts are riddled with errors. Evidently Mr Poole is far less concerned with errors in his posts than you are – and good upon you Sir.
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:35am
      - cmm
        
        DG: I think there are two ways to handle any issue like dyslexia:
        A) Play the victim card and use it as an excuse. Leave a mess and put an expectation on other people to make allowances and pick up the slack.
        B) Recognise the problem and put in the effort to compensate yourself.
        
        I think (B) is a better approach. Just writing a mess and expecting other people to compensate is arrogance.
        
        Nobody “deserves” to have people make allowances for any affliction. Nobody “deserves” to have their writings read. If you want your people to read then you need to put in some effort to make is accessible – even if that means editing it a few times.
        
        I must say that electronic media has made this easier for me because it is easier to edit after writing. In the days of hand writing, my essays etc would be a mess of crossing out and re-writing.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:53pm
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    1. Does anyone believe anything he says?
    2. Does anyone believe anything Stuff Publishes – outside of most of their Sports Coverage?
    
    Wellingtonians will be lapping this up.
    
    Landslide incoming…
    
    Once he gets in and starts messing with the city it will be preferable to have had a literal landslide
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:14am
- artemisia
  
  Some clever campaigning by Mr Little – save the Begonia House and never mind the cost. Cancel any more Golden Mile and (remaining) businesses might be a bit happier. Quite small numbers of actual voters though.
  
  Meanwhile, policy pillars from the group of 11 Independent candidates (voteforit.nz/policy-pillars/). The group will need some specifics that their ward voters like though.
  
  – Zero Rates Increase
  – Back to Basics
  – Access Brings Business
  – No Party Politics
  – A Safer City
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:36am
  - AitchW
    
    A begonia house? really?
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:39am
    - rouppe
      
      No, the begonia house at the Botanical Gardens.
      
      Was built in 1960. The last 4 or 6 administrations have failed to maintain it, preferring rainbow crossings, a pedestrian crossing over Cobham Drive costing $2.4M – for some traffic lights, paint and a bit of concrete – speed bumps on arterial routes and cycle lanes.
      
      When it came to a head, the anti-colonial council decided demolishing it was the way to go. Like they want to do with the city to sea bridge and the mfc both of which are useful infrastructure, but refuse to allow for the Gordon Wilson flats, or a rusty tank in Mirimar, neither of which serve any purpose.
      
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      May 19, 2025 1:27pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        I’m pretty sure that it was funded by the Norwood family, who also set up the adjacent rose garden and Wellington Free Ambulance (well, rose gardening is a blood sport).
        
        It’s a charming glasshouse that holds tropical plants, and popular with the older generation in particular (not to mention those that feel the cold). As Rouppe says, it’s been allowed to be run down by previous Councils.
        
        The Council have estimated an enormous sum to upgrade it, that makes demolition look like the cheaper option. This behaviour is consistent with someone really not wanting to divert ratepayer money away from more progressive projects.
        
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        May 19, 2025 7:10pm
- kowtow
  
  There was a joke back in the day when Ireland pretended it had its own currency and called the pound a “punt”.
  
  Why do the irish call their money a “punt”
  
  Cos it rhymes with “bank manager”.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:58am
- David Garrett
  
  Tauhei: Very clever there old boy! Are you still frequenting the Puhoi from time to time? Happy to catch up for a drink sometime next month
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:35am
- Jethrod
  
  Uses a lot of cant too!
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:03am
- burt
  
  I also notice that “Stuff” has had a few articles on Ardern recently
  
  Yes, she has just published a book so they are continuing in fine PIJF tradition of endlessly putting her and her opinions in front of us 24/7.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:28am
  - imalwaysright
    
    They will pretend they “brought” the book on kindle.
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:03pm
- Paulus
  
  Stuff may not be doing as well as they want – yesterday in my local Dairy I was told that they had not had a single customer for the Stuff Sunday, as she was told that until Vance goes some usual people will not buy it again.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:48am
Cassandra

Chief Justice signs off letter to fellow lawyer (who had written to her in English): Hei konā mai i roto i āku mihi” which is, for those who do not speak Maori, a Māori phrase meaning “Goodbye for now, with my greetings”. It’s a way to say goodbye, often used in emails or letters. It expresses well wishes and appreciation for the recipient. The other way Winkleman CJ could have done it “Yours sincerely” or even “Kind regards”.
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May 19, 2025 8:14am
- pdm
  
  Cass – it is entrenched at the highest levels.
  Did you see this on Stuff this morning?
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360692854/mfats-top-officials-involved-tikanga-lead-furore
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:17am
  - artemisia
    
    An insight into public service attitudes.
    
    Peter Taylor, who oversees the ministry’s human resources, acknowledged the “frustration with the rapid fire process” and added they were responding to instructions from the office of the chief executive.
    
    How come a senior leader was not aware of their Minister’s views. Minister Peters is not known for pulling punches. And on becoming aware, frustrated at having to act fast. Not a tick in that report card.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:25am
    - Paulus
      
      Really do you believe even now, that the many various Departments, and their many senior staff, would in reality take any notice of a Minister, who they expect to change every three years, at least, leaving them to carry on what they ever want to do.
      MFAT is by no means alone.
      This has been going on for many years and will not change.
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:00am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  It’s a troubling conundrum. It troubles me also that new New Zealanders in the corporate world have adopted this woke or possibly hypocritical style of greeting/sign-off even in personal communications. Is it to ingratiate themselves as true kiwis? Do they truly believe that regular kiwis are anything other than faintly repelled by such posturing? Not to mention irritated. Especially as the lingua franca of our country, and of much of the world, is English.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:28am
  - pdm
    
    Grumpy I now reply to any emails like that with:
    
    `Please ensure all correspondence to me is fully in English which is the commonly used language of New Zealand.’
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:33am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Your comment implies that there is a problem with using te reo to close a letter.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:36am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Your comment implies that it is not rude and inconsiderate to deliberately and unnecessarily address someone in a language they don’t understand.
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:56am
  - hookerphil
    
    Yes, I think there is.
    
    1. Restez dans la même langue que celle dans laquelle vous communiquez.
    2. Manténgase en el mismo idioma en el que se comunica.
    3. Nofo pē ʻi he lea tatau ʻokú ke fetuʻutaki aí.
    4. Tumau i le gagana lava e tasi e te talanoa ai.
    5. Stay in the same language as you are communicating in.
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:56am
  - cmm
    
    Why call it “te reo”. Just call it Maori.
    
    You are writing an English sentence. In English the language is called Maori. That is the borrow word that is part of the English language. There is no need to splice in “te reo”.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:06am
    - kowtow
      
      Or “ti tiriti”
      
      It’s the treaty .
      
      Same with the maori party . Or as the wags put it , the partly maoris.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:11am
      - pdm
        
        kowtow
        
        After seeing Peter Jacksons image of Debbie-Ngarewa Packer’s legs should we now call her `Snow White’?
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:35am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Same goes for “Maori” for “Maoris”. Most plurals in English end in “s”.
      
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      May 19, 2025 2:00pm
  - Cassandra
    
    Got it right in one, Mike. Very perceptive. She wrote a letter in English in reply to a letter in English. Why sign off in Maori? I had to google the words to ascertain her meaning. I imagine Judd KC had to too. Regards Cassandra.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:11am
    - Mike
      
      I imagine you would be upset if someone said “kia ora” to you before continuing in English.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:19am
      - Dougal10
        
        Isn’t “kia ora ” a public hall near oamaru.
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:47am
      - Ian Boag
        
        A long time ago I had a business in Sydney that was sort of a subsidiary of my NZ business. There was reasonable communication between them.
        
        Friendly Oz lady ran the phone in Sydney office – called NZ about something and phone was answered “kia ora”. She thought a bit and responded – “bless you” 🙂
        
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        May 19, 2025 5:55pm
  - Simon
    
    It’s because it’s so selective it makes it lame & fake. Never get a demand from a govt department with all the Maori. Or if the letter was confrontational would not be signed off in Maori
    
    You see it MSM. Anything serious Maori gets dropped. It’s never the gang member clubbed the member of public sitting in a bus stop with a “Maori word for weapon”.
    
    It’s flaky.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:11am
    - rouppe
      
      Especially the iwi affiliations.
      
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      May 19, 2025 1:35pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Te reo” means “The language”, that implies that there is only one language.
    
    If we called English “The language”, there would probably be an uproar.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:19am
  - PurplePen
    
    It’s only common-sense and good practice to write with your audience in mind and write to their needs.
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:15am
  - rouppe
    
    It’s culturally insensitive to the recipient if they don’t speak te reo.
    
    Geniet van de rest van je middag.
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:33pm
- kowtow
  
  Literally virtue signalling.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:00am
- lifesgood
  
  I would return the letter and ask for a translation. We need to start doing this.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:41am
- Paulus
  
  Do you consider that the Chief Justice may not be exactly unbiased, as many recent Court Judgements may not appear to have balance in respect of all things Maori.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:54am
Nukuleka

RNZ’s Phil Smith has taken a swipe at the parliamentary privileges committee by calling its actions towards the Maori Party ‘racist’. Fairly predictable stuff from our taxpayers funded radio news station, I realise, particularly when the entire premise of a political party representing only one ethnic group is scarcely ‘racially inclusive’. He goes further when he accuses Judith Collins of ‘misinformation’ when she claimed that the Maori Party’s threatening actions in parliament impeded ACT’s ability to cast their votes on The Treaty Principles Bill, writing that all ACT members had already cast their votes. He might as well have written that in his view she deliberately lied.

I fear parliament is headed for serious political fireworks when the House debates the privileges committee’s recommendations. Gerry has wilfully fanned the flames. I hope he’s prepared for the consequences of his own inflammatory and unwise remarks.
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May 19, 2025 8:14am
- pdm
  
  Yes poor decision by Speaker Brownlee.
  
  Open debate is a recipe for open slather, manipulation of Parliamentary protocols and maybe even more Haka.
  
  Stupid Stupid Stupid
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:21am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The punishment was not for the haka, it was for thumbing their nose at the privileges committee, twice, they were warned the second time there would be grave consequences for not turning up the second time.
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:34am
    - RoboRob
      
      My understanding is that the punishment is for breach of protocol and threatening behaviour. In short ‘the haka’. The actions following that, the ‘nose thumbing’, comments about the committee process and leaking of confidential documents, have not yet been punished and it appears likely they wont be.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:18am
      - AitchW
        
        It wasn’t the haka that was the problem, it was leaving their seats and going on to the floor of the house. The finger gun, refusal to attend the hearing and then publishing the committee’s thoughts on consequences certainly added to the seriousness of the actions.
        I found it really telling that Waititi published a video mocking the potential for a 21 day suspension, then cried during an interview when it was handed down.
        Crocodile tears?
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:49am
    - PurplePen
      
      And making a gun gesture with their hand and firing it at Seymour, not to mention getting threateningly close, breaking parliamentary debating chamber “tikanga”.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:20am
    - Yvette
      
      It will be interesting to see if there is any break-down of the punishment recommended.
      Clearly the MPs concerned interrupted the vote, and so the proceedings of Parliament.
      Chlöe Swarbrick was twice told that she couldn’t make her Point of Order asking for a personal rather than party vote, because the voting was already underway.
      Had Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke followed that, she would know perfectly well what she was about to do was disorderly. The vote was completed after Parliament resumed, when her vote was subtracted from the count.
      
      Then there is, as you point out Giant, then thumbing their nose at the privileges committee.
      
      Unless the Speaker define a few outlines tomorrow, simply because of the various factors making up the whole, the debate is likely to become an omni-shambles.
      
      My prediction is that Willie Jackson will be the first MP to be thrown out – willie not?
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:02am
      - OlderChas
        
        I either read a report quoting or saw a TV news clip showing the young Maori lass saying that it was supposed to be Waititi starting the haka but came the time he handed her the paperwork to tear up.
        So not a spontaneous emotional act but a planned and pre-meditated piece of play-acting.
        
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        May 19, 2025 12:32pm
    - Yvette
      
      “Tomorrow’s debate could be an omni-shambles”
      
      Further there is the belittling of the Privileged Committee (“It’s about putting those natives into line, every native” – Debbie Ngarewa-Packer [1] ) with the Party President also participating before a seemingly sudden change to an argument about the place of ‘tikanga’ in Parliament, and a committee apparently mooted to consider that, which provides legitimacy to the haka, but after it was performed.
      See how hopelessly confusing it can become in one sentence?
      
      [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yflfA9Ua6p8
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:19am
    - Ghost
      
      No, because they do not have to turn up to the privileges committee, heck it even says that in the tabled report. They were not warned for not turning up
      
      Report
      
      It is important to note that members are not obligated to appear before us when invited to do so
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:21am
    - pdm
      
      You miss the point again G.
      
      The reaction is not about the reason for said punishment.
      
      The reaction is because of the way Speaker Brownlee handled it last Thursday and set the likely fiasco up for tomorrow afternoon.
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:40am
  - Mike
    
    Is it not usual for the house to debate recommendations from the privileges committee?
    
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    May 19, 2025 8:39am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, it is, they debated Henares punishment
      
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      May 19, 2025 8:53am
    - Nukuleka
      
      And is it ‘usual’ for the Speaker to pre-emptively insert himself into the debate by implying that he disagrees with the decisions taken by the said Privileges Committee?
      
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      May 19, 2025 8:58am
      - pdm
        
        Dead right Nuku.
        
        Undermining the Privileges Committee at best.
        Sabotaging the Privileges Committee at worst.
        
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        May 19, 2025 9:03am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Not usually, but he has no say in the outcome, but I guess he is entity his opinion, but he is only thinking about what happened in parliament, he is not thinking about them thumbing the nose at the committee, that is not in parliament or the chamber
        
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        May 19, 2025 10:29am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        PDM.
        
        Not dead right at all, he has absolutely no sway with the outcome of the vote on Tuesday
        
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        May 19, 2025 10:30am
      - pdm
        
        But G he has to control the behaviour in the Chamber and he has not been too flash at that lately.
        
        Prediction – Willie Jackson and Takuta Ferris will be ejected from the House during the debate and there may well be others too.
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:44am
      - AitchW
        
        PDM, the gallery will be cleared too.
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:51am
      - Dave
        
        My impression from a quick reading of Brownlie’s statement is that he was particularly concerned by the conjunction of two facts – a narrowly split vote on coalition lines, and a punishment of unprecedented severity.
        
        My response is that unprecedented behaviour with no sign of contrition from people who show little respect for their ‘partner’ and the institution in which they should work for the benefit of all NXers gets you unprecedented punishment or, more succinctly, FAFO.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:15pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Gerry is like the weak teacher who tries to befriend the naughty pupils and lets them get out of control.
    
    Then he tries to get them out of detention after another teacher steps in.
    
    Is a Parliament of clowns still a Parliament, or is it a circus?
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:46am
- kowtow
  
  Quite right nuku .
  
  ‘Fireworks” puts me in mind of what these people’s real intent is in parliament .
  
  To destroy the institution itself .And everything it stands for . Democracy , freedom and a thousand years of struggles for individual’s rights .
  
  From the moment they took their seats right through , they’ve been taking the piss , without consequences and the House has been turned into a circus.
  And the Speaker, the media and Luvvies are soft on that!
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:22am
- Paulus
  
  Gerry B, now Speaker a former Woodworking Teacher at St Bedes, before Politics, has been a great dissapointment and hopefully will go next time round if not sooner.
  He appears weak in his lack of decision making.
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:04am
- peterwn
  
  I do not think Gerry has ‘fanned the flames’. The most I take out of it is he feels rather uncomfortable with the Privileges Committee decision. However his views count for nothing. The Privileges Committee has reported back to the House with a recommendation which Parliament is free to accept, reject or modify which needs to be discussed and dealt with. The Speaker is merely an umpire in this process. Kieran McAnulty has suggested a ‘personal vote’ ie the MP’s go into the ‘Aye’ and ‘No’ lobbies and have their votes counted. This would only make a difference if a MP chooses to break rank with his or her party or if all parties agree that it can be a conscience vote (highly unlikely).
  It is basically the three coalition leaders who would make the final decision especially Chris Luxon. Chris may well decide that in the big order of things that the proposed penalty should be drastically moderated and then go about this in a statesman-like manner. He will no doubt discuss this with Judith, the other two coalition leaders and his caucus. He may even reach out to the opposition parties via the respective whips and if Labour would agree to a compromise this would be an enormous bonus.
  if I were in Chris’s shoes I would moderate the penalty down to 7 days suspension or even less. This would satisfactorily meet the needs for denunciation while minimising collateral fallout.
  I consider that it most probable that the the end result will be a lesser penalty than the one proposed.
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:11am
  - peterwn
    
    Well, it looks like Chris is supporting the Privileges Committee recommendations and most if not all his Caucus would support it in the Caucus room. So Parliament’s response is a foregone conclusion. All that remains is to see to what extent Labour and Greens try and filibuster.
    
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    May 19, 2025 7:55pm
artemisia

Somehow, between the December 2024 Emissions Reduction Plan and May 2025, carbon capture and storage at Kapuni changed from a plan to not a plan.

Quality of input, quality of analysis, quality of decision making?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/561410/carbon-capture-pivotal-project-for-cutting-greenhouse-gas-emissions-looks-shaky
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May 19, 2025 8:17am
- cmm
  
  Most of these carbon capture ideas are completely bone headed because they need so much energy (electricity and such). You’d do far better just using the energy directly.
  
  This Kapuni gas works was slated to store a million tons of CO2 per 5 years (200,000 tons a year). That is way less than 1% of NZ’s CO2 output so was never really going to move the needle beyond doing some virtue signalling.
  
  Rather just admit that CO2 is plant food. Agriculture doesn’t just pump this underground at great expense. Agriculture converts this useful resource into food.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:36am
  - artemisia
    
    cmm, sounds like there has been a huge advance in knowledge and costs in those 6 months. Or something.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:32am
    - cmm
      
      The sun came up. The dew evapourated. People realised there aren’t fairies at the bottom of the garden.
      
      Bullshit is always easier when doing “research”.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:36am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I thought we were worried about not having enough CO2 to stop the beer going flat. And now they want to inject into the ground??
    
    Wowsers, all of them.
    
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    May 19, 2025 7:19pm
Chuck Bird

Do racist patients harm race relations as much as the racist Maori Party?

Māori nurse Mary Parkinson Peni alleges racism from patients at Middlemore Hospital

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/maori-nurse-mary-parkinson-peni-alleges-racism-from-patients-at-middlemore-hospital/TLX5NCS6DBD6DBE5JBIA3NBACI/
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May 19, 2025 8:25am
- Inandout
  
  CB, Goldie painted them with a pipe in mouth and the tattoos were painfully etched with a sharp instrument. I guess some became infected.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:39am
- JerJer
  
  Many people have probably heard of racist preferential entry into medical school and other medical fields (with normal qualifications for entry ignored) and would logically assume that the graduates are second rate, which maybe the case and therefore reject their services. Our health services are second rate normally, so I too would probably give perceived third raters a pass also.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:48am
- hookerphil
  
  I read the whole report and this caught my eye.
  
  “Last Friday, Parkins Peni formally graduated from MIT with her Te Tohu Paetahi Tikanga Rangatira ā-Tapuhi, Bachelor of Nursing Māori (TTPTRT) degree.”
  
  It appears that we now have a seperate qualification for Nursing Maori. How on earth has that happened.
  And yes I am just a old white man but I don’t particularly like tattoos, especially around the fascial area, I don’t care who you are or what it is I would prefer not to be dealing with you. And that includes white people.
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:50am
- Mr Nobody NZ
  
  It seems this nurse is very quick to level the allegation towards her patients that they are racist when it sounds like they are simply requesting their cultural/spirtual needs are being met by the public health system.
  
  Much in the same way as the pre surgical area at Tauranga Hospital displays the ANZCA Karakia (https://bitl.to/4YAb).
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:33am
- cmm
  
  One of the sources of such “racism” must surely be that Maori get an easier ride into, and through, various qualifications.
  
  Does that Maori doctor/nurse in front of you really have a qualification as good as the white person or do they just have a “Maori degree”?
  
  Tilting the playing field dilutes the value of the output and erodes trust in any certification etc.
  
  It might make is easier for some to get degrees, but it really undermines those that got there under their own steam and deserve to have got the degree.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:41am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    That should stop. However, it should not be as big an issue with nurses.
    
    Below is a quote from the article. I sounds like the moko was the issue.
    
    A nurse at Middlemore Hospital claims she has been the target of racism from some patients after receiving her moko kauae in January.
    
    “One lady just totally refused me helping her. I heard her say ‘I don’t want that black girl with the ugly face to look after me’ Mary Parkinson Peni told the Herald.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:50am
    - greybeard
      
      This article is just about “claims” and “hearsay”. Not substantiated at all.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:01am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        On the Herald FB I do not see any racist remarks. It looks like there are more anti-Maori racists in KB. I doubt if the nurse would just make the story up.
        
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        May 19, 2025 10:15am
    - cmm
      
      We’re continually pushed with the idea that Maori need Maori health workers to feel safe etc. This is even supported by hospitals, med schools and the budget.
      
      So why should other races not expect the same? Why should I “feel safe” if attended by a nurse with a face tattoo?
      
      Why should I have confidence that a person who makes race such a big issue is going to treat me properly?
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:27am
      - Debsta
        
        Exactly cmm!
        
        Also, she states it’s mostly (all?) from older people…so the same response an 80 year old white grandmother would give her 25 year old white granddaughter on seeing a large new tattoo on her arm, leg or shoulder. Or a facial piercing for that matter. It’s a different generation with entrenched views on such matters. Get over yourself, they’ll all be dead soon.
        
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        May 19, 2025 11:24am
      - Paulus
        
        I feel s0rry for many young females now smutted with Tats wherever, for when they are old and crinkly, what will they look like ?
        Not a pretty sight.
        Waiting for the first young College girl to turn up publically with a Moko – the s…t will hit the fan.
        
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        May 19, 2025 2:17pm
    - Dougal10
      
      The trouble with mokos is they make the wearer look like a gang banger , this is off putting to most people.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:47am
      - Paulus
        
        They would not be accepted, in any way, in Japan with any visual tats.
        
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        May 19, 2025 2:18pm
  - Mike
    
    Not an issue, as all doctors have to pass the same qualifications.
    But by all means ask to see a white doctor if that seems safer for you.
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:02am
    - rouppe
      
      Someone did, and was called a racist.
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/racism-fallout-at-north-shore-hospital-after-patient-request-to-avoid-asian-staff/JGF23VC6NFCY5AUTO5ZOOWYNTA/
      
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      May 19, 2025 1:43pm
    - Keith White
      
      “Polynesian Preference” doctors pass with lower marks. But you knew that.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:03pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    From article :
    
    “Last Friday, Parkinson Peni formally graduated from MIT with her Te Tohu Paetahi Tikanga Rangatira ā-Tapuhi, Bachelor of Nursing Māori (TTPTRT) degree”
    
    Apparently there is a course in nursing, for maori people. Or it could be for nurses who nurse maori people. Or it could be for people who use maori nursing techniques. Or, all three.
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:51am
    - Mr Nobody NZ
      
      It seems that there are infact three Nursing Degree’s available:
      1) Bachelor of Nursing,
      2) Bachelor of Nursing Māori and
      3) Bachelor of Nursing Pacific
      
      You might wonder what the differences between each of them are and it seems the the Maori and Pacific Nursing Bachelor degrees include:
      Apply interpersonal, therapeutic communication and relational practice skills as key to
      health consumers, their whānau, hapū, iwi and hapori centred nursing care
      2. Collaborate as part of the interprofessional team in the delivery of safe and authentic
      nursing care for health consumers, their whānau, hapū, iwi and hapori.
      3. Apply Kawa Whakaruruhau philosophy and principles in the delivery of culturally safe
      nursing care, that results in equitable health outcomes for health consumers, whānau, hapū
      iwi and hapori
      4. Deliver nursing care that is underpinned by; lore, tikanga, morals, beliefs, values, legislation
      and ethics
      
      Based on this why should there be any issue with a Non Pacific or Maori person wanting to be cared for staff who have been presumably more specifically trained to take their morals, beliefs, values, legislation and ethics etc into consideration?
      
      More information available at https://bitl.to/4YB7
      
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      May 19, 2025 12:41pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        “Based on this why should there be any issue with a Non Pacific or Maori person wanting to be cared for staff who have been presumably….”
        
        Very good point Mr.
        
        Why should a white patient have to worry about a staff member not being aware of their cultural norms, such as the cultural expectation that a medic is trained in medical care first, and medical care second, third, fourth, …
        
        Is culture a two way street or a one way street.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:22pm
      - rouppe
        
        Are 2 and 3 distinct qualifications that do not require 1?
        
        The implication being that some skills that are taught in 1 are not taught in 2 or 3.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:45pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        On the face of it, it doesn’t seem like there could be a large difference between the degrees over a multi-year course. Why can’t a non-Maori apply to take a Bachelor of Nursing Maori, or take a post graduate course to address the differences? If a non-Maori nurse with the “right” degree rocks up to treat a Maori patient, the only grounds on which the patient could object would be racist ones.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:51pm
      - Ghost
        
        Anyone can take it, it’s not limited to maori.
        
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        May 19, 2025 2:02pm
  - kiwimike
    
    “other person”
    there fixed it for you.
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:47am
- Paulus
  
  Blimey, racism at Middlemore of all places !
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:06am
- burt
  
  Have I got this right – a nurse who identifies firstly as Maori and then secondly as a nurse is accusing others in the health system of being racist?
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:21am
  - Cassandra
    
    [Mod – stop it, now]
    
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    May 19, 2025 12:10pm
JerJer

Why is the world obsessed with this absolute failure of a person.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360693130/world-dumpster-fire-jacinda-ardern-tells-yale-graduates

He she is trying to blame the worlds problems on someone else, when she contributes to exactly the problems we have now.

Hope she stays away for ever.
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May 19, 2025 8:38am
- rouppe
  
  If comments were open I’d have said “thanks Jacinda for turning New Zealand into a dumpster, that has been set on fire by the Mazi party”.
  
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  May 19, 2025 1:48pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  It’s not a syndrome if you really are an imposter
  
  http://www.1news.co.nz/2025/05/19/jacinda-ardern-talks-imposter-syndrome-at-yale-graduation/
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:40pm
NothingLeft

The AI singularity (the point where our ability to predict the likely future landscape with even loose accuracy) is upon us. AIs can now pass Turing test and outperform most humans in written tasks and are expected to surpass human intellectual accomplishment for all but perhaps a tiny percentage of humans in some specific fields within the next 1-2 years. Dooming white collar careers. Alongside this robot are rapidly improving capabilities and will likely economically supplant physical labor in most roles withing 5-10 years dooming blue collar careers.

And yet almost the entire human population is just carrying on in practiced joyful ignorance pretending that everything is going to be fine and will continue in much the same as always, making life plans for futures that simply will not exist.

But in reality AI is going to be able to replace almost all workers in nearly every job over the next 10 years, and left unchecked that is going to destroy every facet of the fragile interconnected economies and systems of governance we take for granted. Peoples hopes, dreams destroyed, lives irrevocably upended. Options eradicated.

If you have time this is a good discussion of some of implications between some delusionally gung-ho AI entrepreneurs the like of which are currently charting the course of AI development, and Bret Weinstein painting a considered picture of the likely impacts on vast majority of non-tech-bro humans.
https://youtu.be/JMYQmGfTltY?si=7GtzIAEt-n5PFjB2

I predict that if you watch it your level of comfort is going to drop dramatically.

It is going to come to dominate political discourse in next 1-2 years as AI shifts ahead of humans and the first wave of AI redundancies hit – and I think will likely determine the next election – with a strong political swing to the repressive left as they signal a willingness to try to ban the use of AI to save peoples jobs.
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May 19, 2025 8:44am
- JerJer
  
  Nonsense. AI is not very smart. The hype will be over soon. Heard of BlockChain? That was going to take over too. If you are close to the IT industry you should know by now that much of the industry is based around re-hashing old technology, calling it a different name and selling the hype and a bunch of failed projects, supported by an army of consultants that take as much of your money as they can.
  
  To use AI (which is really just a search engine with some tweaks), you have to have a proper data model in place, which means integrated systems and a one source of truth database. How many companies is have all their data in one system? Very few, and this is where the con starts. Consultants will come and tell you you have to reorganise your entire landscape to take advantage of this wonderful new technology called AI (previously called Machine learning the last time it was hyped, you may remember it).
  
  Anyway, reorganising to get to the point where you have your data model correct to take advantage of this wonderful renamed technology is going to cost you a truck load of pain and money, and then you will implement AI and see almost no return. Consultants got your money again and you have the same functionality as you had before. See, they are pretty smart…you need to hand over most of the money to reorganise before the project starts. That people fall for this is quite staggering, but then there is the news articles that will tell you if you don’t do it, your out of business (same line trotted out for blockchain too).
  
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  May 19, 2025 8:59am
  - NoFax
    
    Blockchain and AI are entirely different things, and AI is beneficial and getting better all the time – this is the worse it will ever be. You will be surprised by what AI is doing right now and what it can do. Such anti-AI sentiment reminds me of Paul Kruger’s famous statement in 2003 about the internet will have the same and very limited effect on the economy as the fax machine. How did that work out?
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:15pm
    - JerJer
      
      …and in the 80s when they said computers would be so smart by the 90s that coders will no longer be required…
      
      Of course AI and BlockChain are different things. But they are re-hashes of old things re-packaged to take your money. Just wait, next year there will be some new must have shiny thing to make up for last years failure.
      
      I have been in the industry long enough to know that IT people generally are a) not that smart, and b) make up a good story and c) selling you something you already have. I see it all the time.
      
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      May 19, 2025 2:51pm
    - Taieri
      
      You will be surprised by what AI is doing right now and what it can do
      ———-
      
      Can it prune my trees and weed the garden?
      
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      May 19, 2025 5:36pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    I agree completely with your assessment of the IT industry, the amount of wheel-reinventing and deckchair-shuffling in service of itself is staggering. But AI being a search engine with some tweaks is nonsense, it can be used as a time saving tool in many occupations in a way that web searches cannot, and being able to interact with humans using natural language it will replace rafts of low level jobs that require customer interaction.
    
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    May 19, 2025 2:46pm
- cmm
  
  “AIs can now pass Turing test ”
  
  The Turing test is an extremely poor measure of intelligence. Unfortunately people get hung up on it. The hardest part of measuring intelligence is to define it. The Turing test neatly side-steps this by using the mathematical trick of reductio ad absurdum, but that doesn’t really make it a useful test.
  
  Still, you really don’t need high intelligence to perform most of the menial tasks performed in society and even in those that do, only a few % of the task really needs intelligence.
  
  Of course this is nothing new really. Technology has been chewing away lower end jobs and slowly eating upwards for centuries:
  * Ploughs and cattle replaced human labour on farms.
  * Steam engines and machinery replaced hand labour in cotton fields.
  * “Calculators” used to be people doing calculations. Now they are apps on smart phones.
  * Computers replaced book keepers.
  * Barcodes replaced people driving tills in supermarkets.
  …
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:03am
  - NothingLeft
    
    It is something fundamentally new and different from previous technologic revolutions, because previously humans had a ‘moat’ in that they had judgement, skills and smarts that nothing else could match or supplant at similar cost, when our muscles lost their economic value our brains could take their place.
    
    But that is no longer true for many, and soon for all. There is simply no competence or ability for humans to fall back on as a source of value to trade for resources – the whole basis for our economic system, and left unchecked that will soon create a dominant disaffected and angry votes-for-a-living demographic that have nothing the world wants and so see no benefit in supporting the current system. That will likely destroy our whole society in a paroxysm of violence, nationalisations, confiscations, repressive govt and other Marx inspired revolutionary zeal. The currently wealthy and secure won’t be able to hold on to their assets or comforts once the hope-less economically inactive mob build up steam.
    
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
    
    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
    The darkness drops again; but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:42am
  - Yvette
    
    Your concerns reflect growing public unease, and rightly so—AI is advancing rapidly, with models now rivaling or surpassing human performance in many cognitive tasks. Over the next 1–2 years, we will likely see AI displace roles across writing, analysis, customer service, and creative industries. However, declaring the singularity already here may overstate both our understanding of general intelligence and the unpredictable nature of economic and social adaptation.
    
    Disruption is inevitable, but collapse is not. Historically, technology has displaced jobs while creating new ones in unexpected areas. What’s unprecedented now is the speed of change, demanding proactive governance, economic safety nets, and new social contracts. Politics will indeed shift, but responses may vary—from regulatory crackdowns to innovation-driven realignment of work itself.
    
    The future is not pre-written. Our collective decisions in the coming years—about AI governance, economic equity, and human purpose—will shape whether this is a crisis or a transformation.
    – ChatGPT 10.45 am May 19
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:45am
- Simon
  
  Some entry level jobs will go. It’s a long way off yet.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:16am
  - NothingLeft
    
    “entry level” = better diagnosticians than most doctors, more accurate medical scan analysis than most radiologists, and very soon better lawyering, teaching, accounting and other white collar jobs featuring a lot of repetition and formalized processes.
    
    “a long way off” is true only for very small values of “long way off”
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:29am
    - JerJer
      
      Most of the world does not use the technology available in the West anyway, many countries are still operating pre-computers. Right here in New Zealand we have a bunch of stone age people yelling and screaming in our Parliament poking their tongues out the pointing sticks at other members. We were a long way away from anything resembling the hype. I would say with respect to the above, AI should really be called Any Intelligence, and when applied to TPM, the answer would be NO.
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:54am
- Dougal10
  
  I am sure Ai could do all central govt office work in wellington already , come to think about it probably all local govt office work as well, the question we must ask ourselves is why hasn’t it happened yet.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:37am
- Gravelroad
  
  Bloke here decided to consult AI about one of his relatives who has achieved to a high level in his specialist sphere of academic knowledge and experience – not only nationally, but also at international levels.
  Back came notes of his achievements.
  At the conclusion, AI informed that this person had died in 2024.
  Untrue.
  Not dead at all.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:39am
- Local Miller
  
  AI hype. There is NO GAI (General Artificial Intelligence) and we are a long way from getting there. Additionally, the amount of energy required to support the current “AI” systems is massive and for us to get to the point where AI is starting to replace even a small percentage of jobs we need to either massively increase our energy production and compute resources, or make AI Hardware much more efficient. Something that isn’t going to happen any time soon. We are already hitting limits on how much more processing power we can get out of chips for the size and power they consume.
  Most of what we define as AI is nothing like it. ChatCPT isn’t true AI, it’s mostly just a very sophisticated language processor. There have been several reviews of how AI does maths, and it’s clear that AI systems aren’t actually learning maths from what they are being fed. They are effectively guessing at the answer multiple times and checking the answer against the “real world” until they find the right one. Ask the same maths question multiple times and the AI needs to go through the same guessing process. There’s no “I’ve done this one already, here’s the answer”.
  These guys seem to be mostly in the AI business and they are overselling their product.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:25am
  - NothingLeft
    
    It’s just amazing to me how little awareness or comprehension there is of the pace of change and what that means. As if current state of the art is somehow reflective of how things are going to be in a year or two, or that current weaknesses will not be quickly addressed and surmounted, when we are being presented with stunning improvements in cognitive capabilities on a monthly basis. The big AI labs are mostly saying AGI in next year or two.
    
    Current leaderboard on a set of difficult cognitive tasks to assess intelligence relative to humans. (ARC-AGI)
    https://arcprize.org/leaderboard
    Open AI’s O3 model is now matching average random individual humans ‘mturkers’ in this leaderboard, but still behind panels of humans and individual STEM grads.
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:53am
    - Local Miller
      
      I’m a Database Consultant with ~30 years experience, first in mainframes and then in Microsoft SQL Server, so I’m not unaware of what’s happening in this space and actively follow a wide range of articles on this. I remember when Microsoft came to us (the bank I worked for) and told us about Cloud Hosted Services, IaaS and PaaS and how soon there would be no need for SQL DBAs (the level I was at back then). We were all living in fear of losing our jobs to the automation of Cloud Services. Here I am 25 years later with more database consulting work than we can cope with and clients across the world.
      I’m seeing the same pattern in AI. The AI industry leaders are pushing the success of their product and how close they are to AGI, but they aren’t telling you all the problems they are having. In my earlier post I mentioned just 2 of them. Energy supply and genuine AGI. Not pseudo AGI which is what we currently have. Sabine Hossenfelder has some excellent YouTube videos where she covers some of this, including the “maths learning” issue. The point being that AGI isn’t actually learning, it’s reprocessing everything over & over & over, where people actually learn and remember. Think about your Times Tables, ask Open AI’s O3 what 11*11 is and it has to work it out every time, and not by doing maths, but my hit and miss. Ask me and I’ll tell you it’s 121 without doing any maths because it’s imbedded in my memory.
      As long as the AI Industry are telling us what great progress they are making I will take their predictions with a very large pinch of salt and see if there are other articles out there reviewing the industry output with a more critical eye.
      After energy requirements and AGI, there’s size. Even the current AI systems depend on very large server complexes, and there are serving a tiny fraction of the requirements for general AI. The human brain runs on ~20 watts and ~1.3kg of wet matter, but a 2023 Scientific America article estimates “Researchers estimated that creating the much larger GPT-3, which has 175 billion parameters, consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity”. Never mind the thousands of serves working together to create the impression of AI.
      
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      May 19, 2025 12:32pm
      - JerJer
        
        Seems I am in the same position as you. I remember people saying the cloud is the future, way back when….
        
        …and now I see on a regular basis people pulling things back out of the cloud because the promise was wrong. There are security risks in the cloud, reliability risks, and it is generally more expensive and slower than the alternative, and you have no control (in comparison).
        
        Now I see people saying ‘what were we thinking’. But then everyone said it would be ok…..
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:02pm
      - PurplePen
        
        Good points. Maybe what they’re saying about AI is as realistic as what they said about PCs in the workplac – the workplace office would become paperless. It still hasn’t yet, has it?
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:19pm
      - rouppe
        
        The same stuff developers. 3GL and then 4GL languages were supposed to mean that business people could code complex systems with ease.
        
        I’ve not seen one example of it working.
        
        Unless you count the MoH running their budget on an Excel spreadsheet.
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:53pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Local,
    Maybe the AI available to the public is just a bug ridden first generation from years ago.
    Why would such a potentially powerful program be given to the public (remember that the public is all of us, scary stuff) without the ability to control it?
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:01am
    - JerJer
      
      Because it steals IP, and the general public are blissfully unaware. This is why it is heavily marketed as something we all should use.
      
      At the conferences I have been to, they tell you to NOT use AI for business processes, i.e. you should allow staff to use it for any reason where they could be feeding your company IP into it, it is stealing from you. There are many other gotchas too, and for many it is too late.
      
      At my workplace, we have banned the use of AI, and blocked it’s usage using our security protocols. We do allow limited use for marketing purposes, i.e. send emails and some limited replies. That sort of functionality has been available for years, but has recently been re-named, as AI of course.
      
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      May 19, 2025 12:18pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Good move Jer,
        Tell the staff that the next time they use AI that their salary will be donated to Google, or whoever, on their behalf, and don’t forget to drop back for a drink around Christmas …
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:31pm
- PurplePen
  
  Yes. What DOES happen to the workforce if let’s say 70 percent of jobs are replaced by AI and robots. Certainly the companies that own the AI and robots will make revenue on them and from their work. But if most people aren’t earning who then has any money to pay the owners of the AI and robots. Presumably govts then also get most of their taxes from the AI and robot owners. Does it end up being a world like Roddenberry envisioned in Star Trek with no money or at least everyone paid from income tax from the AI and robot owners.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:30am
vand

“Your comment implies that there is a problem with using te reo to close a letter.”

How about tokinism and grovelling al la Uriah Heep for a start Mikey
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May 19, 2025 8:52am
cmm

Yesterday I saw an article saying something like:
“The biggest problem sending people to Mars”
I didn’t read it, but rather came up with my own.

The biggest problem is determining which of the massive problems is the biggest problem.

Of the long list, I would say that the most fundamental problem is this:
Mars is too small and does not have enough mass. Mars is only about 11% of Earth’s mass.

Why pick that? Because almost all the other problems stem from that.

Due to Mars being low mass, the next two major problems arise:
* Mars’ core cooled down rapidly (ok, a billion or whatever years, but still rapidly). No liquid core means no magnetosphere. No magnetosphere means no protection from the solar winds blowing away atmosphere. No ability to hold an atmosphere creates inhospitable cold, no plants, no life,…
* Very low gravity (approx a third that of earth). A weak gravity makes it challenging to hold an atmosphere – particularly one with less dense gases (eg. water).

These factors even limit the supposed “resources” on Mars. For example Mars has a 95% CO2 atmosphere, but the atmospheric density is so low (2% of Earth’s) that there really isn’t that much CO2.

In sci-fi we can fix a whole lot of other things in out imagination (fixing them in real life is a bit harder), but overcoming the fact that Mars is only a 9th of the mass of Earth is quite a serious challenge.

I’d be interested to see if others would pick something else.
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May 19, 2025 8:54am
- Taieri
  
  I’d be interested to see if others would pick something else
  ————
  
  Why would we want to send people to Mars? And why would anyone want to stay there?
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:20am
- Ian Boag
  
  The trip would be a bit of a mission too – Mary Roach is a prolific American science writer who has done some cracking good reads – including – “Packing for Mars” which outlines the challenges of getting there and gives interesting history of some of the finer points of zero g. Defecation is sort of interesting and the body odour after a week or three is apparently pretty bad.
  
  Three people in a spaceship for three months or so. I guess first they have to not kill each other. Then there is the issue of carrying enough food both to get there and for when they arrive. Serious consideration of putting them into hibernation for the trip, although waking/not waking at the wrong time could be problematic.
  
  It’s a good book. She’s written other good books eg Bonk (a history of the study of the sex act), Stiff (what we do with dead bodies), Gulp (all about the alimentary canal) ……
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:46am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, there is a long list of such hurdles. Just sending three people to Mars for a few days and then sending them back is rather pointless when we can send robots to do pretty much all the science that people can do.
    
    Robots are cheap. They don’t need to be kept alive. No need to send the family flowers if they burn up in a fireball.
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:00am
    - Paulus
      
      I like Mars Chocolate products too !
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:08am
      - imalwaysright
        
        There’s a reason there’s not a planet called Moro…
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:35pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Ian B: Three people in a spaceship for three months or so…
    
    I believe it would take three years to reach Mars, not three months. I would have thought one obvious problem would be food and drink…water can be manufactured, but three years of food? Need a bloody big spacecraft…
    
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    May 19, 2025 10:04am
    - cmm
      
      Three years is an approximate round trip time, so approximately 1000 days.
      
      Oxygen’s a bugger too, as is getting rid of the CO2.
      
      On the food front, the obvious choice would be to send small females who need less food. For a sedentary woman that’s maybe 1600 kcal of food a day. Using the most caloric dense food available (high fats) you would need approx 200 g of food a day or 200kg per person for a 1000 day trip.
      
      Since all calories in food basically breaks down to CO2 and H2O, it is easy to see that you need approximately 3x as much oxygen as food. So that would mean 600kg of oxygen per person for a 1000 day trip.
      
      Yeah, naah. Not for me thanks.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:48am
      - JackRabbit
        
        A turf area of 13m x 13m (and sunlight) will produce enough oxygen for three people.
        
        Or three moss city trees.
        https://greencitysolutions.de/en/
        
        Or 6 large trees + water + soil. So you’d never get off the ground.
        
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        May 19, 2025 12:24pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        JackR
        And don’t forget the 20 hectares of pine trees to offset the carbon wotsits…
        
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        May 19, 2025 1:38pm
      - cmm
        
        JackR: I tend to be rather skeptical of information from Greenie sources. I would have to run the numbers but I doubt that a 13x13m area would produce enough oxygen for 3 people. Maybe under perfect conditions (eg. high CO2 levels, 24 hour sun etc) it is.
        
        Each person needs about 500 litres of oxygen a day. That is approximately 600g of oxygen.
        
        If that is true then it raises the idea of flying a spaceship with a 20x20m micro-greens garden to provide oxygen and part of the food supply.
        
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        May 19, 2025 2:17pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @imalwaysright
        
        Yep… …to offset the um greenbacks???
        
        Trees in general, convert CO2 to O2 at about 15% of the rate of pasture, per sq m. And require a lot more cu m to house the roots, soil and height.
        
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        May 19, 2025 5:43pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @cmm
        
        A lawn area 50 ft x 50 ft produces enough oxygen for the daily needs of a family of four.
        
        50ft = 15.24m
        
        https://www.scienturficsod.com/resources/benefits-of-sod/air-and-water/
        
        https://www.lawnweedexpert.co.uk/news/post/how-much-oxygen-does-a-lawn-produce
        
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        May 19, 2025 5:48pm
- JackRabbit
  
  NASA claims that to go to Mars they have to leave LEO, (Low Earth Orbit), and could not do so until they developed alloys that will withstand the radiation.
  
  According to NASA, cosmic radiation outside of LEO, is so intense it would mean quick death to the astronauts, unless the rockets and shuttles were had 18″ of lead lining, but the weight of 18″ of lead lining would man rockets would never get off the launch pad, let alone have modules flying around.
  
  This in addition to a “high speed electron field” which is essentially a force field (NASA’s words), that NASA discovered or made public about a decade ago, which impedes or prevents re-entering LEO, and which has an affect on human life when passing through.
  
  July 2024 was the first trial to test the new alloys, in sending up an unmanned space mission (Artemis) to orbit the moon.
  
  The first manned mission (Artemis II) to go and orbit the moon, was scheduled for early this year, but has been delayed to April 2026. The first landing on the moon, (since “Apollo 17”), is scheduled for mid 2027 (Artemis III).
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:04am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “NASA claims that to go to Mars they have to leave LEO, (Low Earth Orbit), and could not do so until they developed alloys that will withstand the radiation”
    
    That’s like my Uber saying they won’t arrive until the “car” has been invented.
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:41pm
    - cmm
      
      More like claiming they will need to get out of bed to go to the airport.
      
      LEO is limited to 1000km or so from the Earth’s surface. Mars, or even the Moon, is a teenie tiny bit further out than that.
      
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      May 19, 2025 2:20pm
Tauhei Notts

I had seen that Tv show last June when Joe Biden showed that he had mentally lost it. Such a pity as 20 years ago he was a great politician.
I see it is reported that his loss of mental faculties is blamed on the onset of severe prostate cancer.
Now I think I know why he has been referred to as a “dick head”.
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May 19, 2025 8:58am
- cmm
  
  Why would prostate cancer cause loss of mental faculties?
  
  More likely both are caused by a common problem: getting older.
  
  Something like 90% of men die with prostate cancer. If we counted it the same way as we count “Covid deaths”, then prostate cancer would cause 90% of deaths in men and would be the leading cause of death by a country mile.
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:09am
  - Cassandra
    
    90% a bit high, cmm. 1 in 8 actually die from it so you’re saying another 6 out of 7 will get it? A bit less I think. Maybe 3 out of the 7? NB the Prostate Cancer Foundation says 1 in 8 will get PC in their lifetime.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:17am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Prevalence of autopsy-detected prostate cancer is 21% across all ages.
      
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      May 19, 2025 9:48am
    - cmm
      
      Yes, the 90% is a bit high, but not by much. The number is 80% for 80 year old men (around 50% more men over 50).
      
      Note that for the majority of these people it is completely benign. They have detectable levels of prostate cancer but it has no impact on their lives and does not contribute to their death.
      
      “Getting it”(the 1 in 8 number) likely means getting symptomatic levels of prostate cancer that needed some treatment.
      
      My reference to Covid is that Covid death numbers were counted regardless of whether or not Covid was contributory to death. If you died within 28 days of testing positive then you were a Covid death even if you died in a motor vehicle accident. If we counted prostate cancer the same then 80% of all male deaths would be prostate cancer deaths.
      
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      May 19, 2025 10:58am
  - Im Right
    
    Get checked regularly guys, from 50 onwards, a little discomfort is worth the all clear and peace of mind.
    Prostate cancer is one of the slowest growing/moving cancers, so early detection means it’s a good outcome for 90% of men.
    Don’t be macho and ignore the dignity stripping of a 1 minute digit exam, after all it could save your life!
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:19am
  - RoboRob
    
    I am HIGHLY suspicious around the claims of aggressive prostate cancel that has already spread to his bones. Diagnosed 2 days ago.
    
    He had extremely good and regular health checks as part of his job. Having at least yearly, probably 6 monthly checkups. How could they have missed this?
    
    I think he either already had this while president and they kept is secret. Alternatively it is a cover for his alzheimers. Probably its number the first but with the Biden / Dem proclivity for lying and deceit around Bidens health it is hard to know.
    
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    May 19, 2025 9:25am
    - Mod88
      
      Truth of the Hur interview released Friday, Biden has aggressive cancer on Sunday 🤔
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:26am
  - Keith White
    
    In ~2% of prostate cancer cases that metastasize, the mets go to the brain. So unlikely, but not impossible.
    
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    May 19, 2025 12:59pm
- Taieri
  
  20 years ago he was a great politician
  ———-
  
  And what are/were his greatest achievements?
  
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  May 19, 2025 9:21am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Here are a tiny sample of Joe’s greatest achievements:
    1. Graduating. He ended near bottom of his law class but claimed to be top.
    2. Interrogating Justice Clarence Thomas in such a brutal racist manner that virtually guaranteed Justice Thomas would oppose all Democratic cases ever after.
    3. Accusing a truck driver who hit & killed his wife after she pulled out in front of the truck of being in the wrong. He did this for 20 years until a Democrat told him to shut up. The mans life was ruined by Joe.
    
    I’m sure others can add to the list.
    
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    May 19, 2025 12:16pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Trump fans are in the glassiest of glass houses, and on the shakiest of shaky ground, and in the blackest of black pots, when they question ex-President Biden’s mental capacity.
  
  https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/michael-bassett-president-trump
  
  Biden is not in power now, and when he was he was surrounded by competent and well qualified people who could keep things going and cover for him.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:43am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Biden is not in power now, and when he was he was surrounded by competent and well qualified people who could keep things going and cover for him”
    
    So you consider him being in power as a group of people doing his job for him and “covering” for him?
    
    Doesn’t sound that powerful to me… more of a puppet.
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:07am
  - bennerg
    
    Dudley,
    
    So you know who was pulling the strings?
    
    Right now we know that they gave massive pardons for acts as yet unknown, supported the massive scam that we know as Covid-19, and opened the borders to allow the importation of millions of illegal immigrants.
    
    If you believe that is “competent and well qualified” have I got a bridge to sell you.
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:20am
    - cmm
      
      “So you know who was pulling the strings?”
      
      The person with the ice cream.
      
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      May 19, 2025 2:22pm
  - kiwimike
    
    sorry Dudley
    
    that is one of the stupidest comment s I have read.
    You do yourself down.
    
    Biden was not fit for purpose even though he “may” have delegated others to do his jon for him and make decisions that he should have made….
    
    you should be ashamed of that comment.
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:59am
  - Cassandra
    
    “The buck stops here”: H S Truman.
    
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    May 19, 2025 12:15pm
- NothingLeft
  
  “20 years ago he was a great politician”
  
  He was always a P.O.S.
  
  Look at all the horrid policies he’s backed over the last 50 years, his plagiarism, scapegoating, hypocrisy and generally scummy behavior that made him a many-times failure in presidency as his character flaws were revealed – when voters and less partisan main stream media still gave a shit about ethics. He was a capable orator, but not a ‘great’ politician.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:59am
  - imalwaysright
    
    He was the Kelvin Davis of the Dems.
    He won’t be on Mt Rushmore …
    Maybe Mt St Helens…
    
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    May 19, 2025 5:16pm
Flossie

How much press has been devoted to the number of teaspoons per cup of Milo?? Who cares? – have it “to taste” as a lot of recipes say. I particularly don’t care to hear any pontificating on the subject from an ex PM.
Perhaps it just goes to show that there is nothing else being said by her of any significance on any subject that matters.
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May 19, 2025 10:13am
- PurplePen
  
  And the media company concerned is scratching around for content, like a hen in a barnyard.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:38am
- Jethrod
  
  Surely 6 teaspoons would have an adverse reaction with teeth? …… go ahead , DO IT!!
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:46am
- Dougal10
  
  Oh how far she has fallen , from making a nations decision on gas exploration down to how to make a childs drink at home.
  
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  May 19, 2025 10:54am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Oh how far she has fallen, from wrapping fish and chips, to making decisions that would kill and cause massive injuries by mandating a toxic mRNA compound, and burn through $100Billion, and put NZ in future debt for another $100Billion and has now regressed to a mental age of 10, telling us how to make milo.
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:38pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      The bit in the middle hurt.
      
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      May 19, 2025 5:18pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Yeah, you are right. Her fish and chip wrapping skills were highly over-rated.
        
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        May 19, 2025 5:53pm
- cmm
  
  I think this is Cindy’s main contribution to the world. Well more important than any of her other opinions.
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:00am
- AitchW
  
  I heard Ardern on the radio this morning, delivering a speech somewhere.
  What saccharine drivel it was! And the audience clapped on cue like trained seals.
  To parpaphrase, you should listen to what she says because it’s not about her , it’s about everyone.
  Honestly it was like a 5th form speech competition entry. She really needs better writers.
  Oh, and wall to wall coverage of her Milo though bubble….
  Is there some campaign to increase her profile? Is she going to have a crack at a top job at the UN?
  Perhaps she’s going to teach the UNRWA to be kind….
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:16am
  - Ghost
    
    She needs publicity, her book is about to go on sale next month. Question is how long before it is in the bargain bin.
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:42am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Publicity which will sicken the average Joe Bloggs
      
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      May 19, 2025 11:50am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Its her swansong.
        Her gravy train is coming to a halt.
        She has been paid for services rendered.
        
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        May 19, 2025 5:21pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Honestly it was like a 5th form speech competition entry.
    
    Perhaps she has Biden’s disease.
    
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    May 19, 2025 5:54pm
PurplePen

The average wealth of a household is about $433 million dollars. At least so says Chloe Swarbrick very earnestly.

https://x.com/williamson_nz/status/1923872310819434928
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May 19, 2025 11:03am
- Ghost
  
  I’m not sure why they edited that clip because the full clip is even more head scratching
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl1slr5sXvk
  
  From 5.20
  
  She claims this is at the highest possible at the retirement age.
  
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  May 19, 2025 1:46pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    She hasn’t got a CLUE!!!
    
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    May 19, 2025 1:59pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Thanks .. for the 5:20 steering. The last thing I wanted to do was listen to any more than necessary.
    
    She says the $433M is the highest possible average household wealth. What does that even mean and … so what.
    
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    May 19, 2025 3:23pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      I can’t wait!
      Even half of that would do me…
      
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      May 19, 2025 5:23pm
      - Keith White
        
        I wonder why someone downticked you on that, I’m-Rite. Heck, I’d happily settle for a quarter!
        
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        May 19, 2025 6:44pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    The average farm is worth $5m but the average household is worth $433m???
    
    She is a socialist leech, wanting to suck the money from those that have earned it.
    
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    May 19, 2025 5:57pm
newview

Ardern even got that wrong as regards NZ. That overseas Milo formulation is different to ours here where it states on the tin 3x teaspoons. She should have stuck to serving fish n chips.
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May 19, 2025 11:11am
- cmm
  
  The same happens with many products.
  
  After being a Marmite fan in South Africa I was shocked at how pathetic NZ Marmite is. Basically black margarine.
  
  South African Marmite is extremely sharp. It is at least 3x as strong as Vegemite. Half a teaspoon on a slice of toast will give you a good bang.
  
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  May 19, 2025 11:29am
  - greybeard
    
    Funny you should say that: I can recall ads for Marmite when I was a kid, back in the 1950s and 60s.
    The ads ended with the words “Too much spoils the flavour” !
    
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    May 19, 2025 11:41am
    - greybeard
      
      Here we go… https://digitalnz.org/records/31493892
      
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      May 19, 2025 12:30pm
  - kiwimike
    
    I buy SA Mite from the South African shop “Ontrays” on Johnsonville Mall.
    
    SA Marmite with a different label.
    delicious.
    
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    May 19, 2025 12:02pm
Keith White

Early in my career I learned trauma care in Belfast and then did a number of casevac flights out of Beirut – which before the civil war, was called “The Paris of the Middle East”. By the time I went there it was badly damaged but you could still see its former glory. Now it’s a pit of damage, despair and death.

In my opinion, NZ is heading towards the Belfast stage – not there yet, but when MPs start threatening violence and some ‘restless natives’ call for the death and expulsion of the other-race colonizers; and when edgy artists write murderously anti-white poetry, one of whom wins “NZ’s highest poetry award” for hers — then we would well be heading for Te Pati Army days. After that – well, what’s the Te Reo equivalent of Sinn Fein? Apparently it is – Ko Tatou Anake.

Which is why I worry that we may get to this stage as a country…

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
Police cars on fire on the shoulder of State Highway Ardern.
I’ve watched raised meres glitter in the dark near the Remuera offramp.
All those moments will be lost in time, like years spent training.
‘Bye.”
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May 19, 2025 12:56pm
- cmm
  
  Yup, I expect there are many countries who thought “it won’t happen here” and it did.
  
  Ireland is possibly the best example of this: a civilised country with an English-speaking population who play rugby and drink beer. I wonder whether the Irish people who lived through the early politics of this (1880s to 1920s) ever thought it would end up in The Troubles?
  
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  May 19, 2025 2:38pm
  - kowtow
    
    The fact that the whole island was turned into an unlawful armed camp from 1912 on based on loyalist opposition to Home Rule and nationalist defence of it , with major gun running by both sides ( mainly the loyalists) to arm themselves , bringing the country to the brink of civil war in 1914 would tend to suggest they weren’t averse to violence at all.
    
    The Hun invading Belgium overshadowed what was actually a huge constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which given the enormity of the events on the Continent meant that crisis been largely ignored in the telling of the history of those islands.
    
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    May 19, 2025 4:58pm
  - Keith White
    
    …and there’s the Fijians and the Indians…
    
    …and there’s the Sudanese and South Sudanese
    
    …and there’s the East Timorese and the Indonesians
    
    …and there’s the Serbs and the Croats
    
    …and there’s the Hutu and the Tutsi
    
    all within living memory
    
    and yet, so many say “nah, can’t happen here.”
    
    It can’t, until it does.
    
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    May 19, 2025 5:09pm
    - cmm
      
      Certainly there are those and many more.
      However they are not exactly the top-shelf nations we tend to compare ourselves with.
      
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      May 20, 2025 9:57am
  - Ian Boag
    
    For (understandable) Irish antipathy you could even go back a bit further to the potato famine in the 1850’s ….
    
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    May 19, 2025 5:15pm
    - kowtow
      
      ’40’s.
      
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      May 19, 2025 5:50pm
    - cmm
      
      My mother used to go on about how poorly Scots were treated in the 1500s. But then she was a mental patient so we can forgive that.
      
      I find it ridiculous that people have historical grievances.
      
      If you personally experienced something then fine, have a good bitch session and get over it. If it was your parent or grandparent or a generation you never even met then it is really you just torturing yourself. Many people do this – keep alive hurt that they never experienced – hurt from decades or centuries ago.
      
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      May 20, 2025 10:21am
- JackRabbit
  
  “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
  Police cars on fire on the shoulder of State Highway Ardern.
  I’ve watched raised meres glitter in the dark near the Remuera offramp.
  All those moments will be lost in time, like years spent training.
  ‘Bye.”
  
  Roy Batty thanks you.
  
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  May 19, 2025 6:00pm
  - H. Upmann
    
    Academy Cinema Auckland showing Blade Runner: Final Cut and Blade Runner 2049 Wednesday 21st.
    
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    May 19, 2025 6:37pm
    - RdM
      
      Thanks! I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed!
      
      I found the 2049 sound levels excessive in some grey box cinema in Auckland CBD, some people walked out.
      
      Better in a home theater setup perhaps, but maybe worth a punt at the Academy, reasonably close by me to visit.
      
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      May 19, 2025 8:20pm
  - Keith White
    
    I understand the actor himself – Rutger Hauer – wrote the lines I plagiarised and adapted. I believe the originals are his immortal legacy. Helluva actor. R.I.P.
    
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    May 19, 2025 6:46pm
- imalwaysright
  
  I was born there Keith and I know what you mean.
  My immediate family took a fatality and a casualty, you may have treated either of them. Both gunshots.
  We came here in ’73 and I see many similarities now in NZ .
  Less commitment and passion though.
  Had a birthday brai with my SA mates in the weekend and they are obviously saying the same.
  NZ is a trainwreck happening in real time.
  Another waste of a country.
  
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  May 19, 2025 6:15pm
cmm

I see McSkimmings (oh dear there’s a name ripe for some very fitting puns) scored himself a gag order on the details of the allegations against him.

Hmmm. This comes at a time when confidence in the police is at an all time low. Cases involving police need to be 100% transparent.

I suppose McSkimmings (geez, I can only just resist) applied for this and not the police themselves. Likely he’s long past caring about the impact this will have on trust in the police and the good name of the force he was once part of. Likely he will be 100% focused on “preserving his good name” at the expense of everything else.

I understand the courts need to preserve someone’s dignity no matter what muck scumming they are accused of, but there are times when perhaps there are bigger issues at stake – like trust in public institutions.

“She also asked the registry to find a half day for the injunction application to be heard” . Half a day for an injunction hearing? No wonder we’re about a year behind hearing criminal cases!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360694239/former-top-cop-granted-gagging-order-preventing-publication-objectionable-material-allegations
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May 19, 2025 5:02pm
- Steve Todd
  
  McSkimming; no ‘s’ on the end.
  
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  May 19, 2025 5:49pm
  - cmm
    
    Like I friggin care!
    
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    May 20, 2025 9:55am
DimChappie

Mr McSkimming has gagged the media but anyone can look up the meaning of “objectionable” in the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. Covers some nasty topics.

https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0094/latest/DLM313407.html
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May 19, 2025 6:21pm
RdM

Re earlier comments above, civil war and so on,

“Yup, I expect there are many countries who thought “it won’t happen here” and it did.”

I was reading this last week, by accident, a surprise interesting link from somewhere else I don’t remember … would German have a word for that?

https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/civil-war-comes-to-the-west/

A deep long read worthwhile considering, I think.

Then I read on to

https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/virtu-and-the-war-on-hamas-a-machiavellian-reading-of-the-strategies-around-the-2023-israel-hamas-war/

Which prompted me to search further…

https://www.britannica.com/topic/virtu
https://www.thecollector.com/virtu-and-fortuna-according-to-niccolo-machiavelli/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virt%C3%B9

https://www.britannica.com/topic/civic-republicanism
https://www.thecollector.com/who-was-friedrich-nietzche-ubermensch/

But that was last week, just a sunny afternoon or so reading.

Just the other day I stumbled across this ‘interview’ – I mean with stumbling pop star entrances and weird mid way product sponsor that I sped past, gripping the cursor – nevertheless very personal tales of being mugged or worse in London, even in quite upmarket areas … frightening, and worth pursuing to the end.

“Sketchy & dangerous!” Ed Sheeran exposes truth about London under Sadiq Khan in Theo Von bombshell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aGKrhDDVE0

And even then, a response IMO also worth a listen:-

Ed Sheeran brands ALL areas of London ‘sketchy’ and ‘dangerous: ‘He’s right!’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwM7FkjtWqg

Just recent reading on this subject.

So it goes …

I’m also reading up on gardening and hifi, all sorts.

Kind regards !!
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May 19, 2025 7:43pm

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