About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

May 31, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 31 May 2025

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment198

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (198)

Login to comment or vote

Cassandra

“If you reach Net Zero by 2050, if you do it worldwide, you avoid about a third of a degree of warming,” says Dr Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and professor emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “So you have avoided a tenth of a degree of warming (in Europe and North America) at a cost of probably tens of trillions of dollars. Doesn’t seem like a bargain to me,” he adds.

I tend to agree. It’d be nice if some politician had the courage to call out this gross waste of time and money for the rubbish it is. I wonder how The Captain feels about her Call now.
64 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:00am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The counter factual is that politicians would simply waste that money on something else. There is never, ever a shortage of vanity projects.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:04am
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: The Captain would feel exactly the same now as she did when she made it – proud that she had taken bold action to help save the planet.
  
  46 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:05am
  - Cassandra
    
    David: Surely she’s looking at the evidence. No?
    
    35 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:24am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: The only evidence she needs is that the NZ oil and gas industry is dead, and cannot be revived.
      
      43 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 8:26am
    - Don Beckett
      
      The only evidence she needed was her own amazeballs wonderfulness. [Mod – not needed]
      
      26 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 10:28am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Don: That comment is quite unbecoming an ordained deacon (albeit retired) in the Catholic Church.
        
        You should be ashamed of yourself.
        
        4 23
        Report
        May 31, 2025 10:43am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Steve – you are entitled to your opinion, as am I. Thank you.
        
        25 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:01am
      - Don Beckett
        
        On reflection, maybe I should have used different language:
        Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matt. 23
        Yes, perhaps a quote like this would have been more appropriate rather than the vernacular, as in those days the Pharisees would have found these words extremely offensive – but maybe that’s what we are dealing with.
        
        8 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 12:54pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Don Beckett @ 12:54PM
        
        Good on you, Don. I’m pleased you took the opportunity afforded by my response, but no doubt more likely that of Cassandra’s (10:48AM), to reflect on what you said.
        
        Had you not gone that one word too far, I wouldn’t have even thought of responding.
        
        3 4
        Report
        May 31, 2025 2:29pm
    - R
      
      Cassandra, Why would she look?, when she believes such drivel
      
      16 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:02am
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    At the same time as not jeprodising the work she did around reducing child poverdy. Stunning
    
    The only thing worse than an airhead is an airhead with power, access to other people’s money and a cult of scared, stupid followers.
    
    57 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:44am
    - David Garrett
      
      Anthony: That last sentence is brilliant…and describes “Jacindamania” perfectly.
      
      37 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 10:29am
      - Cassandra
        
        And better than “Bitch” which is a bit rude, albeit I understand where Don is coming from.
        
        13 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 10:48am
    - R
      
      stupid followers ………and a paidoff compliant MSM
      
      19 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:06am
    - Albie
      
      Whenever I saw her musing away with her contorted facial expressions, I often imagined a CAT scan of her head revealing an empty cloud chamber, with one lonely neuron, floating aimlessly, occasionally touching the inner wall which would spark off a captains call or some such other idiocy.
      
      23 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:13am
      - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
        
        Yes with a dumb look and 180 degree rotation of her empty head.
        
        10 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 12:26pm
      - PurplePen
        
        Bless you .. I couldn’t stop laughing when I read that out to my better half.
        
        6 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 2:25pm
    - AitchW
      
      Not to forget that she’s totally surrounded by acolytes telling her how kind and clever and pretty and just awesome she is. No dissenting voices permitted.
      
      16 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:47am
    - cmm
      
      ” cult of scared, stupid followers.”… who absolutely KNOW they are right.
      
      Cassandra: This is why evidence does not matter.
      
      Evidence is only for people who have doubt and thus want to look at pros and cons.
      
      Zealots who KNOW they are right, no matter what, don’t waste their time reviewing evidence. It is meaningless.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 5:12pm
  - R
    
    Some people are incapable of overcoming their ignorance; more so when that ignorance is driven by ideology
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:00am
- Master Mariner
  
  You know what, I just wished they banned Oil and Gas completely for at least a week to wake up the brainwashed.
  
  And the reason why its “Net” and not just “Zero” is so the “Anointed Ones ” can jet set around the World while us mere mortals stay at home all under the guise of “off setting” there Carbon emissions from some far flung Rain forest in South America that no one has heard off.
  
  35 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:19am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Net Zero is bullshit. By reducing CO2, we deprive plants of food, lower O2 production and kill off the planet.
    
    But lets assume for a moment, in an Alice and Wonderland way, that Net Zero is not bullshit.
    
    [1] How do you measure Net Zero?
    
    [2] Furthermore how do you measure a household, a business, a city, a state or country as to whether they are Net Zero or not?
    
    [3] The world is full of Mad Hatters that believe that replacing grass with trees will get us closer to Net Zero, yet Trees, convert less than 20% of the CO2 to O2 than the grasslands they replaced.
    
    [4] Tosser scientists, believe they can measure Net Zero, yet long established scientists do not yet know what percentage of CO2 to O2 conversion is done by phyto Plankton. Broad sided estimates range from 50% to 80%.
    
    And now with the discovery of the CO2 to O2 converting rocks on the bottom of the sea floor in the Clarion–Clipperton zone, that 50% to 80% figure is even more inaccurate.
    
    [5] Tosser scientists, believe they can measure Net Zero, yet you cannot buy a “Net Zero” meter or scientific apparatus.
    
    [6] Said tosser scientists’ predictions have all the vagueness of Sean Hendy’s 80,000 will die. At the same IFR as the flu, (the IFR it actually had), it implied that NZ’s population was well north of 500 million. Even at peak IFR, being the highest IFR known to man, it still implied that NZ’s population was well north of 50 million.
    
    [7] Net Zero calculations, and the resulting carbon credits, are just another grand socialist plan, to transfer wealth from those who earned it, to those that spin climate change bullshit.
    
    “Get rid of farmland and plant pines trees (and thereby dropping the CO2 to O2 conversion rate by 80%) and we will pay you.”
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:46pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      You do realise that the politicians/ elites need Climate change as a “fear factor”” to distract the populace while they screw said population. Who cares whether it is true or not.
      Same as the Covid fear factor.
      
      In Vietnam, many still wear masks because covid is still around!!!!!! Thank goodness Cambodians dont buy into the BS.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 5:48pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Preaching to the converted JR! How to reach the sheeple and the woke dipsticks???? I guess keep hitting them with these truth bombs and they sheepishly change their minds over the years. I was once a believer in climate alarmism.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 6:03pm
    - Handyman
      
      Quite right JR.
      You will note the far left always revert to immeasurable outcomes eg wellbeing, happiness, equity, save the planet. If numbers are inevitable, they hide them eg Chinese unemployment and DHB stats under Labour.
      They recoil from performance measures like a vampire a daybreak.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      June 1, 2025 10:39am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Lindzen is from the “yes there is warming but it isn’t that bad” school of oil industry funded ‘research’. He maintains temperatures will increase by less than one degree Celsius, even though that mark has already been exceeded. If his approach cannot correctly predict the past, what confidence could you have in his approach to the future?
  
  4 39
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:19am
  - Cassandra
    
    And Mike’s qualifications are?
    
    27 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:50am
    - R
      
      [Mod – debate the topic]
      
      2 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:08am
    - Mike
      
      Not relevant, as I’m not opposing the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion.
      
      3 27
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:08am
      - slijmbal
        
        Probably one of few who has actually read IPCC reports and have been following the matter since the 90s. My interest was from originally studying physics and as an addict to science fiction where various dystopias involving greenhouse effects, ozone layers, pollution etc were frequently part of the plot. I am aware that this is all fiction but found it interesting that it crossed in to the real world via the IPCC. My career was subsequently IT with a focus on numbers, analysis etc. Even did modelling on a Cray supercomputer for a brief spell. I’m not claiming the ‘expert’ position rather that I have looked at the matter rather more deeply than most.
        
        What can I say? IMO. The IPCC summaries don’t match the research they quote. They are political. The IPCC predictions have never matched reality and have always ran ‘hot’. The early models had ludicrous large gaps and known false assumptions, which were known and admitted. The more recent models still have significant issues. The planet has undergone various temperature movements and it’s incredibly difficult to model and determine to what degree the human contribution matters.
        
        If we then add the realworld politik that China and India (and likely the rest of South East Asia, South America and Africa to join in if they get their s##t together) make the entirely rational decision that cheap petrochemical based energy is required to bring hundreds of millions of their people out of true poverty. Nothing we do will shift the dial. The West cannot shift the dial. If it is the apocalypse that some predict we’ll be dealing with the consequences no matter what we do. We can burn trillions and beggar ourselves though in a futile attempt to not make a difference.
        
        Based on my communications with some scientists the idea that the overwhelming scientific opinion is in favour of Climate Boiling and that we’re all doomed is just plain untrue. The scientific community is incredibly prone to groupthink and there are significant career ending risks in fighting against said groupthink. They believed humans had 48 chromosomes for 30 years until the 50s being one of the best examples and that’s something easily measurable. I completely discount the premise that the science is decided based on historical experience.
        
        The problem is that ‘science’ describes things we can be sure of and things we cannot and the trust and predictability that rightly goes to many elements of science is disingeneously attributed to others where such trust is not warranted. The IPCC being the best example.
        
        21 1
        Report
        May 31, 2025 12:31pm
      - Cassandra
        
        You are accusing Lindzen of dishonesty. He is far from the only reputable scientist to see the holes in Al Gore’s argument. Recent research casts serious doubt, at the very least, in what is fast looking like a fantasy. A very expensive fantasy.
        
        12 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 12:35pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Mike it’s really “I trust lefty infested institutions because they are my tribe”. Nothing less and nothing more.
        
        The alarmist hypothesis fails many many scientific tests. It is shot to pieces and all the lefty/watermelon apologists for this collosal bankrupting scam have is “I trust these left leaning institutions because they are my tribe”.
        
        4 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 6:07pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Gore’s movie is totally full of unscientific and misleading rubbish. He was one of the prime political movers in getting this ridiculous scam up and running.
        
        4 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 6:13pm
  - hmmokrightitis
    
    [Mod – debate the topics and don’t waste my time with a post you know will never get approved because of the level of abuse in it
    
    2 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:49am
  - JJ56
    
    Mike if you are interested in the validation of the IPCC model projections using the techniques of mainstram science, have a read of K. C. Green and W. Soon: Are Climate Models useful for Policy Making? https://scienceofclimatechange.org/wp-content/uploads/SCC-Vol-5.1-Green_and_Soon-Model-Forecasts.pdf
    
    It concludes:
    “The IPCC’s models of anthropogenic climate change lack predictive validity. The IPCC models’ forecast errors were greater for most estimation samples —often many times greater—than those from a benchmark model that simply predicts that future years’ temperatures will be the same as the historical median. The size of the forecast errors and unreliability of the models’ forecasts in response to additional observations in the estimation sample implies that the anthropogenic models fail to realistically capture and represent the causes of Earth’s surface temperature changes.”
    
    No obvious oil industry funding.
    
    12 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 12:04pm
  - rouppe
    
    If his approach cannot correctly predict the past, what confidence could you have in his approach to the future?
    
    Polar ice was supposed to be gone about three times by now. Sea levels significantly higher than they are.
    
    Can you point to one prediction from the climate change proponents that has actually occurred?
    
    12 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 12:32pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Mike, not sure if you read and really understood Cassandras comment.
    
    Its talking about IF and in the future.
    
    Your reference to the past is irrelevant to his point? isnt it?
    
    Or you just part of the anti Lindzen brigade.
    
    It has become increasingly apparent to me that there are experts for and against any scientific hypothesis. So depending on your personal bias, you can chose an expert who agrees with you.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:53pm
- sungsamning
  
  I think a very obscure politician called Donald Trump may have done so.
  
  4 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:42am
- Paulus
  
  She could not care less as she is making huge money by incuding it in whatever she does.
  Aotearoa is of no interest to her any more – money counts.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:00am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shirley not!

http://www.rnz.co.nz/life/people/the-same-name-club-made-up-entirely-of-shirleys-is-dying-out
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:01am
artemisia

Gender pay ‘equity’ v AI and robotics.

Clash of the Titans? Nope.
11 3
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:10am
- peterwn
  
  But AI is saying stupid things. For example AI said that the last steam train services on the London Tube operated until 1972. Of course all the regular trains had been electrified for a century or more. Turned out that they used a few steam locomotives for maintenance trains up to 1972.
  Then an ex-employee used AI to prepare his case for the employment court. AI put together precedent and bundled it up as a report of a previous case citing a fictitious case reference. Judge looked it up and found there was no such case. Of course the judge was not amused.
  So AI has a long way to go before before it is not tripped up by the human brain.
  
  24 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:20am
  - Cassandra
    
    GIGO. First rule of computing, explained to me in 1974 beside an IBM 3600 which had the power of my 2025 PC.
    
    22 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:26am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: I have always wondered how much power those old room size computers had compared to PC’s…Thanks for answering that question for me. I actually thought they might had had less power…my first PC had a 2GB hard drive…the one I use now has 240GB
      
      14 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 8:37am
      - Cassandra
        
        My 1974 experience was amazing – it was at Fort Leavenworth, a US Army installation where we were planning a major (I mean MAJOR) expeditionary force. State of the art. $6 million ($30 mil now), its own 2,000 square foot air conditioned room mounted on earthquake proof foundations. Your laptop now can do as much.
        
        19 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 9:02am
      - David Garrett
        
        Cass: my former brother in law was a programmer in 1974. I remember being taken to see “The Computer ” in an airconditioned glass room as u describe.
        
        It had been programmed to play noughts and crosses – it was a big thrill for a youngster to play with a Computer…I can’t remember if I was able to beat it, but i can still remember the command “exec noughts” which began a game, and it thanking me for playing with it at the end
        
        15 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 9:12am
      - pdm
        
        DG (09.12) I was working in BNZ Suva when the Banks systems started to be computerised.
        
        As you say the room the computers were in was large, bigger than our current lounge, as well as being air conditioned. The machines themselves were probably twice the size of a fridge with a freezer included and I think there were maybe ten of them.
        
        Power fluctuations caused major panic.
        
        15 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 9:23am
      - Taieri
        
        my first PC had a 2GB hard drive…the one I use now has 240GB
        ———-
        
        My first USB memory stick had 64MB and it was a bit of a novelty then (2003). I’ve just bought one with 16TB capacity. Apparently there are memory sticks with up to 64TB (!!!) available on AliExpress.
        
        12 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 9:43am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        My first PC was an Amstrad – not sure it had any memory at all, took proprietary floppies, which was a step up from cassettes. My first “real PC” was a compaq deskpro it had 40mb of storage, and I also upgraded it to 4mb of RAM. RAM was $100 a MB at the time!!!
        
        9 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:13am
      - nova
        
        David, you are right, room size computers back then were definitely less powerful than today’s technology. The fastest computer from 1974 according to this was 100 MFLOPs, and a Macbook Air M2 is 3.6 TFLOPs, which is 36,000 times faster:
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fastest_computers
        
        Maybe the military had something a bit faster than the wikipedia article lists, but it wouldn’t have been even close to a cheap laptop from the last 10 years.
        
        4 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:33am
      - peterwn
        
        A mainframe in the 1970’s would have 32 – 64 kilobytes of memory (compared with 4 – 16 gigabytes for a modern PC or Raspberry-pi). Similarly hard disc capacity would be 7 to 30 megabytes (compared with gigabites for a PC or Raspberry-pi). Mainframe could have up to 8 drives with removable multi-platter discs. One or two discs would stay resident (for the operating system) and the others would be swapped in and out as needed. However tape drives using tapes up to 4 megabytes were normally used so an application such as power bills would read one tape, calculate the bill, put power bill details on a second tape for printing and output updated customer records to a third tape.
        I am not sure but a Raspberry-pi would most probably outperform an old IBM360.
        
        5 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:33am
      - Dougal23
        
        My first computer (ZX81) had 1KB of memory. We have come a long way in a short time
        
        7 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 1:54pm
      - zulumonster
        
        In the early 80’s I worked for an insurance company, running a mainframe computer in a large temperature-controlled computer hall, with automated Halon gas systems in the event of fire. We were told we had about 30 seconds to get out of the room if the gas dropped if we wanted to stay alive. Probably exaggeration but I believe halon gas would somehow absorb all the oxygen in the room.
        I remember the excitement when we upgraded the memory of the mainframe from 4Mb to 8Mb.
        
        5 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 2:04pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        The NZ Defence computer in 1972 (I was a programmer) had less computing power and way way way less digital storage(including tapes) as my current mobile phone!!! Which is only 256 Gigs memory.
        
        What it did have tho was a high speed chain printer. 1000 lines a minute. What a joy to behold as it spewed out computer paper. Unfortunately no graphics. But awesome sound..
        
        But needed an operator to keep putting boxes of computer paper in place every little while.
        
        5 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 3:07pm
      - cmm
        
        In raw computing power terms, Cassandra is off by a factor of a few thousand or so.
        
        A 1970-era computer like an IBM S360 could execute around 16 million instructions a second and had 1Mbytes of memory. The earlier 1960s versions of the same range only hit around 50,000 instructions per second – so about a 300x speed up just in that decade.
        
        Your garden variety laptop of today will execute around 100 billion instructions a second (if we include the vector processing capabilities) – so around 6000 as many instructions and have 16Gbytes (ie 16,000 times or more).
        
        Heck, even the teenie tiny computer chip in your mouse cents can execute 40 million or so instructions a second and costs only 10 cents – and will run for a year on an AA cell.
        
        3 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 5:28pm
      - kiwimike
        
        ahh david
        
        but what speed was and is the CPU and what RAM desktop do you have and did have ?
        
        a hard drive is just a filing cabinet.
        
        I have a 1 TB USB drive that I use for images
        
        0 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 8:43pm
    - slijmbal
      
      @Cassandra
      
      I’m surpised an IBM 3600 is as powerful as a 2025 PC.
      
      My 1st programming job in 1981 had 8 of us on an old HP1000. It had 40MB of disc and 64K of memory and a clock speed of about 600 KHz.
      
      About 1 five thousandth of a current PC capacity by those measures.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 12:42pm
  - artemisia
    
    Random AI from the internet is not the same as enterprise-based AI to carry out tasks with specified enterprise parameters. Already happening of course.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:26am
    - slijmbal
      
      @artemisia.
      
      In IT and not in AI but the feedback I am getting is that the costs to get a reliably trained AI ‘model’ in specific business areas are very high and still comparable with writing it in code. There are still situtations where it is a better approach but much less than is being presented.
      
      I’m assuming the costs will come down but they’re going to need to address the training costs somehow.
      
      The AI we’re seeing on the internet is giving me worse results than ye old fashioned google searches and reading and interpreting the results. It is wrong so often. I asked a couple of them to give me SQL for very specific circumstances (I’ve been using SQL since the 80s). It was pretty bad.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 12:50pm
      - artemisia
        
        I’ve been looking at AI for plumbers. Quite a bit of work done already, not sure how much in NZ. But some aspects are relevant here with local specifics attached, like leak detection and plans with steps, docs, specs and current costs for materials.
        
        Early days for tradies but will speed up.
        
        3 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 1:15pm
  - Grumpy Silver Top
    
    This highlights the nuances of expression that convey meaning. To a human brain the last steam train services meant passenger trains. AI missed that ‘service’ conveys passenger service. Does anyone else remember how unforgiving old programming languages like fortran were? Miss a comma, or colon and ‘does not compute’ . HTML is similarly exacting and even AI lacks the unconscious flexibility of the human brain.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:32am
  - Mike
    
    Surprise, gullible cranks use AI to produce nonsense that appears to support their craziness. RFK Jr’s MAHA report is full of bogus citations.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/29/rfk-jr-maha-health-report-studies
    
    3 18
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 9:29am
  - CJames
    
    AI will generally (depending on how it is programmed) only give you the most common answer, not necessarily the best one. Just like the predictive text as I write this. But in that respect, it is no different to a lot of humans.
    Not like the old hard copy Encylopedia Brittanica days when they employed fact checkers
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:04am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Peterwn I suggest you try Grok3. A lot of others seem to be regurgitaters of woke propaganda and general rubbish scraped from the web.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 6:17pm
PurplePen

What is it about people, well some people, as soon as they get a call on their cellphone, not only do they need to talk loudly, but they then have to walk around the public space annoying everyone with their noise. I was breakfasting this morning in a hotel lobby and there was one of these. Thankfully they finished and got into a lift.
17 1
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:21am
- R
  
  Self centered and full of their own importance, which you are required to note
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:12am
  - OlderChas
    
    I remember years back I was in a queue to board a plane (on the tarmac!) and a guy two in front of me was yakking on his (then quite large) cell phone. Talking about deals in the millions etc. The just as he was saying he had to hang up to board – his phone rang while he was talking on it!
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 1:01pm
- Kevin
  
  PurplePen, I admit my guilt. A fashionable coffee house, a call comes on my work phone. A sailor at sea, with abdominal pain, the call about him. Hard to hear. Loud LOUD explanation of how to insert a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory suppository, unaware of my surroundings.
  
  Don’t go out to sea without some.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 1:02pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    “nonsteroidal antiinflammatory suppository,”
    
    Isn’t that what the Italians call “Innuendo “? 😉
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 1:26pm
  - PurplePen
    
    You can walk outside. Or for heavens sake just stay seated. No need to wander the whole room.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:31pm
Cassandra

The sort of bold action one expects from a government which is determined to make changes: The US State Department on Thursday notified Congress of its reorganisation. The change will help the department “refocus on core U.S. foreign policy objectives and the needs of contemporary diplomacy.”

The plan calls for an 18% reduction of State Department staff in the U.S. Several offices will be eliminated to streamline bureaucracy. Some programs related to refugees, immigration, democracy promotion, human rights and women’s issues are being axed; the letter describes them as having “proven themselves prone to ideological capture and radicalism”.

Sounds like something our Coalition Government might like to consider. Not MFAT which seems to be structured appropriately, but everything else. Particularly all the specialised bodies such as the ethnics and gender. Do we really need a government agency for women? Human rights? A State work force bigger than its peers? 40% bigger than it was 8 years ago? Perhaps they could set up a committee to explore hiring some consultants and appoint a Maori management team to liaise with iwi.
29 3
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:25am
- Culture War Criminal
  
  “The sort of bold action one expects from a government which is determined to make changes”
  
  Where’s the border wall that’s been promised for nearly 10 years? Where are the mass deportations that were supposed to happen on day 1? Answer: not happening, and won’t ever happen.
  
  Trump was never about “streamlining bureaucracy” (which is what every Republican since forever has promised) he was supposed to actually make America great again, wasn’t he?
  
  3 15
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:00am
  - Cassandra
    
    He’s doing some of what he promised/threatened which is more than most politicians. He’s not God (even if he appears to think that he might be at least part of the Family).
    
    14 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:54am
    - Culture War Criminal
      
      Great. Let’s accept always being underwhelmed and never achieving anything despite all the promises, because “at least it’s better than the Democrats.” Is it though? Then the chorus of MAGA cheerleaders come along and tell is how it’s really not as shitty as we think and can observe for ourselves – don’t believe your lying eyes!
      
      Maybe MAGA should rebrand a MALCA – “Make America Less Crappy Again.”
      
      3 10
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:02am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Less crappy is a start.
        
        4 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 6:18pm
  - AitchW
    
    Trump has the same problems that our current government faces, years of economic vandalism and a hostile and recalcitrant public service. Wins will be slow to start with, but as the leakers and saboteurs are wrinkled out of the public service, as the economy starts to improve, and the ordinary voters starts to feel more positive they will come faster.
    Fortunately for us we have a rational government , not a Trump in charge!
    
    10 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:24am
    - Culture War Criminal
      
      I don’t share your optimism. The time to move assertively is from the start. He’s had 5 months, and what has been achieved? DOGE – ended in failure; tariffs – ended in failure; mass deportations – not happening; border wall – stopped talking about it; war in Ukriane – still going on; war with Iran for Israel – looking possible. You get the picture.
      
      The reality is, Trump is not an effective political leader, and he hires all the wrong people (or at least not the right ones). And the mid-terms are not that far office, so the window to do anything remotely radical that will attract criticism is rapidly closing.
      
      3 11
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 12:09pm
    - comm4nder
      
      I notice that The Economist has an article this week entitled “Doomed experiment: Trump’s assault on science‘.
      At first this sounds ominous, since America’s science research has been one of its ways to increase the standard of living.
      However, when you listen to the text of the article you find that the defunding of science is restricted to three well defined categories:
      1. DEI research
      2. Climate research
      3. Those universities who refuse to crack down on anti-Semitism.
      So the only “true science” that is at risk is that being studied in racist universities.
      
      Sounds like a great plan, since all of the above should free up funds for real science!
      
      13 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 1:17pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    It is not purely a Presidential order that makes things happen. Funding approved by congress.
    
    Less than a month before the 2018 midterm elections, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) introduced the Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018 (H.R. 7059) on October 12, 2018, but the bill died at the end of the congressional session.
    
    Then of course one of the first things Biden did, was cancel any wall construction.
    Materials all ready purchased were left to rust and were finally sold.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 3:20pm
- Dougal10
  
  MFAT needs a restructure , it has been hijacked by regen carbonists who write stupid shit into our trade agreements.
  
  12 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:04am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Apparently the EU Trade agreement that Ardern couldn’t wait to sign us up to has many fish hooks and clawback clauses detrimental to us.
    
    They kick in on 2030 when we can’t meet Paris Agreement terms.
    
    We would have been better off giving them the goods free of charge…
    
    11 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:19am
- Taieri
  
  40% bigger than it was 8 years ago?
  ———
  
  The way things are going, the administrators will outnumber the administrated in the not too distant future. And we will then need someone to administer the administrators as well.
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:46am
- PurplePen
  
  Was employedvwith a large industrial corporate in the 1990’s, as an employee
  Three of us brought each team or team leaders in and went through the budget with them line by line. Said ‘don’t need that, don’t need that’. Sometimes when we asked ‘What’s that for’ the response was ‘Ah, we’re not sure’. At the end we had cut the budget for that year by 30 percent. And the lights still stayed on. It’s easy. No reason ministers can’t do this.
  
  25 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:57am
NothingLeft

Interesting discussion from Simone and Malcom Collins on how prudish we’ve become in recent years compared to C20th. https://youtu.be/bdVr5KzzWk8

-no more shared showering
-mutual masturbation used to be common
-bestiality used to be common (nearing double digits!!)
-nudity in public used to be more frequent

Events like Burning Man have seen nudity plummet over last few decades. Perhaps a reaction to ubiquitous digital photography and ‘the internet never forgets’.
9 3
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:25am
Maggy Wassilieff

Should we be concerned that Chris Bishop can’t “read the room”, or should we be pleased that he voices his own opinion?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/chris-bishop-apologises-for-crap-comment-at-music-awards/J5Y2DGKOFVCNDGGHXT6MFAWOLU/
37 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:26am
- artemisia
  
  If that had been Shane Jones there would not have been a ripple in the MSM.
  
  33 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:28am
- kowtow
  
  On reflection, politicians of the “centre right “should simply avoid Wokefests .
  They should know there’s no votes in it.
  
  And there’s no votes in apologising tothose idiots either. Stand up and you might get votes from tax paying voters sick of being rorted.
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:41am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Everyone’s a critic
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:44am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He was t criticising walker, it was the Māori activist waving the ranitars flag in front of him
    
    9 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:06am
- Gravelroad
  
  Musicians generally live in their own closeted worlds and are ignorant of the reality of politics.
  Mr Bishop chose to go to this event.
  He should have suspected that some of the easily influenced “artistes” there would use the opportunity to reap profile by dissing the government – because that is fashionable in those circles at the moment.
  That he pushed back in public is unbecoming of a cabinet minister and achieved nothing.
  
  25 10
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:46am
  - John Loveridge
    
    Poor judgement by Bishop, sadly. Perhaps he had had a bit of a skinful.
    
    11 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 8:55am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Bishop is a rock music fan, so why shouldn’t he be there, and why shouldn’t he call out an orchestrated political statement?
    
    He will have known there were few votes to win at the music awards. Most of our creatives lean strongly to the left, and many are still coming to terms with St Jacinda of Mt Albert’s decision to quit politics.
    
    I have no problem with him declaring this performance a “load of crap” because that’s exactly what it was. I admire Stan Walker’s musical ability, but he should stick to his day job.
    
    45 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 9:24am
    - Culture War Criminal
      
      Who’s he trying to appease by issuing a weak apology? This is an extremely low bar in terms of going against the grain, but he has failed miserably. This is exactly why nothing controversial but necessary will ever be done, let alone contemplated by National. They may offend someone who dislikes them anyway (but they have no problem offending and disappointing those who have a misplaced expectation that they will act for those people’s interests).
      
      12 6
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 9:29am
      - imalwaysright
        
        I heard someone say “Just because you are offended does not mean you are right”.
        
        Bishop should have backed himself.
        The problem most MPs have is that they don’t have the wit to combat criticism.
        
        Seymour is a master at dismantling his critics.
        Luxon would be one of the worst.
        
        23 1
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:28am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘Bishop is a rock music fan’
      
      Oh , that explains the hair then.
      
      10 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 9:34am
    - Mike
      
      A ‘rock music fan’? Has he time travelled from the 1970s?
      
      3 14
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 10:36am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  He can read the room all right. Most nzers would agree it was a load of crap and pure political nonsense.
  
  He shouldn’t have backed down
  
  38 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:47am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Great to see a Nat MP saying what most of NZ thought of the hikoi protest.
    There are no votes for him to lose here.
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:41am
- pdm
  
  Wow Maggy – at last a Senior Male National MP showing some balls and saying it as it is.
  
  My respect for Chris Bishop increases.
  
  49 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:55am
  - Nukuleka
    
    And RNZ now leads its bulletin with the story, framing it as ‘drunken behaviour’. All very tedious and predictable from our taxpayer- funded anti coalition government radio station. I sympathize with Bishop but it just gives the msm another rod with which to frame the government negatively.
    
    34 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 9:04am
    - pdm
      
      Nuku – where is Prime Minister Luxon supporting Bishop and pointing out such Musical Awards are not places for displays of Political Activism.
      
      If any Taxpayers Money went into funding the event then it needs to be reviewed for next year..
      
      24 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 9:09am
      - MCōs
        
        Award ceremonies have always been used to further political points of view
        https://youtu.be/2QUacU0I4yU?si=Db9NuEi3uQLQmNFS
        
        7 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 9:51am
      - R
        
        Reviewed next year……..or a lot sooner for similar gigs. Value for our few tax dollars left in kitty
        
        5 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:21am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Give him a chance ffs, this only came to light later last night
        
        0 4
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:47am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      They seem remarkably confident that they won’t be defunded.
      
      Shame really.
      
      If the Nats were really the fascist bully boys that RNZ and the MSM keep screaming about, the media would be a lot more circumspect about saying it out loud…. just sayin’. Guess its easy to “speak truth to power” when there is no risk associated with it.
      
      13 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 9:56am
      - nathie
        
        It’s also remarkable that the MSM including the likes of RNZ and NZME appear to support (radical Maori) extreme nationalism and racial supremacists. (Judging by the way they framed their news reports).
        
        Normally they would condemn such actions if it were anyone else, but when a bunch of brown and white radical sympathisers amp up a mixture of anger and disinformation they quickly fall in behind.
        
        Their lack of awareness, and blind promotion of ideological hatred and division is outright dangerous to the cohesiveness of society, that mostly simply want to get along with each other.
        
        13 0
        Report
        May 31, 2025 11:55am
    - GazzaW
      
      Thank God Bishop wasn’t wearing a blue frock imported from the UK.
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 2:12pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    Don’t usually disagree with you pdm, but Mr Bishop is a professional politician.
    All he has done is to provide yet another stick for the msm to beat up the government with.
    What else has he achieved with his outburst?
    “showing some balls”? no.
    Reinforcing the left’s political muck raking? Yes.
    
    14 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 9:32am
    - pdm
      
      Gravel I think we will just agree to disagree on this one.
      
      Maybe if some more senior National MP’s stepped up like Bishop just did we would not be so surprised and the media might start to get the message.
      
      15 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 11:10am
  - artemisia
    
    Minister Bishop representing his constituents.
    
    15 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:21am
- Colville
  
  Yet another reason to applaud Bishop.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:57am
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    If he hadn’t apologised, you may have been right. Because he did apologise, you’re wrong.
    
    8 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:30am
  - DimChappie
    
    I also applaud Bishop for his comments. The activists were invited by Stan Walker but what a madhouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta4oBzgKKso
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 1:37pm
  - Ghost
    
    Why? He went to a music event knowing the song that Stan Walker would be performing. Knowing it was a protest song that included the Māori mp in it. Ministers need to be more aware of their actions and the bad press it can cause. Sure a few people on a political blog will cheer him along, but the media have already got their hit in, handed to them so easily.
    
    2 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 1:44pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Given that the Bish actually gets off on kiwi music, I would suggest it was a well informed expert opinion.
  
  Mr Walker’s “act” sounds like the very definition of a load of crap. But I suppose he didn’t propose to rape the PMs daughter, so that at least represents some progress at the NZ music awards.
  
  21 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:53am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The bloody Maori dancing in front of him had the Rangitra flag blocking his view, that’s what he called out what a load of crap about, filthy media tried to suggest he was saying it about Stan Walker in some sort of rotten racist rent, it was not, it was the assholes waving a meaningless flag
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:04am
- R
  
  Pleased that he has a personal opinion outside the hallowed halls of parliament. His comment was probably appropriate
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:15am
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    Shouldn’t he have the same opinions inside of as he does outside of the hallowed halls of parliament?
    
    7 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:40am
- rouppe
  
  If I were Bishop I’d have simply left the event, and made a note for Monday to reduce or eliminate government funding for AMA.
  
  It’s a self serving circle-jerk, they can fund that themselves, there are plenty of rich and famous artists and supporters of same. Lorde, for example.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:41pm
RockyJ

Watching the slow demise of main stream media is both funny and sad. These are this morning’s International News headlines from the NZ Herald;

• Erin Patterson trial; Mother’s Day text message aired in court
• Terrible catastrophe; Swiss glacier collapse devastated village*
• Fifth Harmony star exchanges vows with long term partner in sunset wedding
• Second former Sean Combs assistant recounts her dream turned nightmare
• Chunky actor dies at 61 amid sex abuse investigation
• Sydney Sweeney is turning her bath water into soap to connect with fans.

That’s it. That is what happened in the world overnight. Meanwhile Russia is advancing in Ukraine, Israel is advancing in Gaza, Trump is battling tariff wars but according to the once proudest newspaper in NZ these don’t matter.

* The piece on the glacier in Switzerland is noteworthy.
16 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:33am
- Mike
  
  That’s funny. I also see:
  – Biden staying ‘optimistic in prostate cancer battle
  – ‘Accept or be annihilated’: Israel’s stark warning to Hamas
  – UN warns peace talks for Ukraine-Russia conflict just barely alive
  
  6 15
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 10:43am
- R
  
  Swiss glacier…..the only non sport real news in the horrid today
  
  5 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:24am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Best not to bother with ‘Stuff”, if today’s economic “analysis” is anything to go by….
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/money/360707202/economics-why-theres-no-good-gigolos-nz
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:52pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “Why there’s no good gigolos in NZ.”
    
    Because in NZ all things male need to be attacked and diminished.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 6:25pm
kowtow

Heather du Plessis Allan hosted Phil Goff on her radio show last night , following an opinion piece of his in $1uffed, basically , in my opinion an anti semetic rant .

In the interview hostages and Hamas weren’t mentioned once , which is an indictment of Allan as an interviewer.

In the opinion piece itself the hostages again receive no mention and nor does the terrorist outrages of Oct 7 . Hamas’s responsibilty for the current Israeli campaign is also ignored.

The bigger picture of Oct 7 being orchestrated through/by Tehran to destroy lasting peace in the Middle East is also ignored.

It’s a pity that our msm allows washed out ,failed politicians a platform to seek relevancy over the broken bodies of murdered , raped and kidnapped Jews and folk from many other western friendly countries .
21 5
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:35am
- Culture War Criminal
  
  Where’s the “anti-semitism” you claim is contained in Phil Goff’s article?
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360707133/phil-goff-israel-doesnt-care-how-many-innocent-people-its-killing
  
  I wonder if you could give us the specific antisemitic statements you are concerned about, that way we can assess your assertions.
  
  Goff’s critical of Israel, sure, but why would he not be? Much of the world is similarly critical, and I don’t see anything in his piece that stands out. Most people who don’t have any skin in the game feel the same way. Sure, many Jews will excuse anything Israel does no matter how reprehensible, but because of their deep affiliations and tribal loyalties, of course they are going to be one-eyed.
  
  Let’s be honest: antisemitism just denotes something Jews don’t like being done or said against or about them, and is a largely fluid and flexible term that can be adapted to any situation.
  
  7 10
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 10:44am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Criticising the Israel government usually gets one a label of being antisemitic, for some reason.
    But critics of the British or Italian or Brazilian etc, governments, seem to escape the appellation of bigot.
    
    9 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:39am
    - Culture War Criminal
      
      This tells you something very important, does it not?
      
      2 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 12:12pm
    - KH
      
      Anti Jewish is antisemitic.
      Anti Israeli is not
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 3:24pm
      - Culture War Criminal
        
        Nobody is “anti-” anything for no reason. They have a belief about the thing, which leads to an attitude towards the thing. Maybe they’re mistaken in their belief, but nobody has an anti-Israel or anti-Jewish attitude “just because,” which tends to be the motivation ascribed in both instances.
        
        In other words, the critical subject is said to have some fault attributable to them alone, while the object is blameless. No further discussion necessary. Well, no. Discussion is always necessary, because that’s how we find out if beliefs are true and accompanying attitudes are justifiable.
        
        2 1
        Report
        May 31, 2025 3:48pm
      - KH
        
        I stand corrected. I am anti Israel killing so many and aiming to obliterate a people.
        
        2 2
        Report
        May 31, 2025 6:32pm
- Paulus
  
  Goff is desperate for a job – so watch out as he manipulates the media to see him as a New Labour Messiah.
  Little fella should watch his backside !
  
  11 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:09am
  - PurplePen
    
    By all means he might challenge and even get the little fella’s job. hooray I say as he’s equally as artificial and unable to speak his mind.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:45pm
- OlderChas
  
  It’s a pity that our msm allows washed out ,failed politicians a platform to seek relevancy…………..
  Last night TV3 News had a sector where the presenter ‘interviewed” Helen Clark. Clark stated in no uncertain terms that Elon Musk’s “heart goes out to you” gesture was most definitely the Nazi salute. Oh and she got the 6 million number mentioned a few times too. What is it with these people?
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 1:13pm
lifesgood

I hope Te Partly Maori are not celebrating or enjoying King’s Birthday weekend. That would be hypocritical, wouldn’t it?
26 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:41am
- R
  
  /Te Parti Maori activists will all be attending their place of employment, and diligently working on the Monday of King’s Birthday. Wouldn’t they !
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:14pm
- GazzaW
  
  …..and neither I hope is the self-professed republican Dame Jacinda Ardern who so hypocritically accepted a colonialist royalist award to embellish her after-dinner speaking CV.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 2:24pm
Bridgenag

How an unemployed middle-aged transsexual man calling himself “Alina” has used lawfare to extort employers in NRW out of at least 250,000 Euros

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/how-an-unemployed-middle-aged-transsexual?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
17 4
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:45am
- David Garrett
  
  Bridge: Well in one sense it is kind of reassuring to know that we are not the maddest PC country on the planet
  
  22 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 8:51am
  - Bridgenag
    
    Looks like you and I have a couple of pet trolls
    
    9 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 9:43am
    - Bridgenag
      
      [Mod – just debate the topics, there is no need for a running commentary on post votes]
      
      2 10
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 10:10am
- Taieri
  
  Met someone like that in NZ. The difference was, he was (successfully) claiming racial discrimination against at least 4 employers that I know of. A bit of a “legend” in the industry. And no, he’s not a Maori.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:53am
John Loveridge

Isn’t it better to find a way to get brown kids involved in STEM than teach them that matauranga maori bullshit is valid science?

OK, it’s the Guardian and all that, but I saw a little hope in this.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/30/nia-imara-painting-cosmos-stem
14 3
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 8:59am
- kiwimike
  
  JL
  Politically it’s so all the Maori can feel good about themselves as they are contributors to science.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:03pm
sungsamning

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/conservatives-hold-onto-windsor-riding-by-four-votes-after-recount/
Conservatives hold onto Ontario riding by four votes after recount

OTTAWA — Conservative Kathy Borrelli has won the Ontario riding of Windsor–Tecumseh–Lake Shore after a judicial recount confirmed her victory today by just four votes.
The Liberals called for a judicial recount, after the initial validated results following the election on April 28 saw incumbent Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk lose by 77 votes.
The recount began on Tuesday and the final results were announced this morning. [Be a shame if they lost more seats.]
6 3
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 9:41am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzbxjPqUF4
Tom Homan explains all.
Is this bold Trump-backed plan the key to restoring law and order?
Dan Ball sits down with Tom Homan, President Trump’s current Border Czar and Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, to break down how the Big Beautiful Bill will supercharge border enforcement, fund mass deportations, and protect American communities from the fallout of Biden’s open border disaster.
4 7
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 9:41am
- Mike
  
  It will also cut taxes for the billionaires, slash Medicare, boost military spending and massively inflate the national debt.
  
  2 12
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:32pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Slash medicare????
    Where is that in the bill?
    
    Ok, illegals and visitors can not get Medicare.
    Some payments under medicare dropped by 4%.
    (Remember drug costs being slashed by 30%)
    
    More hospitals can be registered as medicar providors
    
    For those who want to challenge your Medicare slashed hysteria.
    
    here is a summary
    https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/medicare/changes-to-medicare-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 6:12pm
wisteria

I see on Stuff this morning that Universities are in financial crises. Like a lot of other public bodies they had an open cheque book with the last Government and did not do the normal budgeting that ordinary people have to do. The only way is to cut staff or programs that do not meet the numbers.
23 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 9:42am
- MCōs
  
  Apart from anything else universities are nothing like ‘normal people’
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 10:58am
- kowtow
  
  When one realises the ludicrously inflated salaries they pay themselves , to run taxpayer funded charities , then no wonder they’re in a world of financial shit.
  
  Not to mention the Deep State merry go round of top appointments.
  
  Exhibit A . Otago ; Robertson on 600 k +, that lock down mountain biker guy , Turei.
  
  16 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:04am
- Mike
  
  Trends in the total vote for tertiary education:
  2016/17 2.9 billion
  2017/18 3.1 billion
  2018/19 3.2 billion
  2019/20 3.3 billion
  2020/21 2.7 billion
  2021/22 4 billion
  2022/23 3.8 billion
  2023/24 3.9 billion
  2024/25 3.9 billion
  2025/26 $3.8 billion
  So, it’s gone up by about 1 billion post-
  Covid and National and ACT have preserved that funding. A total increase of about 33% over 10 years.
  
  6 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:05am
  - mogg
    
    Thanks to Jacinda and Robo that exorbitant increase is almost exactly in line with inflation, which has been 32.7% over last 10 years.
    
    9 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:43am
  - mandk
    
    You’re talking nonsense, Mike.
    
    When do you think COVID was?
    
    The numbers show that the funding has remained the same in cash terms since COVID, which implies a decrease in real terms.
    
    6 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 12:25pm
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  I suspect the biggest revenue line for universities is student fees, which has been jetfuelled by student loans and the 1st year free. As Universities have become increasingly neo-Marxist and dei focussed they are losing their appeal and will be experiencing a downturn in numbers. Another significant revenue line — international student fees — will likewise suffer from the COVID impact and subsequently a decrease due to the diminished quality of what is offered.
  
  In good times they have bloated their expenses into non-value adding activities.
  
  If Universities are to thrive they must cut back on these wasted costs and focus on the quality of their educational offering. Being bailed out by government expenditure is the worst possible way to fix the issue. It is the same for the legacy media. Quality of service will win the day.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:38am
  - PurplePen
    
    You would think that with all the intelligent people that are at a university and running it they wild would be the most efficient and effective at what they do and have zero issues. Just goes to show that NZ intelligensia is certainly not what it’s cracked up to be. Sad really, for the students.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:51pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Aren’t the universities the ones we pay to train people to run the country and its business?
  
  They can’t even run their own business that they designed…
  
  Would we take our car to a mechanic who can’t fix cars?
  
  11 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:49am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  How do universities get to budget when you have Marxists running the universities like Robertson
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:57am
- R
  
  All the essentially ideological ‘basket weaving’ courses could be canceled, there by saving millions; and the remaining staff concentrate on the STEM subjects.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:19pm
- rouppe
  
  The only way is to cut staff or programs that do not meet the numbers
  
  Except that’s not what they’re doing. Previous reports I saw a few months ago had them cutting STEM courses in order to keep “arts” courses.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:48pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Universities had an “open checkbook under the last Government”? This is news to me, and I work at a university. During the last 7 years we’ve undergone two rounds of redundancies, and implemented a series of austerity measures. That said, we haven’t helped ourselves by caving to activist pressure and embarking on a suicidal course of “decolonization”.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 4:18pm
Taieri

(Not so) new trends in housing are being promoted by Waipapa Taumata Rau (formerly known as the University of Auckland):

“However, a few older Māori still hold memories that can be woven into future designs. I talked with a kaumatua in his eighties, who remembered living in a papakāinga when it had traditional long drop toilets, with mānuka screens for privacy.”

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025/05/29/a-maori-solution-to-the-housing-crisis.html
12 1
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 10:12am
- Cassandra
  
  I made the mistake of reading this nonsense too. Raupo thatching and a hole for a lavatory recommended as a solution for Maori housing. Then wait for rheumatic fever and other diseases to do their evil. Would solve the housing shortage of course, by reducing demand to zero. What a load of tosh.
  
  17 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 11:04am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    True, but how bigoted of you to suggest that Western infrastructure might be superior to Mataurangi Maori?
    
    The all-knowing old ways and traditional medicines will ensure that the kids stay safe and healthy!
    
    … or not, but that too is Ranginui and Papatuanuku’s will.
    
    17 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 11:39am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      What was the median pre-colonial life span?
      
      And now (even with crap ” I couldn’t give a F about looking after my health” lifestyles)?
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 6:28pm
- rouppe
  
  The picture in the beginning showed structures that looked suspiciously like planked wood.
  
  How did Maori cut trees into planks with their stone tools, remind me?
  
  I’m also suscpicious of long drops dug with stone tools. Can you really get a long drop for a community of 50 dug deep enough without colonial tools? My understanding was you just went to the river and did it there.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 1:10pm
pb

“Dunedin residents face a rates rise of 10.7% and councillors have been warned planned capital spending is so high it could be a struggle to deliver everything.”

Seems to me that when local councils wild debt spending outstrips CPI it should trigger an automatic restructure.

They should be laid off, and hired back slowly until books are squared. Why do these clowns escape accountability?
12 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 10:23am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  10.7% woah, that’s a relief, 19% and 20% the last 2 years.
  
  Yet they still spent 50 million on an un-need south Dunedin brand new library when we have a huge library in town and right near where the free buses for elderly stop, then they are going to spend another 50 million on revitalising the Octagon again, I also seen Vanderbis whinging about another 100 million waste in the paper
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:05pm
  - Taieri
    
    Yet they still spent 50 million on an un-need south Dunedin brand new library
    ———-
    
    According to the DCC website the budgeted capital costs are quoted at $21.4 million.
    
    https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council/council-projects/south-dunedin-library-and-community-complex
    
    The annual running costs are expected to be around $2.8 million.
    
    However, I agree with you. This whole project is an absolute waste of money. Especially with the council planning to lease out the top floor to commercial tenants in order to offset the costs of this fine facility.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 1:52pm
    - AitchW
      
      And because it’s a local council build the costs will be 50 to 100% over budget.
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 4:00pm
      - Quail
        
        AitchW,
        Yes ,that is the tried and true councils playbook.
        Been doing it for years ,since the start of “powers of general competence “
        
        0 0
        Report
        June 1, 2025 5:22pm
  - greybeard
    
    Vandervis is the only sensible one there.
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 2:54pm
Damocles11

Saw a copy of the Herald at the local cafe. A truly disgusting cartoon from the far left Australian Rod Emmerson inside. His raw searing hatred for David Seymour is once again given open slather. Why these repugnant one-sided attacks are allowed by the Editors is beyond belief. Why can’t we find good home-grown cartoonists, why import a hate-filled cultural marxist nutjob to produce such tripe?
28 1
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 10:26am
SpencerArnold

Reports on X (formerly Twitter) that Waiperera Trust is no longer registered as a charity. Does this mean they have to return any unspent money? Also, saw another X Post about over $400K granted to a charity for homelessness that only spend $81k on actual services to their target audience.

[Mod – fixed]
13 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 10:29am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Haha, it will re-emerge as something else, but they will bury who is behind the new venture, government should be very weary delivering any contract to a new out fit
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:07pm
  - AitchW
    
    Wary. Weary means tired….
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 4:01pm
Damocles11

Guess who Sir Ian Taylor has been hanging out with? It all makes sense now.

https://www.facebook.com/share/16bPhFcJjH/?mibextid=wwXIfr
6 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 10:50am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Who was it, the photo has gone now
  
  [Photo still there. mod.]
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 12:08pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh C’mon…
  NZ is a tiny place and all the media folk know each other.
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 1:05pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Sort of reverse of Trump.
  Ie the left hate Trump, businessman turned politician
  
  Taylor loved by the left, businessman involved in politics.
  
  But then I suppose lefties love lefties
  and righters love righter.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 6:20pm
cas

OMG Paddy Gower is replacing Jim Mora tomorrow on RNZ’s Sunday morning programme. And interviewing Jim Bolger.

No wonder the trust in RNZ is heading downhill faster than a slalom skier.
21 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 1:01pm
Don Beckett

Last Thursday I went to the eye specialists to have an assessment for an ectropian repair (sagging lower eyelid) which occurred during facial skin cancer surgery a couple of years ago.
The attendant nurse had to cover one eye at a time with a black patch to assess my peripheral vision.
After she put the patch in place, she asked if it was fine & I answered yes.
Then she asked, “Do you have any questions?”
To which I replied, “Aaaarg – where’s my parrot?”. 😉
13 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 1:43pm
PurplePen

Herald has a piece about the two next in line for the police deputy Commissioner. One’s a woman, one’s a man. An issue will inevitably be the perception that if the woman is selected it will be because of her sex, not fully on merit. It can’t be helped. DEI is exactly to blame for that perception. The best person for the job in any case would surely be whomever has the most respect from those on the front line.

It’s in no way relevant, but I have to share the photo of the woman contender is definitely that of an older man with a mullet.
6 5
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 3:02pm
- Ghost
  
  You are right, it’s not relevant, actually it’s pathetic and disgusting to judge a woman based how you just have. A female who has served this country since she joined the police force in 1993.
  
  4 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 3:44pm
  - Mike
    
    He’s simply saying what he believes: you can’t trust anyone but a white man to do a job properly.
    
    3 13
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 4:04pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      More BS. He wrote nothing of the sort.
      
      8 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 6:39pm
    - Ghost
      
      It would seem Mike that people on this blog only stand up for abuse directed at woman when it comes from the opposition or msm, when it’s their own abusing woman, silence.
      
      1 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      May 31, 2025 10:53pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I think her wig needs a trim
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    May 31, 2025 10:15pm
Jack5

Media Minister Goldsmith on why bugger all’s happening on the Media.

A podcast interview with Shayne Currie, at the Herald.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider/media-insider-podcast-media-and-communications-minister-paul-goldsmith-on-rnz-ratings-tvnz-financials-and-the-state-of-his-industry-reforms/XWMRIRZK2FGETLNRPQVT2VAG4E/
1 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 5:13pm
- Jack5
  
  Or at simpler address for the Goldsmith podcast-interview:
  
  https://youtu.be/nJGoH1ayO34?si=YSAUkHg2h-Q3OUdD
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 5:22pm
greybeard

I see that “Stuff” is now publishing articles from Ardern, as well as Clarke.
That would suggest that they ( as left-wing promoters ) are getting a bit worried !
Scraping the bottom of the socialist barrel.
9 2
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 5:31pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  All good. Simply accelerating their own inevitable demise.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 6:41pm
  - Quail
    
    A Horror story.
    Labour are going to re employ Ardern as their leader in the next election.!
    The buildup is beginning and she is getting more and more publicity.
    Even those who have nothing but contempt for her are talking about her which plays right into the Labour playbook.
    New Zealand has suffered enough, please don’t help Labour.Don’t give them or her any oxygen!
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    June 1, 2025 5:42pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Not that I want to see it happen at all, but if enough NZers are thick enough to vote for her again they deserve the NZ that will eventuate.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      June 9, 2025 6:31pm
- AitchW
  
  It’s hard to imagine Helen Clark having any influence, even harder to imagine anyone taking Ardern seriously.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 7:41pm
- kiwimike
  
  But they should be worried.
  Please let them come back here, there are a few people who want to speak to them !!
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  May 31, 2025 9:11pm
Jack5

Can Trump bring manufacturing back to America?

An influential new book puts Apple Computer at the heart of transfer of technology manufacturing leadership from America to China.

The author, Patrick McGee, notes that Apple promised Trump in his first term big investments to help return manufacturing from China to America but Apple’s chief, Tim Cook, didn’t deliver. Instead Apple propelled the technology surge in China.

McGee compares China’s leap past America in tech manufacturing to America’s vast industrial power last century, which Hitler feared.

In the 25-minute interview linked to below McGee outlines Apple’s central part in the transfer of technology industrial power from the US to China:

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/saturdayextra/how-apple-made-china-a-global-tech-power-/105361422
4 1
Log in to Reply
Report
May 31, 2025 7:36pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Youth Parliament more representative than Parliament?

Pay the donation and get out of jail »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

Target achieved II
Good progress on attendance
Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments

Links

Parliament fails to defend transparency
No Right Turn
"The principal view of human laws is, or ought always to be, to explain, protect, and enforce such rights as are absolute, which in themselves are few and simple."
Not PC
Word of the day
Hompaddock
The response to Budget 2026 has been unusually muted
Point of Order
You know what “does not pass the sniff test”? Labour’s incremental response to blatant corruption – this is why they plunged 7.5%
The Daily Blog
When is a Free Speech Union not a Free Speech Union?
The Standard
We Are a Country That Decided Housing Was The Economy
No Minister
My Opening Statement for the UATX Caplan-Jones Immigration Rematch
Utopia
Playing with numbers.
Kiwipolitico
Another non-tariff barrier
Offsetting Behaviour
Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 18
Stats Chat
Budget 2026
NZCPR
UK Conversion Therapy Ban, Digital ID, Rallies, Elections
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: