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July 17, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 July 2025

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General Debate

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Cassandra

The Auckland railway system is being renamed. If you used to go to Britomart you’ll now go to Waitematā. Wellesley Street now has a station called Te Waihorotiu, named after a river which runs under Queen Street. Residents of the long-established suburb of Mount Eden will catch their train at Maungawhau. The office of Mayor has been renamed Rangatira ō Tamaki. On a positive note Tauranga has been renamed Owensville.
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July 17, 2025 8:00am
- pdm
  
  Will those fandangled new names stick Cass?
  
  mrspdm and I were in Wanganui last week visiting old friends. One a resident there for about 5o years said she still uses the old spelling.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:10am
  - Phronesis
    
    It would be colonialist to assume that names won’t change. Traditionally names changed depending on what tribe was in power at the time.
    
    You have to understand that maori is not a language in the ordinary sense, it’s seldom used to communicate in the way english is. It exists solely to confuse, obfuscate, signal group membership, and most importantly of all, virtue signal.
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:23am
  - G152
    
    As do I
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:30am
  - R
    
    The old spelling, ……..i.e. ..’the correct spelling’
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:40am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Wanganui was originally named Petre.
    
    https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/18927/petre-wanganui-or-whanganui
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:35am
- Frank the tank
  
  It’s for the corporate and bureaucratic white elite that can sleep well at night while clutching their oversized tikis believing that they aren’t racist and are helping the poor brown people in South Auckland who will magically start attending school, stop joining gangs and committing crimes and otherwise get a job and pay taxes.
  
  In other words Woketopia.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:15am
- Scooter
  
  Our once beautiful country has been cancelled, one name at a time. Soon it will be unrecognisable as they are starting with the names of towns and train stops.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:37am
- Scooter
  
  Not only are English names being replaced but long standing Maori ones like Owairaka (Mt Albert) in Auckland now has another name, this on the Auckland City Council website. Maybe Owairaka was a little too mainstream and pronounceable they just needed to up the level of wokeness/virtue signaling and create a new one.
  
  Auckland Council
  https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
  Ōwairaka / Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura / Mt Albert
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:52am
  - Taieri
    
    Not only are English names being replaced but long standing Maori ones like Owairaka (Mt Albert) in Auckland now has another name
    ————-
    
    Many “traditional” Maori names have been entirely made up and never existed before European settlement.
    There’s a very extensive coverage of this subject in the authoritative “Spurious Maori Place Names of Southern New Zealand” by George Griffiths, published by Otago Heritage Books in 2002. One curious example is Otepoti for Dunedin, where it was not only impossible to locate a settlement of that name, but also to establish what this name actually refers to. Still, it is now accepted as a “traditional” Maori name of the present city. Many locations never had any names at all, due to a very sparse population of the South Island; there’s simply no one living in or visiting these places to name them.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:35am
    - David Garrett
      
      Taieri: Quite so. Imagine living in “Otepoti” in the winter wearing nothing more than a dog skin cloak. If they escaped being eaten, the cause of death of many Maori in the south must surely have been pneumonia.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:23pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      What about Mt Cook?
      
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      July 17, 2025 2:49pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        The Maori name for Mt. Cook is ‘Aoraki’, meaning ‘the cloud piercer’. I understand that has always been it’s name since before the arrival of Europeans.
        
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        July 17, 2025 4:43pm
- Taieri
  
  The Auckland railway system is being renamed.
  ———-
  
  The public bus service in New Plymouth is also to be renamed. The proposed name is “Te Pahi”, which translates to “The Bus”. Good to see the decolonisation of buses and the return of the Indigenous name to this traditional mode of transport.
  
  https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360756366/te-pahi-proposed-new-name-taranakis-public-buses
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:56am
- Jade Warrior
  
  Cassandra, your tongue-in-cheek comment about Tauranga raises an interesting point. In this call by some activists for bilingual place names in New Zealand, I’ve always found it interesting that in practice it only means that European places have to take on a Māori equivalent.
  
  But if we are to be consistent with such a policy, then surely it must logically follow that every Māori place name must also take on a European equivalent. What’s good for the goose …
  
  So in reality this call for measures like bilingual road signs is really just another attempt at a cultural takeover, and has nothing to do with reflecting a consistent approach to place naming in New Zealand.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:18am
  - Tarquin North
    
    Not so flash if you live in Ruakaka.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:16am
    - pdm
      
      Or Waipukurau.
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:25pm
  - Jack5
    
    Even in Christchurch, sometimes promoted as the country’s most English city.
    
    Here is the beginning of the Christchurch City Council’s policy on name changing, adopted last November:
    
    The proposed name will be assessed in terms of its consistency with one or more of the following
    criteria:
    
    a – A traditional or Maori name which is acceptable to the Runanga or Iwi; this may be a name reflecting the physical characteristics of an area, an activity or event associated with the area or of a notable ancestor.
    
    The council goes on to say:
    
    “In some cases, dual names (Maori and English) may be appropriate for the naming or renaming of parks and facilities. Dual names will generally have the Maori name first.”
    
    Requirements for road names, include: “Maori names will include the appropriate macrons to aid pronunciation and to preserve correct interpretation. No other diacritical marks e.g., commas or apostrophes, are permitted.”
    
    https://ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/The-Council/Plans-Strategies-Policies-Bylaws/Policies/Naming/Naming-Policy-2023.pdfhttps://ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/The-Council/Plans-Strategies-Policies-Bylaws/Policies/Naming/Naming-Policy-2023.pdf
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:32am
    - Ehlana
      
      “Maori names will include the appropriate macrons to aid pronunciation”. Since macrons aren’t part of the English language, how will they help English speakers to pronounce the place names correctly?
      
      As for dual names, they should be Maori when communicating in Maori and English when communicating in English. Why is this so difficult for NZ institutions to grasp?
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:33pm
- penguincouple
  
  The ironic thing is even the propaganda Facebook page of the City Rail Link also found the Te whatever thing difficult to understand without providing more context – they consistently have to preface that by calling it “the mid-town station of Te Waihorotiu”.
  
  I don’t care with the virtual signalling. Place names should be simply to communicate – that means shorter name is preferred. I am calling it Aotea station given it is more or less at Aotea Square. Anyone thinking “Aotea” is less Maori than Te Wa whatever has gone way over the top. I may even called it mid-town station as the City Rail Link Facebook page keeps on suggesting.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:03am
- Mike
  
  How scary.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:20am
  - Gussy Fink-Nottle
    
    Is that you, Mikaere?
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:14pm
- Handyman
  
  It was funny watching the mental gymnastics of my lefty friends (who proudly live in Aotearoa) when President Trump gifted a new name to the erstwhile Gulf of Mexico.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:26am
  - Taieri
    
    President Trump gifted a new name to the erstwhile Gulf of Mexico
    ———-
    
    In exchange for a suitable koha, I hope…
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:19am
    - Jack5
      
      The NZ Geographic Place Names Board might have fixed it for Trump, free. 🙃
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:38pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      If you consider the writhing & exploding heads of Democrats & Mexicans as a gift to DJT, then your hope has been realised. 😆
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:57pm
  - Mike
    
    Perhaps he will purport to correct a few more placenames that aren’t under his jurisdiction.
    DPRK to ‘Little Rocketman state”
    Gaza to ‘Trump Riviera”
    Slovenia to ‘Melanialand’
    Greenland to “Trumpland”
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:20pm
    - Conservatarian
      
      Wellington to “Cuba with bad weather”
      
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      July 17, 2025 5:15pm
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Correction: bad climate.
        
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        July 17, 2025 6:42pm
- kowtow
  
  I thought this post was satire , or more suited for April 1 .
  But alas we seem to live in Year Zero and everything is being re written ,redefined , without any real ‘consultation’ or say from the majority , who are affected by this .
  
  And another observation; people question the existence of the “Deep State” or Blob , call it what you will.
  Here’s proof and this stuff is happening the length and breadth of the country , being done by a tiny largely unelected Elite in consultation with a tiny unelected elite .
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:31am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Am waiting for some bright spark to come up with a traditional name for NZ national currency.
    Dollar seems so colonial dont you think, and doesnt represent our traditional values.
    I expect to the dollar to soon be referenced everywhere as Tara/Dollar
    /sarc
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:45pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      The official currency of Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), which was introduced on April 5, 2024. This currency is backed by gold and aims to stabilize the economy after previous currency failures.
      
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      July 17, 2025 6:36pm
    - Dunc
      
      South Pacific Peso was always acceptable …
      
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      July 18, 2025 9:29am
  - Quail
    
    Government has yet to wake up to the very real annoyance and bitterness engendered by wantonly changing the area names of the homes of many many New Zealand residents.
    IMHO This arrogance and lack of regard for the present residents own history , and wishes, is likely to cost them the election!
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:38pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Would be good to know who precisely was responsible for the name change.
  
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  July 17, 2025 7:39pm
  - artemisia
    
    And how much they were paid for the ‘gift’ and the karakia.
    
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    July 18, 2025 6:30am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjopf9JCpM
Brazil just Found Out.
Brazil’s corrupt, drunken president doesn’t have the majority of the Brazilian people on his side. Quite the opposite. But the Supreme Court persecutes anyone who speaks out against this mismanagement. Despite knowing that tariffs harm producers, we hope they will have the desired effect of correcting everything that’s wrong in Brazil.
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July 17, 2025 8:01am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC0FpMuCd8I
Minor Problems in West Taiwan #958.
Remember folks, this is why your consumer goods are so cheap, and why Apple’s profits are so staggeringly large, because we’re literally living off the backs of these people working for less than nothing.
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July 17, 2025 8:02am
- NothingLeft
  
  Apple sell about 220million phones a year generating half their income and whole company makes about 180 Billion annual profit, so something like USD$400 profit per phone – with retail prices around USD$600-1000, they really do cost FA to make, and assembly labor is almost irrelevant to pricing.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:29am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, that’s right. There’s no way I’d buy one after watching this.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:44am
    - wsk12345
      
      Pretty sure every brand ia made using sweatshop labour. Will you be the only adult in NZ without a mobile phone?
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:58pm
  - Jack5
    
    In the early years of smarter electronics manufacturing moving to China, rather than slave pay being the attraction, there was bullshit that the attraction was the deftness and patience of Chinese workers, especially Chinese women workers.
    
    This was sometimes attributed to them growing up using chopsticks.
    
    Free trade enrichens both partners, was the economic philosophy for the transfer of industry to Asia.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:47pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Gross profit $400 ish dollars.
    
    Please educate yourself as to what Gross profit is.
    Then research Net profit
    
    As otherwise commented, apples net profit 25% is less than Google and microsoft.(and Pfizer and some banks.)
    
    So I presume you will not be using Google search
    Gmail
    Excel
    Word
    etc etc
    or using online banking
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:37pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Just a small correction.
  If your reference to west Taiwain (pathetic attempt at humour) is Chine. They dont work for less than nothing, or nothing, or very little.
  (Bias, my company has been buying product from china for 25+ years). During which period standard of living and employment coditions have improved significantly.
  
  Apple of course has moved its manufacturing to India! Why?
  a report by Boston Consulting Group indicated that the average labour cost per hour in China in 2020 was $6.5, while in India it was $3.5 and in Vietnam, it was $3.
  
  iPhone production, with the iPhone 16 lineup being entirely manufactured in India.
  
  By the way Apples Nett profit runs at 25%. So not ridiculous at all. As Banking, Mining, IT(Google 30%/Microsoft 36%) and drug companies match or exceed that
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:58pm
Yvette

UN letter
Why does the “please explain” letter from the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K Barume, not ask under the auspices of the Declaration of Rights – the United Nations founding document, that all persons will have religious freedom – why does New Zealand laud one religious view above all others? – that te Ao o te Maori (the Maori primely-religious world view) is elevated Aryan-like above all others, since the United Nations exists as the result of Germany’s going down that very path of basically Nazi favouritism to one view of humanity had lead to the utmost desecration of another portion of humanity?

Can the United Nations explain how our Government is still favouring one ethnic religious viewpoint – rather than being neutral and that means secular – or is it beyond the UN to ask questions about actions which offend under their own UN Declaration of Rights, which requires at least the dismantling of some of the Aryan measures Labour took in the Ardernity of their six years of recent power?

Is the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K Barume, supporting New Zealand activists to maintain a position that offends under their own UN declaration of Human Rights?

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) protects the freedom of religion or belief in Article 18, of which key aspects are –

• Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion: Individuals are free to hold any belief or no belief, and to change their religion or belief.
 • Manifestation of belief: This includes the freedom to practice, teach, worship, and observe religious customs, either individually or with others.  
• Protection from coercion: Individuals cannot be forced to adopt or change their religion or belief.
 • Parental rights: Parents have the right to ensure their children’s religious and moral education according to their own convictions.
 • Non-discrimination: The UDHR prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief.  

Additional points:
• The UDHR emphasizes that the right to freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human right.
 • It is a universal right, meaning it applies to all individuals, regardless of their religion or belief.  
• The UDHR also acknowledges the role of religious organizations in promoting human rights.
 • The right to freedom of religion or belief is not absolute and may be subject to certain limitations, such as those necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
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July 17, 2025 8:03am
- Phronesis
  
  “The right to freedom of religion or belief is not absolute…”
  You can safely disregard everything else. Just as with NZ’s Bill of Rights. The Government decides what rights you will have on any given day.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:31am
  - Taieri
    
    Government decides what rights you will have on any given day
    ———
    
    What’s more, governments often usurp the right to dictate which beliefs are acceptable and therefore allowed. But, while it’s possible to observe the public expression of beliefs, it’s not possible to determine what people really think. Not yet anyway…
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:01am
  - Yvette
    
    Phronesis, sorry I was trying to make the point more with regard to the hypocrisy of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K Barume, and the position he represents and the New Zealand activists who likely made the “allegations” his letter mentions.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:17am
- Jack5
  
  New Zealanders have a lot to thank John Key for.
  
  Fifteen years ago, his Government signed up to the controversial UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  
  This was after Key, a former Wall Street investment bank currency trader and reputed to have a razor-sharp mind, was out-thought and out-manoeuvred into the move by his Maori Affairs Minister, Pita Sharples.
  
  https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-govt-support-un-rights-declaration
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:47am
  - Yvette
    
    There are two questions about John Key’s actions –
    [1] Did he really think that the coveate in his statement would be adhered to – as remarked on before and there in his Government release that you link to:
    
    • reaffirms the legal and constitutional frameworks that underpin New Zealand’s legal system, noting that those existing frameworks define the bounds of New Zealand’s engagement with the declaration. – the ‘framework’ being the Treaty.
    
    [2] Why was Pita Sharples flown secretly to New York to the UN, a fact cited in many references.
    
    And also there is the question of when, under the NZF/National coalition agreement, will UNDRIP be revisited as promised?
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:31pm
  - pdm
    
    Jack- Pita Sharples was no mug. More astute and of far better character than those currently fronting The Maori Party inside and outside of Parliament these days.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:40pm
- PurplePen
  
  The scope of the UN really does need to be trimmed severely. Back to what it was when it was formed.
  
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  July 17, 2025 12:36pm
  - Nobby2
    
    PP, Just as the Waitangi Tribunal needs to be taken back to its original brief, before mission creep happened to it.
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:21pm
- rouppe
  
  Because the UN doesn’t see Maori world view as a religion?
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:18pm
Chuck Bird

This may be a real problem, unlike climate change.

See images of solar eruptions on the sun in unprecedented detail

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/see-images-of-solar-eruptions-on-the-sun-in-unprecedented-detail/OLUFHOAZTRAIJJVQJN35MWOJRA/
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July 17, 2025 8:05am
- cmm
  
  This has been happening since forever without us knowing about it. Humans have documented sun spots etc for around 3000 years, but other artefacts like solar flares etc are much more recent.
  
  Now we can just observe in finer detail with more sensitive equipment. Being able to see something or not does not change the risk levels of that happening.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:27am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Sunspots are a different matter. In the 1800s, there was a solar eruption that put telegraphs out of action. If that happened now, it would be a major problem. Thanks to the US, which has a spaceship close to the sun, we should have more warning and can shut down power in advance of an eruption.
    
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    July 17, 2025 8:34am
    - JJ56
      
      NZ is doing its bit see https://solartsunamis.otago.ac.nz/. The research has already allowed Transpower to mitigate risks from a recent solar storm.
      
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      July 17, 2025 8:55am
      - PurplePen
        
        Buy not from loosened nuts and bolts, it would seem.
        
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        July 17, 2025 12:38pm
    - cmm
      
      There are two types of impact:
      * electromagnetic radiation
      * particle radiation (solar winds etc)
      
      EMPs are electromagnetic radiation which travels at the speed of light.
      
      It is pointless trying to detect direct electromagnetic effects earlier because the radio waves from the satellite also travel at the speed of light so give no extra warning.
      
      What is worth detecting are the solar wind style events because those that only travels at around 500km/second and takes around 3 days to reach Earth. The Parker Solar Probe is thus close enough to the sun to give around 2.5 days warning.
      
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      July 17, 2025 9:25am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘we should have more warning and can shut down power ‘
      
      Gaiaism is already providing for power shut downs , only with no warnings.
      
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      July 17, 2025 9:34am
  - mandk
    
    Why couldn’t the Maori Party do something about it?
    
    They could get Maui to stop it.
    
    Afterall, didn’t he catch the sun in a net to stop it crossing the sky.
    
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    July 17, 2025 8:38am
  - Yvette
    
    Cmm – This has been happening since forever without us knowing about it.
    
    That is because an electromagnetic radiation surge doesn’t bugger up a message carved in a slab of stone as much as it can freak out a $3,250 Galaxy Z Fold 7 Samsung :o)
    
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    July 17, 2025 8:42am
    - cmm
      
      Actually it is very unlikely to damage a cellphone.
      
      What are far more sensitive are very long lengths of wire like power grids and telegraph cables.
      
      Since almost all telephone and such travels via fibre optics and such, the most important important factor are power grids.
      
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      July 17, 2025 9:28am
      - Yvette
        
        Thank you, Cmm.
        As I am one of the three people left in New Zealand who doesn’t have a cell phone, I do in fact have little knowledge of them, and won’t suffer in the ear (deafening crash) or eyes (blinding flash) when the sun’s electronic blip arrives –
        and I will avoid standing next to any No.8 wire fences.
        
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        July 17, 2025 10:24am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Safe from Mossad then, too Yvette
        
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        July 17, 2025 11:38am
      - cmm
        
        My wife also does not have a cellphone. I wonder who the last person is :-)?
        
        Yup, staying away from long fence lines would be a good idea.
        
        During the Carrington Event in 1859 the only long wires were telegraphs. Magnetically induced currents caused sparks to come out of telegraphic equipment.
        
        It takes a relatively long bit of wire to be able to magnetically induce any significant currents in a low frequency event like a CME.
        
        Battery powered electric appliances like cellphones, electric vehicles computers and such are too small and are only susceptible to high frequency effects (unless they are plugged in to the grid at the time when they become an extension of the grid).
        
        So unlike many others, I am not going to wrap either my brain or my cellphone in tin foil for the next CME.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event
        
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        July 17, 2025 11:51am
  - Paulus
    
    Didn’t early Maori find the first Sunspots ?
    Nobody else was clever enough.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:09am
    - cmm
      
      They also invented the time machine to go back 4000 years to beat the Chinese at documenting sunspots ~800BC.
      
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      July 17, 2025 11:53am
      - Yvette
        
        Hey, their Time Machine is stuck about 1841 … ka plui
        
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        July 17, 2025 1:35pm
      - Jethrod
        
        And even more up to date…..
        An American, a Russian and a Maori were in a pub together up North. Each was having a boast.
        The Russian said we were the first to put a man in space.
        The American said we were the first on the moon.
        The Maori then said ,we are going to the Sun!
        The American and the Russian both scoffed, saying You will get burnt up!
        The Maori then said, looking a bit sly, Nah, we are going at night!
        
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        July 17, 2025 3:25pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I think a more serious problem is that every time the wind blows or some rain falls, somewhere in NZ experiences a power outage.
  
  I hate to to think what will occur when a decent storm arrives.
  
  https://nelsonapp.co.nz/news/articles/rain-warning-upgraded
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:08am
  - wsk12345
    
    Expect alot more of it. Outside of the biggest half dozen distribution companies I would expect they are al falling into disrepair. An IT survey showed that only a few have a non paper system for recording asset condition. And they each have 10s of thousands assets.
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:14am
  - cmm
    
    It’s just a matter of being prepared for it.
    
    When I lived out of town a large wind or snow storm would knock out power (once for over a week). No problems, gas camping stove in the garage would come out and we’d be cooking again in 3 minutes. Heat some water for an “Army Wash” before bed. Couple of camping LED lanterns for lights…
    
    It is far more of an issue for industry, but they very seldom lose power.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:31am
- coge
  
  Quick pay the Govt your sun tax!! They have a plan!
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:39am
  - pdm
    
    Bloody hell coge watch what you say.
    
    You have now given the next Labour/Green Government, even if 20 plus years away, another tax to inflict on New Zealanders.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:47pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

How’s Steve Otto, has anyone heard?
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July 17, 2025 8:06am
- Swifty
  
  And Krazykiwi, Tall Man, Batman and a host of others.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:55am
  - Philview
    
    I often wonder how Benedict is. It sounded like a post he made on here was spotted by an activist who complained to his employer. Sadly comments can be weaponised by people with an agenda.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:16am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, I understand he was doxxed. He did make a comment to that effect saying he would not be back. He was indeed an interesting commenter.
      
      12 0
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      July 17, 2025 1:02pm
      - Flossie
        
        One of several reasons to post under a nom de plume.
        
        12 0
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        July 17, 2025 1:30pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        He actually was posting u der a nom-de-plume – Benedict Yu was not his real name.
        
        9 0
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        July 17, 2025 1:41pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        [Forget discussions about past commentators please. mod.]
        
        1 0
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        July 17, 2025 1:58pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Employers who sack people over a lefty doxx should be imprisoned.
      
      3 1
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      July 17, 2025 6:43pm
artemisia

There was some interest here on the contractor / employee issue following recent legal appeals relating to Uber drivers.

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill has been referred to Select Committee and submissions are now open. Closing date 13 August if anyone wants to submit. For certain sure unions will be in boots and all.

(Interesting to see the Supreme Court Uber decision when available).

https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/ed5dd988-f79a-4fc8-ecda-08ddad149fb0?Tab=history
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July 17, 2025 8:11am
- cmm
  
  I will be making a submission because the impact here is far wider than Uber drivers.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:27am
Biscuit

Predictable News Story Of The Day:

SBW had a ‘fight’ last night.

And he lost.

Well, according to the ‘criminal’ judges anyway.

There’ll be a rematch, of course, presaged by mucho big talk and even more mucho baring of tattoos……

And, v. likely, a re-re-match…

Do the punters out there – who forked out $A70 on Aussie TV channel ‘Stan’ (and likely even more here?) – not realise they’re being ‘had’?
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July 17, 2025 8:12am
- MCōs
  
  Advertising for forty dollars on NZ Sky. I didn’t watch because I’m not interested the same way I’m not interested in plenty of other stuff on TV.
  Apart from that SBW has only ever been pretty mediocre boxer
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:46am
  - pdm
    
    Bloody good rugby player though mcos.
    
    He had skills players like Jordie Barrett, Reiko Ioane, Billy Proctor could only dream of.
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:29am
    - Biscuit
      
      I’m neutral there, pdm:
      
      SBW Good:
      THAT pass to Ma’a Nonu in the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final vs Australia
      
      SBW Bad:
      Getting sent off in the Second Test vs the 2017 Lions that effectively cost New Zealand the ultimately-drawn series…
      
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      July 17, 2025 9:39am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, SBW had some excellent skills – but defence was not one of them – very good on attack & ball handling.
        
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        July 17, 2025 10:36am
      - Jethrod
        
        A bit like Jonah….. amazing on attack, defence…. mmm…. not so much!
        
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        July 17, 2025 3:29pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      He seemed to divide his time between getting in the way and trying to stay out of the way.
      And he was given an all black place, that a few other players spent a lot of time and effort and money trying to get, mainly because of his media profile.
      Good league player though.
      
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      July 17, 2025 10:07am
      - Nobby2
        
        imalways. He might have been a good league player but he was a piss poor and overrated rugby union player.
        
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        July 17, 2025 3:27pm
- rouppe
  
  One of the great things about Thailand is that the bars all have “the box” which can show pretty much any sport from anywhere.
  
  Last night the SBW fight started about 7pm local time so i played some pool with friends, drank some beer and watched the fight for free. Watched the super rugby the same way.
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:34pm
artemisia

Not sure the Latu family is a great poster child for an article on alarming poverty. Maybe the family is, of course, but one would never know from the article. No doubt the family is doing it tough, but 2 parents, 8 children and 2 other relatives in a household ‘reliant on the benefit’ might offer a clue.

It would have been more interesting if journalist Amy Williams had told readers exactly what Latu household income is and including whether any of the occupants are employed.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/567129/charities-see-alarming-levels-of-poverty-as-families-struggle
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July 17, 2025 8:14am
- Simon
  
  Mass Polynesian low wage immigration was started by the National party in the early 1960s. Many Polynesian families have suffered in poverty once the economy turned around 10 yrs after.
  
  Permanent welfare caused by the National party. Know your history.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:31am
  - Prince
    
    Yes I recall your Labour Party campaigning against Pacific immigration in the 1950’s , 60’s and 70’s.
    And when Labour courageously tried to send back overstayers, National opposed them.
    Pacifica people have been trapped in poverty in New Zealand, unable to return to the financial powerhouses of Samoa and Tonga. Oddly, they still insist on sending what little money they have back to their wealthy parents in the islands.
    
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    July 17, 2025 9:53am
    - cmm
      
      “Yes I recall your Labour Party campaigning against Pacific immigration in the 1950’s , 60’s and 70’s.”
      
      Back in the days when Labour did what it says on the packet and, you know, fought for the interests of the working man.
      
      Labour of today should rebrand as the Benefits Party.
      
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      July 17, 2025 11:56am
  - artemisia
    
    I do know some of that history as I was there and working in a (public) sector with many Auckland PI families. Almost all had at least one breadwinner, most making good coin at places like Pacific Steel. Not cushy jobs.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:06am
  - leoj
    
    History also tells us that the dawn raids to return overstayers began in 1973, under a Labour Government.
    
    Sooooo compassionate was Norm Kirk.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:49am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes this has surfaced a couple of times, the silky Ardern saying this was from a Nat government. Her history has always been utterly out to lunch. It was their favourite son Big norm who started the dawn raids, yes it carried on under Nats, but I think it also finished under Nats, it may have gone on passed 84 can’t remember
      
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      July 17, 2025 2:55pm
- cmm
  
  OK, I’ll bite…
  
  There is nothing wrong with sleeping on the floor.
  More than half the world’s population do that.
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:37am
  - lifesgood
    
    They’d be sleeping on the floor in the islands.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:42am
- wsk12345
  
  Husband must get ACC if he’s off work due to an injury. Wife could work part time while husband “recovers” or he could get a non physical job. Two or three oldest kids could get a part time job for a few hours a week. And the long staying guests could also contribute their wages or benefit or holiday money. Oh and they could get sterilised!!!
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:16am
  - artemisia
    
    Journalist Amy Williams may be writing a follow up article, along those lines, as we speak. Wonder if she asked any of those questions but decided the answers did not fit the narrative.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:09am
  - cmm
    
    If he’s off for 3 years due to a knee injury then it is maybe time for a bit of retraining.
    
    Even people limited to wheelchairs can operate forklifts or do office work. A knee injury shouldn’t be that debilitating. I had a knee problem that prevented me walking without crutches for a few months. Still managed to go to work.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:27am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Obviously the husband had a very good job that was paying around $250k per year since they’ve had 8 children?//
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:58am
- John Loveridge
  
  I read that this morning. I don’t mean to come off as entirely lacking compassion, but I have several questions.
  
  Why did the Latus have 8 children?
  
  Has Mr Latu considered work that he can do despite his crook knee? Like a desk job?
  
  Does Mrs Latu work at all? Even just to supplement the benefit a little?
  
  How old are the Latu children? Are any of them old enough to work and contribute?
  
  Do the 2 other relatives work/contribute in any way?
  
  Why did the Latus have 8 children?
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:32am
  - Groggy
    
    Religion
    
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    July 17, 2025 5:38pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Heavy Polynesian accent. They could just go back home to their wider family, if things aren’t good enough here.
  
  This solution never seems to occur to reporters, does it.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:41am
- Ian Boag
  
  Not sure the Latu family is a great poster child for an article on alarming poverty
  
  I’d like to think that you would think the same if their name was Smith 🙂
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:14pm
- mediocrates
  
  Possible weeky income after tax- via WINZ website:
  Mum/Dad – Supported Living Payment = $718
  1st child under 18 – FTC = $144
  6 x children under 18 – FTC – 6 x 117 = $702
  1 x 18 yo Job Seeker Support $262 = $262
  Possible maximum ASupp = $305
  WEEKLY TOTAL = $2131
  Plus what 2 x relatives might be entitled to
  
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  July 17, 2025 4:21pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Far out. That’s more than most working families get.
    
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    July 17, 2025 5:33pm
Pope Punctilious II

Why did the campylobacter cross the road?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/567125/mpi-accuses-researchers-of-scaremongering-over-campylobacter-hospitalisations-deaths
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July 17, 2025 8:14am
- Dougal10
  
  Seems that once a liar always a liar rings true here.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:16am
- greybeard
  
  If as much effort was put into telling people to thoroughly cook their chicken as was put into these research reports then all would be well.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:06am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I caught it from not cleaning the frying pan properly, and no chicken for months.
    
    It struck me down badly, I ended up in hospital, and my kidneys stopped working, but as soon as they put the drip on me, my kidneys started working again. Kidney specialist said usually there is damage or scar tissue after kidneys stop working, but in my case they were still in perfect order, she wanted to show the students about this case as they would not have seen it, but as it happened in November the students were gone.
    
    Had blood tests this week and Kidneys are still fine after 3 years
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:00pm
- Lance
  
  Just for background on this.
  I used to think campylobacter just gave you the shits for a day or two, maybe throwing up as well…. no big deal.
  Ummm
  I was infected with this shit a while back, bloody hell, it almost ended me, 40 deg temp, serioulsy ill in hospital for a week, shitting green bile etc.
  Repeated re-admissions to hospital over the next 18 months with boughts of extreme pain etc.
  This infection is bloody nasty.
  
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  July 17, 2025 4:05pm
NK

https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research-and-publications/research/our-research-and-analysis/kiwi-gdp-growth-nowcasts

Interesting graph if it’s accurate.

#BackOnTrack
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July 17, 2025 8:23am
- cmm
  
  What would be even more interesting is a graph showing the prediction vs what eventually happened. ie showing how well the model did.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:23am
BarryB

I think its time that government and ministry people should be forced to face up to their decisions.
1. Covid Vaccine. The Nuremberg code sets out clearly ….informed consent and absence of coercion, properly formulated scientific
experimentation and beneficience towards the experiment participants.
Its obvious that the forced action by the government re the vaccine broke this rule
2. Open plan class rooms. Again something forced onto the students that also broke this principle of the principle. How did the
students get harmed? …. they didnt get the education they are entitled to.
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July 17, 2025 8:23am
- Mike
  
  Perhaps there should be a royal commission to investigate.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:25am
  - cmm
    
    I agree.
    
    Instead we’re getting a Royal Whitewash.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:57am
- Ian Boag
  
  I’m not an education expert, so the real pros/cons of open plan classrooms are above my pay grade. I’m a bit surprised that politicians can jump in and arbitrarily change something like that without a body of advice to work off.
  
  I have worked in a mentoring role in an open plan Y8 in a decile 1 school and didn’t find it too horrible. The teachers didn’t seem to mind …
  
  But what would I know? – management of primary education is not one of the areas where I am qualified. I didn’t hear much strident “anti” stuff when Hekia was pushing the open plan barrow …
  
  So good that well-qualified Nat pollies and KB experts are willing to step up. 🙂
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:10pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Oh there’s a heck of a literature on the topic
    
    https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/open-classrooms
    
    The mystery is why NZ was so willing to bring them in again when they were shown to have done nothing to improve educational achievement for most pupils.
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:09pm
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    The “education experts” have gone back & forth on open plan classrooms at least 3x in recent history so your guess is probably better than theirs
    
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    July 17, 2025 6:11pm
Scott

Ireland is rapidly becoming a basket case showing what can happen when the government allows mass migration. Here we have an Irish mum protesting because her Irish kids can’t get into their own local school. She explains the places are reserved first of all for the diversity children. Then comes the Ukrainian children. After that there is a lottery for Irish children to try and get in the school. There are not enough places for Irish kids to go to school because of migrants and Ukrainians. Maybe a kid will get in but there is not enough room for them all.

Surely the job of any government is to look after their own citizens first? No wonder the Irish parents are upset.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DME_vZrsPyt/?igsh=Zno2eWR1OTJ5MzR5
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July 17, 2025 8:26am
- kowtow
  
  They’re hoist on their own petard .
  
  They said Brits out . And the enterpreneurial classes left , as they were made to feel very unwelcome , even though they too were ‘indigenous” in as much as anyone is.
  
  The Irish economy collapsed . Emigration to the hated England was a huge saviour.The state has always been a huge central player , in the absense of real capital.
  
  Come the ’70s Ire was desperate to surrender its alleged cherished sovereignty to the unelected Continental Elites and now must do their bidding.
  
  Ironically it’s not EU money that has really improved ire’s economy (though it’s been huge) It’s all those US tech and pharma giants setting up there to avoid US taxes , which the irish govt is now putting in danger with its anti semetic virtue signalling and BDS.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:45am
- Swifty
  
  It’s a total betrayal of the Irish people by their own political class.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:52am
Im Right

Wonder if any money is sent back to the islands or/and local church tithes, artimesia?
Look, everyone has it tough at some stage in life, but popping out 8 kids over a 10 – 12 year period then bemoaning the fact your struggling financially…..well D’UHH
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July 17, 2025 8:29am
Bridgenag

The Fraud of ‘Global Warming’
Taking Aim at One of the Most Pervasive Lies of the Modern Age

“Unlike the forces of fascism and imperialism of the past, today’s terrible self-implosion of civilization is occurring via the consent of those intended to perish under a Great Reset via the collective guilt for the crime of simply being human. It has become the norm for the majority of today’s children to think of themselves as belonging not to a beautiful species made in the image of a Creator, but rather to a parasitic race guilty for the crime of sinning against nature.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewehret/p/the-fraud-of-global-warming?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 17, 2025 8:48am
- Phronesis
  
  He’s not wrong but the real nail in the coffin for AGW should be that even if we accept the alarmists predictions, the economic costs of mitigation far outweigh the costs incurred by doing nothing. A simple cost benefit analysis is all it takes. That is how the scam ends, not arguing about the science.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:57am
Bridgenag

PsyWar Book CSPAN Q&A Interview
Am I being politically rehabilitated?

“Malone describes his experiences being a dissenting voice against the official narrative, including being censored and attacked in the media. He outlines his theory that the government used sophisticated propaganda and censorship techniques, often employed in foreign military conflicts, to suppress alternative treatments and promote the COVID vaccines.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/psywar-book-cspan-q-and-a-interview?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 17, 2025 8:48am
artemisia

Planning to see Jurassic World Rebirth? DO NOT read Alex Berenson’s take before going along to the cinema, as spoilers abound, but do check it out afterwards for a laugh. Or maybe not a laugh.

https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/the-endless-wokeness-of-hollywood
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July 17, 2025 8:50am
- rouppe
  
  I went and watched it. OK, but a bit preachy.
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:50pm
RoboRob

Congradulations to Erika Stanford for removing the terrible barn style ‘modern learning environment’ classrooms. It’s a shame it didn’t happen sooner.

My boys had years in a barn with ~100 other kids and 3 teachers floating around, work was done on bean bags. Desks were too old school. A pox on National and Hekaea Parata for caving to the academics on this.

More importantly, if true, it appears the ministry will have standard classroom designs that must be used. This will achieve a saving for around 28% on costs. A major win for common sense. Again, well done Erika.
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July 17, 2025 9:15am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  This will achieve a saving for around 28% on costs
  
  Hard to believe that one large open-space room was more expensive to build than a number of smaller walled rooms.
  
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  July 17, 2025 9:51am
  - cmm
    
    I always rated this as one of the biggest failings of the Key government.
    
    A couple of reasons:
    * Open-plan does not use space as efficiently because space is required between groups of “learners” so that they do not distract eachother. Hence a larger building overall.
    * Large barns probably require far stronger beams etc to cover the wider space, therefore more expensive engineering.
    
    Ultimately though it makes no point running the kids through the system if it doesn”t generate useful results.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:17am
    - pdm
      
      Not to mention of cost of cooling in Summer and Heating in Winter.
      
      Mind you we did not have much of either in the early 60’s. A run around the basketball (netball) pole at the far end of the court was sometimes all the heating we had for the first hour on frosty mornings.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:01pm
  - RoboRob
    
    I believe the concept is that instead of paying design / architect fees for every single new build, one set of standard, cheap, easy to build, designs are used.
    
    I have been on about this for years. At the moment school principals and boards must produce a master build plan and manage the build / rebuild of shools. It’s crazy when the MOE exists and have project managers for this stuff. I guess the arguement is that schools need to relect their communities and each school has different requirements. I’m not really buying that though. A school can work with the project managers at the MOE for any ‘special’ requirements.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:33am
    - cmm
      
      100%.
      
      There is absolutely no need for each school to be some architectural wank-off.
      
      Since most schools are pretty much constructed on flat pads, there is no significant need for variance.
      
      Maybe three or four standard designs and that’s it.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:36pm
  - trout
    
    @Maggy Wrong comparison: all new designs anticipate discrete classrooms. Bespoke designs (satisfying the whims of Principal and Board and Architect) are 28% more expensive.
    My grandson’s early education was kneecapped by the use of open space rooms (and his inability to concentrate). Getting him back on track with private tuition was a mission.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:41am
    - cmm
      
      “My grandson’s early education was kneecapped by the use of open space rooms ”
      
      Were there no other schools to go to?
      Generally problems only arise because parents don’t shop around or are unwilling to make any sacrifices themselves.
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:00pm
  - greybeard
    
    It was probably all the nice-to-have but non-essential architectural features which upped the cost, as was done for state housing until recently.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:14am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Worse that that. They pulled down a relatively new school in East Christchurch to build another new barn-based one. All this waste was signed off under John Key. No doubt they will repeat the process.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:36pm
    - cmm
      
      Which school was that?
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:37pm
      - Graeme Hall
        
        Was called Aranui High in Shortland Street, Wainoni, now it is called some kind of community campus. Same site.
        
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        July 17, 2025 9:48pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Are they going to fund the remodelling of the existing barns ?
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:38am
  - cmm
    
    By “they” you mean us taxpayers. No doubt.
    
    No matter, it will be a lot cheaper than continuing to inflict sub-standard education on the kids.
    
    Thanks John Key for the moronic woke leftie bullshit.
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:38pm
  - MCōs
    
    My understanding is the new fad will apply to new builds.
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:09pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Roborob
  
  This will be inconvenient for teachers and their union.
  Now they will have to come up with another excuse as to why our kids end up stupid.
  Remember:
  Add ( mental illness, not math operator)
  Autism
  Poverty
  Hunger
  Uniforms
  Treaty
  Covid
  Salary (pay parity in an industry that’s 90+% female)
  Systemic racism
  Measuring literacy and numeracy ( a no no apparently for a school)
  Inability to adapt to an improved curriculum without a years notice ( bear in mind that the pupils also get a year to learn their new curriculum but somehow the teachers can’t )
  Phones in class
  ….
  But, even though they now admit that there are teachers college graduates who can’t pass school exams, they never blame themselves.
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:43am
  - Flossie
    
    You didn’t mention colonialism??
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:37pm
- kowtow
  
  I think it was on Ryan Bridge’s afternoon slot yesterday. New principle at Rangiora said they were putting up walls and going back to proper classrooms.
  
  Apparently prior to that it was literally like a barn , and if I heard correctly the whole school of 400 + pupils were all in one big barn like building .
  
  Who the hell could have thought that made any sense at all .
  
  No doubt some “expert” .
  
  You can’t make this stuff up.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:01am
  - cmm
    
    I remember at the time it was starting. At one stage they were even talking of “open plan” teaching. ie the kids could just join any activity they found fun/interesting.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:02pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Had that at my kids school, sort of. A list of things to do at the start of the day. You could work through the list in any order. At the end of the day, reset. So leave what you dont like until last and you may neer have to do it!
      
      Notice the distinct lack of teaching in that.
      
      The primary school had a policy that has cursed my kids ever since. The policy was ask 3 others before coming to the teacher. My kids, one 2nd year uni, still are reluctant to ask the teacher questions.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:01pm
  - Jethrod
    
    And the principal had a big tiki around his neck.
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:37pm
- Paulus
  
  My son then aged at Primary spent all his time under a desk in the open class.
  Thank goodness we sent him to a Private Boys Boarding school.
  He love that as he was encouraged to participate.
  Has a very good job now.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:15am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I hope whoever thought that open barn education was a good idea is dismissed from the Ministry.
  
  I mean, how much failure needs to happen before heads roll?
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:44am
  - RoboRob
    
    Lol. Dismissed, surely you jest. Nobody ever gets dismissed.
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:02pm
  - MCōs
    
    Anne Tolley was Education Minister in 2011 when open plan classrooms were introduced. She lost that job at the end of the year to Hekia Parata.
    If the credit for reverting back to the previous policy is being given to Erica Stanford, the current minister, one expects those former ministers also bear responsibility for the now discarded policy.
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:29pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Huh, learn something new every day. I was sure it was Hekia Parata but she must have just been the one fronting it.
      
      So actually it was a stupid Labour policy that varous National education ministers backed.
      
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      July 17, 2025 2:47pm
      - Groggy
        
        ? Anne Tolley was National
        
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        July 17, 2025 5:45pm
- mogg
  
  My wife during her 40 year teaching career experienced the start of open plan teaching, then it was closed because of distraction from noise levels.
  Some years later open plan became fashionable again, then it was closed because of noise levels.
  About 10 years ago ‘child centred learning’ and open plan started up again, now it is being closed because of unacceptable noise levels.
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:41pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Yes, she got that one right at least.
  
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  July 17, 2025 6:46pm
JJ56

I see Geoff Bertram, one of the many strident opponents of the Regulatory Standards Bill, is accusing Eric Crampton of the NZ Initiative of avoiding the point that compensation for takings has never been a principle in our law. [The Post, letters, 16 July paywalled]

Be that as it may, Bertram (and others of his ilk) are avoiding the point that in their oppostion to the Bill they are opposing a requirement that if a Government wishes to allow takings without compensation it has to publicly state its case.

Not unreasonable I’d have thought, unless of course you long for the comfort the Kim dynasty brings to North Korea.
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July 17, 2025 9:24am
- PurplePen
  
  The only rational argument I’ve read against the Bill is this one from Ron Adams, former ethics teacher from Dunedin. Here in the ODT he argues principles may not be the best basis upon which to make laws. I think he might be right. I’d be interested in what others think of his argument.
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/using-principles-and-making-laws
  
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  July 17, 2025 12:45pm
  - JJ56
    
    The principles in the Bill are about how we legislate in our democracy and more important and totally missed by most of the critics, the principles we use to change that legislation. Nothing to do with the way we behave as individuals beyond how we are governed.
    
    So Adams is talking about something else that might be interesting, but pretty much irrelevant in this context.
    
    As a country we are different from North Korea in the way we are governed, and there is a significant consensus about this.
    
    There maybe those that want to change that to other approaches like Communist dictatorships, tribal governance, or turning us into an Iranian theocracy, but now would be a good time to flush those views out, as appears to be happening.
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:17pm
    - PurplePen
      
      Thanks … clearer now.
      
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      July 18, 2025 10:53am
- GJM
  
  Well, fortunately for Mr Bertram, there is legal precedent for the government stealing your stuff without compensation. Cindy banned certain ammunition types, as in now illegal, hand them in or go to jail, and no compensation, because gun owners are evil and will never vote for Labour anyway.
  COLFO went to court, and the judge said, yes, it was against the bill o rights, and fairness and all, but parliament is sovereign so, tough luck. Think of the implications of that, especially since it only takes 7 minutes to pass a law through parliament.
  I hope the next victim of government confiscation is Mr Bertram and supporters. I will laugh.
  
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  July 17, 2025 7:11pm
MCōs

A bit of good news amongst all the wailing and rending of garments. My rates have gone down 10.9%
Might partially offset down payment on trip to the dentist tomorrow
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July 17, 2025 9:46am
- Phronesis
  
  Did your house burn down?
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:00am
- cmm
  
  What explains that? Was it the hand out to oldies or a lower revaluation on your house? Or maybe something else?
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:09am
  - MCōs
    
    My house cv plunged in comparison to the previous one. I suspect the previous one was way too high.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:33am
    - cmm
      
      When we moved into our current house, the CV was far higher than the purchase price. I informed them and they moved it back to the purchase price.
      Nearly double that now though…
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:05pm
  - kowtow
    
    Yes he hasn’t given us anything we can get our teeth into.
    
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    July 17, 2025 10:36am
- Dougal10
  
  For that to happen some poor bugger got a 22% increase .
  
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  July 17, 2025 10:21am
  - MCōs
    
    My rates went up 9.3% last year, 15% in 2023 & 20% in 2016
    The latest cv is ~5% more than 2018
    Before the last cv some houses nearby sold for exaggerated prices and presumably set the tone for the neighbourhood
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:19pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  What??? Where abouts do you live? I didn’t think any rates were reducing (even though property values have).
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:02am
  - graham
    
    MCōs has previously stated that he lives in Mangere Bridge. Note it is not my intention to “out” MCōs in any way, as he has stated this multiple times on this blog.
    
    Being familiar with the specific area of Mangere Bridge that he has told us on this blog he lives in I’m surprised that rates are going down as it always used to be quite a nice peaceful area, rather quiet and pleasant. However it has been a few years since I was last there so maybe it’s changed.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:00pm
    - MCōs
      
      Just the same, Graham
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:52pm
  - MCōs
    
    Auckland rates have gone up on average 5.8%
    CV values have gone down 9%
    As a rule of thumb If your house cv has gone down by 9% your rates will go up by 5.8%
    My cv went down by almost thirty percent so my rates went down
    Nothing much has changed around here except about seventy new nondescript townhouses have been packed in to where there were previously about a dozen houses
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:42pm
  - rouppe
    
    “Rates”aren’t reducing.
    
    The budget is set by council, and the rates people pay are a proportion of their cv to the sum of cv’s of the area.
    
    If his cv moves strongly relative to others, he sees an adjustment. For example if most cvs go down 10% but his goes down 20% he’ll see his rates bill change a different way to yours.
    
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    July 17, 2025 2:01pm
  - Quail
    
    Bobba Fret
    Property values have little influence on the gross rate take.
    Individual rates are based on property valuations .This is the way Councils allocate their pre determined gross rate among ratepayers.
    Some rates will increase and others not according to the property valuation movements.Some may decrease.This is determined by property values which vary according to sector and economic activity.
    Overall the total rate will increase by the percentage hammered out by each Council.
    Different options to fund Local Government have been unsuccessfully been considered, such as a poll tax on every citizen .
    
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    July 17, 2025 8:30pm
cas

Sir Ian Taylor has been shocked at some of the backlash to his open letter to Jacinda. Specifically he was shocked that none of the debate covered his criticism of Jacinda’s wider record and opinion that she failed in other areas like child poverty. You couldn’t attack Dame Jacinda he said.

I have often mused about how adoring her fans would be if she looked like say Nanaia Mahuta.
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July 17, 2025 9:48am
- imalwaysright
  
  “I have often mused about how adoring her fans would be if she looked like say Nanaia Mahuta.”
  
  Very good point.
  Ardern was in the “sweet spot”, looks wise, for the lefties.
  Acceptable to look at but non-threatening; their bearded cuckolded partners were permitted to pretend their interest was intellectual.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:00am
  - Paulus
    
    I wonder today what Mahuta does to get paid.
    I assume she has a large Parlimentary one, but how many other Maori Committees does she belong to getting a decent taxpayer stipend for each.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:22am
    - imalwaysright
      
      And what about her cousband who was writing reports and giving advice to the government on multiple disciplines ad nauseum, paid of course.
      A polymath of his talents shouldn’t be wasted.
      Bring back Wiremu !
      
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      July 17, 2025 11:42am
    - cmm
      
      Whatever she’s doing, my wallet gives a twitch every time I hear her name.
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:06pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      N. Mahuta is a self-employed Strategic Adviser
      
      https://nz.linkedin.com/in/nanaia-mahuta-84537b4a
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:11pm
  - Gussy Fink-Nottle
    
    Indeed. Good looking people enjoy significant ‘unearned privilege’.
    JA never did it for me though. Especially in side profile.
    I remember her standing next to the Finish Prime Minister Sanna Marin – now that was one very privileged individual.
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:02pm
  - mogg
    
    If she had a sweet spot it certainly wasn’t between her ears.
    
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    July 17, 2025 5:08pm
- Philview
  
  Dame Jacinda like most political leaders has narcissistic traits. I can never get past the mass murder of 51 people being turned into a feel good story about Jacinda by her propaganda team.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:26am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Yes, the visual impact of her in a hijab seemed to overshadow the physical impact of the bullets.
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:44am
    - Quail
      
      Another opportunist successful move by Ardern and her police friends to remove important tools from those trying to keep predators and wild animals under control in NZ.
      The lack of trust in NZ s legal responsible gun owners has been reciprocated by peoples fast growing lack of trust in any Government to support those who care about NZ, it’s productivity and natural justice.
      
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      July 18, 2025 5:23pm
- rouppe
  
  What he seeing is the propensity of the Left for violence.
  
  It seems overwhelmingly in the West that if left wing groups don’t like something, they turn to violence. Trump election campaign, BLM, ICE, immigration reform everywhere. Education and welfare reform. Even criticism of Ardern. TPM are the same.
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:17pm
Swifty

In my deep dive into X over the last few months I’ve come across literally hundreds of examples of Muslims, including Western-based, openly stating their (divinely inspired) purpose to dominate the world – ‘to enter every home’:

https://x.com/daveatherton20/status/1945525181696373050?s=46

And almost always quoting the Koran or the Hadith in support.

I take them at their word. I believe them. And I wonder whether our news media might enquire of local Muslims as to their thoughts and reaction. No doubt many of them, if not all, will say “that’s not the real Islam”, but why should we believe them? How are we to tell the difference? Is there any central authority we can appeal to or enquire of? No there isn’t.

The West fought Islamic expansionism for nearly 1,400 years and for good reasons.

The recent importation of tens and tens of millions of Muslims into Western countries in recent decades I fear is a grave mistake.

A mistake that may very well have civilisational impacts. Unless there are major corrective events I fear the total Islamisation of Western Europe over the next 100 years – and the total extinguishing of The Enlightenment and free society in terms of association, religion, thought and politics and the start of a new Dark Age.

We had it so good but we threw it all away.
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July 17, 2025 9:49am
- Paulus
  
  Agreed, but sadly too late !
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  ‘to enter every home’:
  
  Which is one reason I keep a copy of the Koran on hand.
  
  “Be Prepared”
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:33am
  - Jethrod
    
    That’s the Boy Scout handbook
    
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    July 17, 2025 3:41pm
- imalwaysright
  
  All of these predictions of the multi decades takeover of the West dont consider that there will probably be a good arse kicking in the meantime.
  Knives, machetes , guns, and bombs aren’t restricted to use only by terrorists.
  Neither is ideology.
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:58am
  - Swifty
    
    You’re quite right.
    
    I suspect the inevitable will happen to varying degrees and in different times and places.
    
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    July 17, 2025 1:04pm
- cmm
  
  Not all Muslims are equally intolerant and there is significant argy-bargy between Muslim groups in many places (far worse than any Catholic vs Protestant conflict has been in the last 200+ years).
  
  In Cape Town the Christians and Muslims have got on pretty well for over 300 years (Muslim slaves arrived in 1650 or so, and free Muslims from about 1658). To the best of my knowledge there has never been any real conflict which is pretty good considering an 8% or so Muslim population.
  
  Sure, we sometimes used to wake up with the sounds of the mosques calling the faithful to prayer and there were anti-apartheid marches etc, but nothing that one would link to religion per se.
  
  Sure there were pro Palestinian marches etc, but none of these went off the rails or had a racial/religious antagonism. Many Christians and whites joined in too – no problems.
  
  In the 8 years I lived in Cape Town I felt no animosity form Muslims and we dealt with them freely. Some of the biggest purchases we made were through Muslims (eg. used a Muslim company for buying air tickets to travel to NZ. 90% of their business was arranging trips for Muslims going to Mecca, but they got us great prices).
  
  Perhaps the world needs to have a good look at Cape Town to determine what the magic sauce is (or at least has been so far).
  
  The African Muslims coming down from the North are a completely different matter though…
  
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  July 17, 2025 12:24pm
  - Graeme Hall
    
    I recall video of Capetown Muslims shooting it out in the streets with drug dealers & killing them while the local police were nowhere to be seen.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:44pm
    - cmm
      
      Certainly there are some Muslim vigilante groups that deal to the drug dealers and such, but that’s a very different matter. They’ve stepped up because the police have failed at their job.
      
      You or I could walk through those Muslim areas late at night and they wouldn’t touch you. The gangsters might, but the Muslim vigilantes wouldn’t.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:30pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Not all Muslims are equally intolerant and there is significant argy-bargy between Muslim groups in many places…”
    
    That’s the problem. Some are the bad guys, and some are the good guys.
    
    How do we know which is which, and why should we risk our lives and our families lives on the chance of getting it wrong?
    
    I bet if Coca Cola said we are sending you a shipment that may contain some bottles that are deadly, we would reject the shipment at the border and clear the shelves of stock.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:57pm
    - cmm
      
      I am not talking about individuals. I am talking about groups.
      
      Somehow the Muslims of the sort that make up Cape Town haven’t popped their top in over 300 years.
      
      A very different picture from the African Muslims coming down from the North who are mostly rotten.
      
      Back to you analogy. Coke might be OK and Pepsi poisonous. Don’t blame all cola companies.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:27pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        “I am not talking about individuals. I am talking about groups”
        
        That’s ridiculous. Groups are collections of individuals.
        
        “Back to you analogy. Coke might be OK and Pepsi poisonous. Don’t blame all cola companies.”
        
        What does that mean?
        
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        July 17, 2025 1:57pm
- Wandering Star
  
  “The West fought Islamic expansionism for nearly 1,400 years and for good reasons.”
  
  It’s more accurate to say that Christians fought Islamic expansionism for nearly 1,400 years, not the West.
  
  It’s not really a surprise that when “Christendom” was renamed “the West” that’s about when we really stopped resisting outside invasions, of both ideas and of people. That’s what tends to happen in secularised societies.
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:11pm
  - Swifty
    
    Have you posted here under a different name or names?
    
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    July 17, 2025 5:39pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Kea
      
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      July 17, 2025 6:38pm
      - Swifty
        
        Thanks
        
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        July 17, 2025 9:54pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      What kind of a question is that to ask a complete stranger?
      
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      July 17, 2025 6:39pm
      - Swifty
        
        What’s your answer?
        
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        July 17, 2025 9:53pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      At least Che Guava & Culture War Criminal it would appear to me.
      
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      July 17, 2025 6:51pm
      - Swifty
        
        Yep
        
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        July 17, 2025 9:54pm
- mogg
  
  The Left have always supported Islamic immigration into Europe because voting records show that 80 % of Muslims will vote for Socialism.
  Now that numbers have increased to the point where Muslim votes can hold sway in many marginal seats,
  Left parties have realised that their Muslim friends down at the Mosque are not to be trusted.
  On a local level it is now fairly obvious that the UK Labour Party councillors have done a deal, if you vote for us we will protect Muslim child rapists from prosecution.
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:58pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    They’re not voting for “socialism”, they’re voting for “diversity”. Islam’s track record shows it’s more tolerant of inequality than Christianity. Read “Submission” by Michel Houellebecq.
    
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    July 17, 2025 6:49pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  I guess one bonus of being under the boot of the sea see pea. They won’t tolerate that.
  
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  July 17, 2025 7:23pm
Jack5

Attack on English not just in NZ

India has a bid to make the Hindi language more dominant over English.

India’s people have scores of languages and dialects and English and Hindi are the lingua franca’s (or, to head off DG, linguae francae) in the sub-continent country.

Hridi Kundu, writing for the German English-language services of Deutsche Welle, writes:

“People who speak English in India will ‘soon feel ashamed,’ according to a senior government minister from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. But the party’s efforts to promote Hindi are facing an escalating backlash.”

The warning was from Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that India should “lead globally” through its own languages instead of using English.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government has also been increasingly giving precedence to Hindi over English in official work.

However, critics accuse the Indian Government of trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking states. Southern states, whose languages have little in common with Hindi, particularly oppose the Hindi push.

The country has 22 official languages, including both Hindi and English, though individual states have made some of the regional tongues their official languages.

The CIA World Factbook puts the proportion of India’s people who have Hindi as their “native” tongue at 43.6 per cent, with the next most common language, Bengali at 8 per cent. The Factbook describes English as the subsidiary official language of India, but the most important one for national, political, and commercial communication.

https://www.dw.com/en/language-rows-rage-in-india-as-ruling-party-pushes-hindi/a-73287582
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July 17, 2025 10:10am
- Paulus
  
  I as a pure bred, very elderly Englishman, I have difficulty that being slightly deaf with aid, in understanding on the phone any enquiry I make as the dialetic of the English Language makes it very difficulty, as I ofter leave not understanding a derivate, of, I assume, Indian dialetic replyer,
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:28am
  - Don Beckett
    
    So which part of “pure bred” are you, Paulus ?
    Ancient Brithonic, Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Danish/Viking, English, Norman – or maybe Scottish, Irish, Cornish………….
    For my part, I am 4th.generation New Zealander, but my ancestry is very mixed – Cornish, Viking, English, Scottish, Saxon & Norman.
    We’re all a crazy mixed-up bunch. 🙂
    
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    July 17, 2025 11:38am
    - Jack5
      
      Don, sounds like you’ve done a genealogy site DNA test. If so, did the results match what you already knew of your family history?
      
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      July 17, 2025 12:22pm
      - pdm
        
        Mine did not and as we have dumped the programme they won’t let us back in so I can write them down. My understanding was:
        50% English – from maternal side.
        50% Scottish but, tempered with a touch of Viking/Scandinavian.
        
        Actual was a mix of:
        English, Scottish, Viking/Scandanavian, East European and a couple of others I cannot remember.
        
        Far more diversified than I ever thought.
        
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        July 17, 2025 1:19pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Actually Jack, my son did one, which included Maori which he got from his mother – my wife is about 1/8th. Maori, but you’d never know it, she’s as pakeha as I am – & the test showed up most of those.
        But my maternal grandfather is Cornish with Scottish ancestry, & maternal grandmother (maiden name Nicholson – Viking name)) has ancestry from Lancashire, part of the 12 th.c Danegeld. Mum’s American cousins did a family history back in the 1960’s & traced their ancestry back to the 12th.century.
        Paternal grandfather is from London, & of Norman – English descent (Beckett is a Norman name) Paternal Grandmother is of fully Saxon descent, from Norwich.
        Really mixed bag, eh. Real mongrel 🙂
        
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        July 17, 2025 1:24pm
      - Flossie
        
        It’s interesting that my two natural children – who I assure you had the same sire – did DNA tests and got varied results. Not hugely different but just for one instance, one showed a small percentage of Scandinavian while the other had zero. Not sure I have a whole lot of faith in those “mail in your spit” tests.
        
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        July 17, 2025 1:46pm
      - pdm
        
        Flossie is there any Scottish, Hebridean and specifically Isle Of Lewis/Harris, Orkney or Shetland connection in family backgrounds?
        
        My father was from the Isle Of Lewis and while visiting in 1977 we brought a book on the island that said anyone emanating from there would have ancestry back to a Viking/Scandinavian named Alexander who ruled the Island sometime in the 12th century.
        
        I suspect Orkney and Shetland backgrounds may be similar.
        
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        July 17, 2025 3:25pm
      - Flossie
        
        pdm – Yes there is a good dollop of Scottish. I take your point but I wonder why both my children didn’t show some Scandinavian rather than just one of them.
        
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        July 17, 2025 4:27pm
      - Hollyfield
        
        Flossie here’s a video that explains how siblings have different percentages of ethnicity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STk9fRsfeag
        
        If you don’t like this one (this presenter’s style), there are plenty of other videos explaining the same thing in more technical language.
        
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        July 17, 2025 6:41pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Paulus
    That effort suggests English might be not your strong point.
    
    4 2
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    July 17, 2025 12:02pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      My apologies Paulus.
      That was unfair.
      
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      July 17, 2025 1:03pm
  - MCōs
    
    Good to know you’re pure bred and not half monkey
    
    3 1
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    July 17, 2025 1:02pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I have an Indian friend from Poona and he told me that if he goes only 100 or so miles from Poona he cannot understand the script or language.
  
  There are 100’s of Languages in India so English is a common Language.
  
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  July 17, 2025 12:31pm
SometimesRight

Relevant to recurring discussions here – from Nassim Taleb: https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15
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July 17, 2025 10:29am
Chuck Bird

This should never happen again, but it will unless unless responsible do something when told a child is at risk.

Malachi Subecz inquiry: Failings in child protection case ‘routine’ and still happening, doctor says

“I would go so far as to say it was business as usual. There is a similar, embedded, business as usual culture in police. If those practices continue, other cases like Malachi will continue.”

Two months after Malachi’s death, Kelly dealt with an almost identical case, in which a young girl whose mother was in jail was admitted to hospital with severe injuries and later died.

A police officer had earlier seen the child with two black eyes and bruising on their neck but accepted the caregivers’ explanation that they were accidental.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/malachi-subecz-inquiry-failings-in-child-protection-case-routine-and-still-happening-doctor-says/P3UXCPGBUND7BOYF2GEVNDEO2M/
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July 17, 2025 10:35am
- sirknz
  
  It will happen again, probably another 4 or 5 times this year.
  
  6 0
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  July 17, 2025 1:42pm
  - Groggy
    
    At least
    
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    July 17, 2025 5:53pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “A police officer had earlier seen the child with two black eyes and bruising on their neck but accepted the caregivers’ explanation that they were accidental.”
  
  Yes, I regularly, as in never, get two black eyes.
  What the fuck is going on in this country?
  I’m sure we all look back on those times when our children had the accidental two black eyes and the accidental throat bruises.
  They were clearly “accident prone”
  They should be more careful.
  Fuck this place.
  
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  July 17, 2025 2:30pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The nightmare life that some children in NZ experience is often well-hidden by complicit adults.
  
  https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com/biographies/new-zealand-non-accidental-child-deaths/
  
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  July 17, 2025 3:02pm
  - Jethrod
    
    This is a truly great diabolical recording of what has happened in New Zealand.
    Not wishing to belittle the findings, there are a lot of deaths of people who aren’t really children, ie not under the care of an adult, over 15 or 16. Also a number which are collateral deaths, ie like being in a car crash.
    The research here must have been mind- altering at some of the things that happened to defenseless children.
    
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    July 17, 2025 4:07pm
Yvette

In reference to my comment above about the UN ignoring New Zealand constitutional change and the insertion of ethnic activists’ exceptionalist views into New Zealand “democracy” and the nation’s mental wellbeing or avoidance of any nasty disaster –

In a compelling analysis published this month in the New Zealand Law Review, Emeritus Professor Peter Watts KC exposes how the Supreme Court’s decision in Ellis v R (continuance) represents a revolutionary departure from New Zealand’s constitutional foundations. “Ellis v R: A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not” exposes how, by declaring tikanga relevant to any issue of common law or statutory interpretation, the Court has up-ended our legal system without a legitimate constitutional mandate.

Ellis v R reached the Supreme Court on a narrow procedural question: whether an appeal against Peter Ellis’s criminal convictions could proceed despite the appellant’s death. Neither Ellis nor any complainants were Māori, and no party in the proceedings had suggested tikanga (Māori customary law and values) was relevant to this question. Yet the Supreme Court majority, at its own instigation, took it upon itself to consider tikanga.

At the Court’s instigation, the parties arranged a wānanga of experts expressly to discuss and advise on tikanga’s application. A “Statement of Tikanga” from this wānanga was relied upon by the Court and formed an appendix to its judgment. The statement conditionally supported the appeal’s continuation.
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/roger-partridge-revolution-by-judicial-decree-a-review-of-professor-peter-watts-kc-s-ellis-v-r-a
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July 17, 2025 10:44am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How easy it was for a few judges to completely change the laws of our country.
  
  https://www.russellmcveagh.com/insights-news/whakamaramatanga-series-supreme-court-considers-place-of-tikanga-in-the-law-judgment-on-continuation-of-ellis-appeal/
  
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  July 17, 2025 12:03pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Funny, I don’t recall anyone ever seeing them standing as candidates in any election.
    
    When judiciary, drawn from a disconnected left wing elitist bubble, become political activists in their rulings we have a serious constitutional problem.
    
    And Nats as ever too weak to fix it.
    
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    July 17, 2025 12:38pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      But dig deeper and it’s apathetic and indifferent NZers handing NZ over to utter morons.
      
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      July 17, 2025 6:55pm
Keith White

Always easier to deny the message and shoot the messenger, but that does not change reality:

A lead scientist at Johnson & Johnson admitted on undercover video that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine was released without the normal level of testing and was not “safe and effective.”

J&J scientist Joshua Rys can be seen and heard in footage released by the O’Keefe Media Group discussing the rushed development process of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“Do you have any idea the lack of research that was done on those products?” Rys says in the video. “People wanted it. We gave it to them. None of that stuff was safe and effective. So we didn’t do typical tests. The typical process takes so long to get a product on the market. The typical process is all this clinical trial testing and stuff in a small population. This was just, ‘let’s test it on some lab-rat models, analyze, see if it works, and just throw it to the wind and see what happens.'”
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July 17, 2025 10:53am
- Keith White
  
  The video is here in case the summary does not do it justice
  
  https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1945151538416030110
  
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  July 17, 2025 11:39am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I was always suspicious of just this: the usual test process takes years, so how was it that the “vaccine”, for a coronavirus no less, was available in months?
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:21pm
I remember when

So (no doubt because of Kennedy influence) the US has decided that Covid vaccination is only recommended for over 65s with secondary factors.
Yes the recommendation was that should be for the general public.
It was also suggested that the release of vaccinations be less of a rubber stamp.
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July 17, 2025 11:09am
jon

See that some Australian media, are, on the back of Albanese’s visit to China, styling him as *China’s Governor, of their vassal state, of Australia.* So true.
7 3
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July 17, 2025 11:24am
Damocles11

Food prices rose 4.6% in the 12 months to June. Predictably the MSM are all over this in a big way, ‘the sky is falling’ type coverage, the kind of coverage you never saw when Labour had inflation running at 7%
But anyway, food prices are where ‘the rubber meets the road’ in terms of peoples perception of inflation and the cost of living. It certainly gets my attention more than many of the other things in the CPI ‘basket’.
It’s peoples perception and lived experience of the state of the economy and cost of living that will be the acid test for the current government. Luxon and Willis have been very hard to create a narrative that the economy has ‘turned the corner’ but if the perception of the populace is that no such thing has occurred then that spells trouble for the government.
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July 17, 2025 11:56am
- imalwaysright
  
  “It certainly gets my attention more than many of the other things in the CPI ‘basket’.”
  
  Correct Damoclese.
  Maybe a more realistic measure of inflation would be food, energy, rent.
  
  If the aim of the government is to make peoples lives better then there is a good set of metrics.
  
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  July 17, 2025 1:10pm
  - kowtow
    
    Things like insurances and rates are real ball busters too.
    
    6 1
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    July 17, 2025 2:13pm
  - Mike
    
    CPI includes all of those.
    
    3 2
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    July 17, 2025 2:27pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      That’s right Mike, but the impact on the pocket is narrow for the poor.
      
      Much of the basket doesn’t apply to poor people , but it does dilute the overall rate.
      
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      July 17, 2025 5:31pm
- mogg
  
  During their last year in office Labour had food inflation at 12.5%. Seasonal fluctuations are to be expected but their management was a disaster.
  Hipkins has the cheek to go on TV one news and criticise National when he was the government from hell
  
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  July 17, 2025 5:01pm
MCōs

This bit of propaganda on behalf of the Lottery Commission flashed across my screen
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/17/lower-hutt-woman-becomes-a-millionaire-with-bonus-lotto-ticket/
Also on TV1 the other night there was half an hour of propaganda on behalf of Immigration and Customs cunningly disguised as entertainment
6 1
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July 17, 2025 12:59pm
greybeard

In 2023 David Seymour appeared on “Newshub Nation” with Simon Shepherd.
He was outstanding.

“In the interview, David cut though the noise and the nonsense and clearly and calmly articulated the basic values New Zealand needs if we want to be a modern, multi-ethnic, first world democracy.” ( Brook van Velden email ).

“”I have just watched the David Seymour / Simon Shepherd interview replay: never have I been more impressed by a NZ politician.
Here is someone who not only has passion and principles but a remarkably logical mind and a remarkable capacity for facts.
Outstanding display.” ( my email reply to BvV ).

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360605837/live-nz-politics-blog
In 2025 he is even better. The Left hates him, so he must be on the right track !
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July 17, 2025 1:38pm
Pope Punctilious II

Academic luvvy is worried about electronic surveillance of migrants and asylum seekers because of “racial inequality”.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/567140/criminologist-fears-electronic-tagging-of-migrants-going-to-get-huge?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Who is going to explain to the impeccably progressive Professor Martin that not all ethnicities/cultural groups are equally likely to blow people up, drive vehicles into crowds, or behead people in the street?
4 2
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July 17, 2025 1:53pm
- Swifty
  
  I’ve had a bit to do with this rooster, in a professional capacity and with regard to EM.
  
  Came across as rather naïve. Likeable, interested in his topic, but needs to get out more.
  
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  July 17, 2025 4:50pm
  - Keith White
    
    He needs to acquire clues if he is going to pontificate cluelessly. The profile of certain migrants requires monitoring for the safety of our citizens.
    
    2 1
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    July 17, 2025 7:37pm
Jack5

Israelis are bombing Damascus in support of the Druze, who are clashing with Bedouin in the south of Syria.

Israeli plans have blown up part of the Syrian Defence Ministry and hit near the presidential palace as Israel vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

The Druze are Arabic-speakers with their own Abrahamic religion, s an offshoot of Shia Islam. The Druze don’t allow conversion into or out of their faith, and marriage outside it is rare. There are more than 700,000 Druze in Syria.

Many Druze serve in the Israeli Army. According to the Hindustan Times, Issraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is “committed to preventing harm to Syria’s Druze due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/clashes-resume-syrias-druze-city-sweida-after-ceasefire-announcement-2025-07-16/
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July 17, 2025 3:02pm
lifesgood

Did anyone hear the half witted primary school principal talking to Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB this morning. Good grief, no wonder education is a mess in NZ. She was very proud of the fact she had learnt a new word “pedagogy” and used it several times in her short interview. She sounded like she has sat through endless brain storming teacher only days trying to sound clever. Dickens had to look the word up and wondered why she’d used it. Anyway she was raving about how good open plan classrooms are. Having had two grandchildren suffer through them I beg to differ. They are shocking. My grandchildren are smart and well balanced and they hated the noise and disruption. Now that the world seems to be full of “neuro diverse” children I have to wonder how they have coped in that environment.
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July 17, 2025 3:33pm
Swifty

“I don’t expect a priest to show up every time I break wind…..”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SxtzsewypmM

🤣🤣🤣🤣
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July 17, 2025 3:49pm
Swifty

More naked lying and deceit from the MP for Tijuana. He is deliberately trying to mislead New Zealanders about benefit sanctions and to slur the current government.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/567197/number-of-benefit-sanctions-increase-over-80k-people-find-work-new-figures-show

No New Zealander is sanctioned for being out of work or failing to find a job. Not one – and contrary to what the Green MP misleadingly states.

People are sanctioned for not fulfilling their obligations to be work ready and for failing to attend appointments and work search and work readiness training and workshops etc. Obligations that they have signed up for in return for taxpayers paying their bills while they are out of work. Quite a different matter.

Our political system really is sick for MPs to be lying so openly and so freely.
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July 17, 2025 4:07pm
- AitchW
  
  Labour, Maori, and Green Party MPs have no fear of being called out for their lies by most of our media.
  (Why did Ardern stop visiting the Hosk? He was one of the few to pull her up on her lies.)
  So they lie with impunity and their lies get bigger and hairier and the government must spend more energy batting off the lies.
  
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  July 17, 2025 5:46pm
  - Swifty
    
    I quite agree and it seems to be getting worse over time.
    
    This really should be stomped on by us.
    
    If there are no negative consequences then they’ll keep doing it.
    
    Personally I’d like to see a few of them jailed.
    
    Become elected to our Parliament as our representatives and proceed to lie to us then expect to lose your liberty.
    
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    July 17, 2025 6:04pm
Swifty

Just a small post to recognise the passing of Lalo Schifrin at the age of 93.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalo_Schifrin

He made a huge contribution to movie and tv scores particularly in the 60s and 70s.

Here’s a few:

Bullitt. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7EK5MHzqcaw&pp=ygUVTGFsbyBzY2hpZnJpbiBidWxsaXR0

Dirty Harry. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nkqF0EED6AA&pp=ygUNbGFsbyBzY2hpZnJpbg%3D%3D

Mission Impossible (The Plot). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNIHzrTh4-I

Mission Impossible (Main theme). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tGSUjuSBt1A&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

Enter The Dragon (Main theme). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0uNR_4UdfxA

The list could go on and on. Just iconic stuff.

Farewell maestro.
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July 17, 2025 4:25pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  You had me at Bruce Lee
  
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  July 17, 2025 8:25pm
NZer In Exile

I Spent Years on Skid Row, Homeless & Addicted – Jared Klickstein:

https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/p/i-spent-years-on-skid-row-homeless

A lot of nuggets here very relevant to the NZ meth/criminality scene.
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July 17, 2025 7:04pm
Quail

A Rumour Mill suggests,( Radio) is saying ex Labour Minister Stuart Nash may stand for NZ First.
Any one confirm or not ??
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July 18, 2025 5:44pm

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