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July 30, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 30 July 2025

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Bait and switch.

Having excoriated us for driving ICE vehicles, the usual shills from Otago Uni are now telling us that being cheaper to run, EVs will kill more of us. Therefore, NZ needs government owned and government operated (I kid you not) buses, plus bicycles of course, and no EVs.

No mention of the utility of one’s own car.

I reckon these researchers are somewhere on the spectrum. They certainly have tunnel vision.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/568407/buses-not-evs-could-be-the-real-solution-to-health-and-climate-change
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July 30, 2025 8:02am
- peterwn
  
  Similar to the Otago shills advocating a sugar tax which will hit the poor without reducing sugar consumption.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:31am
- R
  
  ‘somewhere on the spectrum’ …… I suspect that many of the so called ‘researchers’ are way out beyond the edge of the Milky Way!
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:30am
  - Paulus
    
    How can that be, these Researchers are very highly paid University Lecturers
    
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    July 30, 2025 2:22pm
- BananaLlama
  
  There is a reason why they become obsessed with trains.
  
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  July 30, 2025 12:47pm
- waikatosinger
  
  Communists hate private transport because it is a form of private property. They want us using public transport like buses and trains. I’m a bit surprised they are OK with bicycles, but maybe they plan to make us all use public ones. After all we will be living in pods, owning nothing and eating bugs; and there is no room to store a bike in a pod.
  
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  July 30, 2025 4:48pm
sungsamning

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/07/will_new_doge_ai_break_deep_state_power.html
Will new DOGE AI break Deep State power?
The Deep State is a budget-busting, bureaucratic tyranny, crushing capitalist meritocracy and social values. It is a self-directed, out-of-control monster that fights MAGA tooth and claw.
However, the brilliant computer “nerds” of Elon Musk’s Department Of Governmental Efficiency are already using the first version of their Artificial Intelligence software tool. It may eventually curb the Deep State as much as possible. From an article at The Washington Post:
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July 30, 2025 8:02am
- Wandering Star
  
  Without slashing military spending and “entitlements” (far and away by orders of magnitude the largest categories of US federal spending) DOGE was and is never going to actually achieve any of its promises. It’s just red meat for the remaining MAGA crowd who haven’t yet realized how utterly disappointing and how much of a missed opportunity two Trump terms are and will continue to be.
  
  These people think Musk (and Trump, for that matter) is a Marvel Comics character come to save the day, so deluded are they.
  
  Because Musk isn’t an idiot, he knows full well that DOGE is completely cosmetic for the reasons above. What DOGE represents, however, is an excellent opportunity to run American’s personal data held by the government through Palantyr AI software (many of DOGE’s “brilliant computer nerds” as you describe them in comic book fashion having close links to Peter Thiel’s Palantyr, another intelligence/defence contractor) for the purposes of developing a surveillance net that will only increase, not diminish, the power of the Deep State you think Musk et al are fighting.
  
  These people are Deep State insiders, not a threat to it. But in comic book world, they are seen as Peter Parker and Tony Stark.
  
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  July 30, 2025 2:00pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD-90PIMeII
Ireland’s Deportation Shambles.
Ireland’s system of deportation is really quite something to behold. Apart from a very few notable exceptions , we rely on DEPORTEES to ‘ self deport ‘ . With that state having no idea how many , if any , actually do so ! You really couldn’t make it up !
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July 30, 2025 8:03am
- imalwaysright
  
  Sung
  
  People say that governments such as the British and Irish are incompetent and are failing to deal with the influx.
  
  Its time the public realised that the importation of able bodied Muslims is actually these Governments policy.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:56am
  - ISeeRed
    
    And they’re embedded in the public service and political office now. They have a very strong in-group preference and seek only to further their own interests, not the British public’s.
    
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    July 30, 2025 12:02pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, its called managed decline. Oh, people aren’t having babies. There’s a demographic crisis. Lets import a lot of incompatible people from the third world. That’ll fix it. Its all one can expect from oligarchs, and the donor class that hate the peasants.
    
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    July 30, 2025 5:16pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Irish Government seems to be in a world of its own. Makes NZ look extremely efficient.
  
  The Irish Embassy in Hanoi is a great example.
  Helping a non English reading local to apply for a tourist visa to visit Ireland to visit friends.
  Websites are a joke, referencing a URL to followup with and then supplying wrong URL.
  
  Application Refers to “” contact Irish embassy for local information”” if you can find a releavnt URL!!! which then bounces you back to Ireland, which then bounces you back to the embassy!!
  
  To be fair they do reply to an email within 3 working days, sometimes…. and not with the information you request.
  
  Hilarious really. But Bloody frustrating for the local trying to get a Visa.
  
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  July 30, 2025 1:15pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Ra,
    
    If your friend just turns up to Ireland and says something nice about Allah, he will get a new phone, fully catered accommodation, free doctor and dentist visits and some cash every week for as long as he wants.
    
    Applying for a visa is for suckers.
    
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    July 30, 2025 3:58pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

More cultural appropriation.

The mana of the fragment of the ocean-going waka discovered a few years ago near Golden Bay has been claimed by the local iwis.

This overlooks the fact that they are Johnny-come-latelys in the district, their forebears having invaded and slaughtered earlier inhabitants.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/29/takaka-home-proposed-for-ancient-waka-itll-be-talk-of-the-town/
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July 30, 2025 8:03am
- lifesgood
  
  No different from the ‘sainted and worshipped’ Ngati Whatua who came down from the north and drove the original Auckland tribe off the land. The sad thing is NZers don’t know their history. It makes my blood boil that we get abused for being colonizers when the Maori themselves were far worse.
  
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  July 30, 2025 12:32pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Michael Bassett worries about Wellington:

I’m beginning to think there is a city-wide problem that ought to concern us all.

What’s worse is that too many radio, TV and print journalists, some of them quite senior, seem to have spent so long in the capital that they too have lost their historical knowledge. Slowly but surely, common sense in our capital city appears to be subsiding. Why is this happening? I’ve seen stories that too much time is being spent by public servants at hui singing waiata, one of the “blessings” inflicted on them by the governments of Ardern and Hipkins.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/michael-bassett-wellington-what-s-wrong-with-it
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July 30, 2025 8:12am
- artemisia
  
  I thought ScrubOne’s post yesterday on the Chloe thread was very pertinent, Maggy.
  
  I think we’re very quickly seeing the consequences of the older generation retiring, and the new generation wasn’t taught the values they were. The adults are literally no longer in charge.
  
  (Thanks ScrubOne! Good comment.)
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:18am
  - cmm
    
    I fear this is not just in journalism, but is through engineering etc too.
    
    Gone are the days of empirical analysis. Now people are asking Chat GPT and thinking that is a perfectly fine way to design critical systems.
    
    Heck, people are even using Chat GPT for dating advice! No more need for the wise old agony aunt to dispense virtuous information to teenagers via wimmins/teen magazines.
    
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    July 30, 2025 8:26am
    - Reg Perrin
      
      Using AI at work is very hit and miss. Asking Copilot questions about Microsoft products quite often returns results that are out of date.
      Its even worse going to Microsoft support as they send you the response they have gotten from AI which you have already found which did not work.
      Microsoft make out its as simple as pointing an AI agent at a website and it will provide all the answers. Works alright for simple question, but most questions I see are usually quite specific and for an AI Agent to be able to answer requires a lot of training
      
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      July 30, 2025 8:49am
      - artemisia
        
        First catch the hare – that would be the hare that can look at an AI response and see its shortfalls and inaccuracies. And the impacts on decision making. Probably those hares / adults no longer in the room.
        
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        July 30, 2025 10:58am
      - Keith White
        
        AI responses when used for medical history-taking and differential diagnosis-making are frighteningly plausible and occasionally catastrophically wrong. It’s not intelligent – it just scrapes and remixes billions of bytes of info and reassembles according to its coders’ biases. What could possibly go wrong?
        
        (Robotic surgery when instructed by actual surgeons works well because they do just what they are told…).
        
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        July 30, 2025 3:52pm
    - balanced
      
      Nz has been served by clever political leaders up until Ardern, whose fish and chips wrapping career and inability to speak English (jepardy) should have been a clue.
      
      The recent booing of Luxon at a netball match confirmed who was responsible for putting Ardern in power.
      
      Putting dishonest stupid people in charge invariably leads to dishonest stupid staff hires.
      
      Thank goodness we have an intelligent, honest, experienced, successful big business leader at the helm.
      
      It is no coincidence that a swathe of brown, lesbian public service managers have departed to be replaced with people chosen on merit, even if those people belong to the maligned straight white male category.
      
      It will be great for us all if the netball fans do a little thinking before marking their ballot papers next year.
      
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      July 30, 2025 9:37am
      - stewmar
        
        I’m sure she pronounced it Jeprady
        
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        July 30, 2025 11:36am
      - Philview
        
        Cam Slater once penned a column trying to make sense of JA and reached the conclusion she is an evil manipulator. I am not sure if I would use the word evil but the way she presented as kindness while implementing a radical agenda and shutting down debate took a lot of skill.
        
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        July 30, 2025 11:37am
      - Burtland
        
        “Thank goodness we have an intelligent, honest, experienced, successful big business leader at the helm.”
        
        trouble is the girls dont like bald white guys telling them what they can do – misandry is on the rise – Luxon will never get a vote from this crowd
        
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        July 30, 2025 11:50am
      - balanced
        
        I wouldn’t use manipulator. That word denotes a modicum of intelligence.
        
        So i guess you’re just left wth evil.
        
        Any doubts…. refer to my comment on Arderns support for gangs (how many Kiwi kids lives have been destroyed by that money making venture?).
        
        Does anyone know Sroubeks whereabouts?
        
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        July 30, 2025 12:06pm
      - Paulus
        
        But how many of the so called Wellington Public Servants have lost their jobs – or are the vacancies that they created the ones who lost the jobs.
        The figures are unsignifcant.
        
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        July 30, 2025 2:27pm
    - R
      
      Artemis and cmm…….we have to appreciate, that this country is moving into a era of management and social decisions, being made by individuals who have never been taught to ‘think for themselves’
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:36am
  - Simon
    
    Boomers retiring, losing that experience & knowledge, being replaced by mass third immigration is a major problem.
    
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    July 30, 2025 8:32am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    This is not a new complaint:
    
    https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/7btv14/the_more_things_change_the_more_they_stay_the/?rdt=60219
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:30am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Yes. Seems to happen just before a society fails or civilisation collapses. See also: sexual liberation, blurring of gender roles and tolerance of alternatives lifestyles.
      
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      July 30, 2025 12:05pm
- kowtow
  
  The problem is not confined to Wellington .
  
  It’s up and down the country.
  
  A thought . I understand it’s a constitutional convention that the public service be “neutral”.
  Now that it is a prerequisite to support the “principles of the ToW” to be hired in any public service role , have we abandoned that particular convention.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:49am
  - R
    
    YES !….
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:37am
  - pdm
    
    The Helen Clark led Governments got that well under way in the period 1999 to 2008 kowtow.
    
    Neither John Key or Christopher Luxon have showed or in Luxon’s case have shown any inclination to sort it out to date.
    
    My hopes rest with David Seymour and ACT but they need to double their MP’s next year to have the required impact.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:44am
  - Phronesis
    
    “If you don’t believe in anything, you’ll fall for everything” turns out to be true.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:49am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Yet another example of the lack of principles and low moral standards of politicans. Governments that export coal to China and India yet impose Net Zero on their citizens condemning them to high cost unreliable energy.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:10am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Last Man
    ah, capitalism is a bitch isnt it.
    Ie companies shipping their product to customers to make a profit. Willing buyer, willing seller and all that.
    
    You sure you are not confused with socialism???
    Where Governments make all the decisions.
    
    Ooops, my error , NZ IS a Socialist Country and politicians make all the decisions.
    
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    July 30, 2025 1:23pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  What you get when you rear a whole city of bureaucrat “kids” who don’t have “consequences” for bad behavior or poor performance.
  It’s not all about the younger generation , the awful old Labour spinsters are over represented in the public service. Check the stats.
  Public service skews older female.
  It’s been decades in the making.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:54am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I tell you what, such people are migrating to the Wairarapa. The midweek cafes of Greytown are full of them.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:27pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  One characteristic of the public service is that it’s full of foreigners, of all stripes. I meet many public servants whose accents originate north of here.
  
  In context, these people may not realise that all the current bill is doing is to revert the enrolment law to the way it was previously. They just don’t have the solid block of NZ-specific knowledge and experience that we expect people in these roles to have.
  
  They’re also enthusiastic karakia singers, for the same reason.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:26pm
Cassandra

A post re ACT’s Brooke van Velden on “X” from Helen Clark: “Only in #NZ. Does anyone seriously think the Govt should waste its time consulting on whether children can collect eggs laid & feed their pet lambs? I grew up on a farm doing both for years to no ill effect. It’s not April Fool’s Day. Etc.”

What Mz Clark does not say is that there was no WorkSafe when she was a child. Times – largely instigated by her and her team – have changed dramatically. Hence expensive scaffolding now, when we used to use a ladder, and fences around swimming pools but not rivers and ponds. Mz Clark is, as usual, being disingenuous.
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July 30, 2025 8:19am
- artemisia
  
  Heh, Wellington City Council wants to fence the sea. Only a bit of it though (for now anyway). To save the intoxicated from themselves.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:23am
  - cmm
    
    Was it just intoxicated or also suicidal? Good luck stopping either with a fence.
    
    When I was at university two pissed lads managed to get a shopping cart on top of a church steeple in Cape Town – a feat they would never have tried sober.
    
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    July 30, 2025 8:29am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The councils cunning plan is to stop people climbing a 45m high crane by building a 1.2m high fence.
    
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    July 30, 2025 8:46am
- Quail
  
  Cassandra.
  Comment with a US flavour
  “Any government that can do everything for you can also take everything off you.”
  and “get government off our backs and out of our pockets”
  Bluntly government must get out of our private lives!
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:41am
- cmm
  
  Feeding the chickens and pet lambs is one thing, but farm kids do a hell of a lot more than that.
  
  One of my kids (then 9 or so) got run over by a mob of hoggets that broke out of the yards. Lots of bruises etc but nothing broken. Would have been a lot worse had it been ewes.
  
  Both my kids had minor vehicle crashes (no injuries) and some neighbouring kids broke various bones on motor bikes, dealing with stock, etc.
  
  That said, children have always helped out in family businesses etc since forever. I think some injuries etc should be expected.
  
  Worksafe-ing everything is over the top.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:58am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I’ve noticed on site there is a growing assumption that membership of SiteSafe and scanning the QR code on the Hazzard board on the fence gives one an invulnerability that only God could breach.
    
    Personal responsibility has become inversely proportional to boxes ticked.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:20am
  - lifesgood
    
    Well cmm, we are city folk and our kids fell out of trees, crashed their push bike into a neighbour’s wall, fell off a flying fox etc, etc. That’s called learning from mistakes, normal growing up. Cotton wool kids get on my nerves. Dumb parents and now, by the sound of it, dumb BVV.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:39am
    - cmm
      
      Quite.
      
      If kids get banned from doing farm chores, hunting, fishing etc, how long before they get banned from doing home chores too? Nope, no vacuuming or cooking unless under direct parental supervision.
      
      Soon the only thing kids will be allowed to do is tagging and ram raiding.
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:45am
  - BananaLlama
    
    I take my kids with with me to move livestock and have them sit up on my shoulders or give the dogs commands. Probably not safest thing to do but having them inside the house alone and not knowing how to handle animals is equally as bad. If the weather is right i take the 4WD onto the paddocks and let them steer the wheel, farm life is just different.
    
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    July 30, 2025 2:50pm
- G152
  
  Clark has an agenda. Its called communism where the state rules and the population obeys….
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:11am
- rouppe
  
  She seems to forget that it was her that wanted to regulate our shower heads and light bulbs.
  
  So she can bugger off trying to tell anyone anything.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:48am
  - kowtow
    
    IIRC it was Shane Jones “fronting” the shower nozzle debacle. They had to back off because it was rightly seen to be Nanny to the max .
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:08am
    - pdm
      
      Shane Jones has without any shadow of doubt proved his Political dexterity and flexibility over the years.
      
      He and his mate Winston exemplify – `going with the flow’ – especially if their are baubles on offer.
      
      If Labour dump Hipkins Jones could well be front and center helping Labour and their motley cohorts dump coal mining, gas exporation etc etc etc in 2027.
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:50am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  What I can’t understand here is that it sounds more like a labour policy.
  
  What am I missing? Does the current regulation prevent kids from collecting eggs and they are looking to scrap it?
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:15am
  - RoboRob
    
    The current regulation prevents farm kids on farms that sell eggs (or other things like fruit) from collecting eggs or fruit. Kids on farms that dont sell eggs can collect them. Kids on residential that dont sell them can collect them. It is peak health and safety!
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:46am
    - R
      
      It is PEAK BUREACRACY AND STUPIDITY. Urbanized farm girl, Clarke’s government,was largely responsible for the poorly drafted legislation
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:45am
    - pdm
      
      When I was a kid growing up on a farm (1950’s/early 60’s) about once every 6 weeks (we lived in the stcks) my mother would sell up to 5 dozen eggs to HBFarmers in Waipukorau to supplement the family income.
      
      I used to help collect those eggs from about age five.
      
      Bloody hell – were we breaking the law? lol.
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:55am
      - RoboRob
        
        Probably not at that time 🙂
        
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        July 30, 2025 12:12pm
      - Countrygirl
        
        I dread to think what fines my father would have copped. I didn’t collect eggs, but cleaned out the pig houses, picked up spuds. Weeded mangolds, thinned sugar beet, picked up hay bales, all while still at primary school. Don’t even ask about holding the pigs during castration! I loved it all.
        
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        July 30, 2025 2:28pm
  - Dougal10
    
    Lots of staff children on farms aren’t allowed out of their house sections because of health and safety concerns of farm owners.
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:48am
  - Cassandra
    
    No, they are looking at clarifying the rules so children can continue to collect eggs or whatever.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:02am
    - R
      
      Correct Cass, even todays Herald managed to understand the intent of the proposed change
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:47am
- imalwaysright
  
  If a child dies in an accident on their farm, Worksafe can have the parents prosecuted for manslaughter.
  
  If a child is tortured and murdered in their own home, it seems the parents can get away with it.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:17am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Only if they’re special.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:41am
- rjay
  
  But apparently it was worth her government’s time thinking about our shower heads.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:41am
artemisia

The other day an ACT mailout (the ‘dropkicks’ one) included this sentence:

The real issue here is the epidemic of helplessness infecting New Zealand. The premise of the Herald and other critics is that people are helpless.

An epidemic of helplessness. Or could it be better described as an epidemic of learned helplessness. Is it an epidemic? Well there is a relentless stream of ‘give us more OPM’. How does dishing out OPM fix learned helplessness? Surely it increases it.

What happened to personal responsibility and #8 wire? No doubt those pushing for OPM as the only solution, will reject anything else as simplistic and doomed to failure. But are they right?
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July 30, 2025 8:21am
- pdm
  
  I heard David Seymour refer to No8 wire in a speech somewhere, or maybe one of his ACT released videos last week.
  
  At least he knows a bit about New Zealand’s farming’s historical innovation and creativity in solving problems.
  
  Maybe Mark Cameron schooled him up but, at least Seymour took the time to listen and learn.
  
  That is never evident from anyone on the left.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:32am
  - Skippytony
    
    I have had a twenty year career of repairing people’s BS No 8 wire fixes to problems. People keep talking it up as a virtue, but most of the time its just lazy temporary fixes.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:07am
    - artemisia
      
      “#8 wire” is an attitude to problems. Do or not do – there is no try. Better than helplessness lying on the sofa.
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:05am
  - rockape
    
    He built a Lotus seven, can’t get more no8 wire than that.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:16am
    - Jack5
      
      Where did he get the time to assemble a Lotus 7 kit? The patience, too?
      
      http://sandsmuseum.com/cars/seven/assembly/assembly.html
      
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      July 30, 2025 10:12am
- Simon
  
  It’s been like this for ever. The changes are it’s an increasingly proportion of society.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:37am
- artemisia
  
  Credit to WINZ where it is due. Young fam member left school at nearly 17, with no NCEA credits despite being more than average intelligence. (A problem in itself.)
  
  Turned 18, immediately applied for Jobseeker, approved. Consequences and sanctions spelt out. Within 2 weeks was working at Maccas, as referred by WINZ. Chances of helplessness much diminished.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:41am
  - peterwn
    
    Assuming he makes the most of the opportunity, the general experience and work ethic he gains at Maccas will make him far more employable in the future.
    
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    July 30, 2025 8:53am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The removal of youth rates has been a great disincentive for kids in taking charge of their future.
      
      By the age of 15, most kids are capable of performing tasks like cleaning rooms, stacking shelves, child-minding, etc for a few hours a week.
      
      Before youth rates were dispensed away with, many youngsters had built up enough hours of work experience to have a decent set of references and a knowledge of how they could advance themselves in the next few years.
      
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      July 30, 2025 9:24am
      - R
        
        Not forgetting the maturity and sense of achievement attained, before venturing into the ADULT world of required capability, motivation, experience and productivity expected for the payment of an adult wage
        
        6 0
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        July 30, 2025 11:54am
    - rouppe
      
      McDonalds is an underrated pathway for business management skills. More than one McDonalds franchise owner started as a counter or drive through server.
      
      21 0
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      July 30, 2025 9:53am
      - Debsta
        
        Yep, the cream rises to the top if you let it.
        
        9 0
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        July 30, 2025 10:14am
      - kowtow
        
        McD’s and its arches are a prime symbolic target for the extreme left , anti American/ anti capitalist and lazy, lacking in cohesive , rational argument ‘protest” mob.
        
        A kind of idiots reference point for simplistic point making.
        
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        July 30, 2025 11:08am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  The helplessness is selective. If the government was giving away KFC but you had to register two weeks beforehand, the same people who don’t register in time to vote would have no problem getting their names on the list for free KFC.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:07am
peterwn

Proposed Electoral Act amendments (like any other proposed legislation) require The Attorney General (Judith Collins) to have prepared and table a report to Parliament as to possible infringements of the Bill of Rights Act. Generally this not contentious. In this instance the report the Attorney General tabled contains cautions about possible infringements of the Act. It is then over to Parliament to heed or ignore the concerns. The Media said it was done by Judith Collins (as if it was a personal decision) rather than by the Attorney General. Judith may not agree with it personally but swallowed a rat in performing her statutory duty.
Contrast this with when Labour’s Margaret Wilson as Attorney General had to arrange a similar report on Foreshore and Seabed proposed legislation. She and her Government did not agree with the report drafted by officials, so she personally prepared an alternative which she tabled in Parliament. As far as I know the officials’ draft report has never been publicly released.
Judith Collins is to be commended for tabling the report as drafted by officials and not writing her own report as Margaret Wilson did years ago in similar circumstances.
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July 30, 2025 8:29am
- RoboRob
  
  Heard Mark Mitchel on with Hosking this morning. Very impresed with his take on the voting changes. Quite refreshing to hear someone from National espousing what used to be a common view of that party. It highlighted the huge gap between himself and Jinny. If only the rest of the party would start talking clearly like that.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:04am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Yeah, but Margaret Wilson knew more than her officials, eh.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:31am
  - R
    
    Questionable assumption re WILSON.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:56am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I didn’t think I needed to include the //
      
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      July 30, 2025 9:32pm
- JJ56
  
  see Maggy’s comment above that links to Michael Bassett having a flick at this nonsense from Officals.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:35am
Tauhei Notts

I have been very critical of our public service on this site in the past but let me tell you about some good news.
I completed and filed my daughter’s tax return. She had $41 to pay. Generous Dad paid it for her. But, as the sum payable was less than $50 it was to be written off. The Inland Revenue Department refunded the $41 to me.
I have also seen some other efficient matters attended to by that Department recently. I think they have lifted their game in an admirable way.
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July 30, 2025 8:33am
- Simon
  
  IRD are garbage. The IRD write insane tax law and the cretins in National & Labo let them.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:42am
- kowtow
  
  Unless your post was satire ,one would wonder how much money the IRD ( actually we the people) spent in determining that there was no meaningful tax to pay in the first place and in refunding you the pittance they raised in that pointless exercise.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:45am
  - greybeard
    
    I think you will find most of the IRD processing is computerised.
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:26am
    - peterwn
      
      The computer system would have received the tax return and if it looks OK and there are no other ‘flags’ would accept it and arrange tax to pay or refunds or write off any small due payment. So really, the whole thing is very sensible.
      Most people do not need to do tax returns, the system works out how much tax is due or to be refunded from PAYE and other information and if tax due is less than $50 then automatically writes it off. This is the result of the major IRD system revamp a few years ago. It appears to be working very well.
      
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      July 30, 2025 10:44am
  - artemisia
    
    The computer said yes.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:07am
- cmm
  
  Why deny your daughter the educational opportunity of doing it herself?
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:52am
  - MCōs
    
    Maybe she’s been infected by the epidemic of helplessness Act claim is sweeping the nation
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:03am
    - cmm
      
      I fully understand people helping their kids one way or another, but is it really help in the long term?
      
      5 1
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      July 30, 2025 9:48am
      - Blog-aholic
        
        It depends upon, what, where, when and how….
        
        2 0
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        July 30, 2025 10:10am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    My daughter has the luxury of an in-house expert chartered accountant. Her time is spent as a highly qualified environmental engineer. She got a first class honours M.Sc. degree. In the past such things as Foreign Investment Fund intricacies and non-resident tax problems were attended to by me. With that degree of specialisation her Mum does all the cooking and I do most of the cleaning up.
    The daughters are doing the forward planning for the golden wedding in 2028. It looks like being a very expensive bun fight, and I am the one doing the paying.
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:02am
    - RoboRob
      
      Urggh FIF tax, now I am triggered!
      
      The muppets at the helm allow you to avoid the complexities of FIF if you have less then 50k invested overseas, which is great. The issue is they never adjust that line up. My US shares have done very well in the last few years, so much so that I am closing in on 50k. I stopped investing in US shares two years ago, in part to avoid having to deal with the complexities of FIF tax. Not really a good signal to send to people trying to save. I guess the coalition has many more pressing issues to deal with then FIF boundies 🙂
      
      note : Instead of investing in US shares directly I now just do it through locally run ETFs via (Simplicity and Kernal). You lose the ‘fun’ in being able to select your shares but all the tax is handled for you.
      
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      July 30, 2025 10:58am
      - R
        
        Remember that FIF was set up by that chap who detested ‘Rich Pricks’. Card carrying labour members may have had a dispensation!
        
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        July 30, 2025 12:02pm
    - cmm
      
      It seems to me that a tax situation involving $41 is hardly needing the services of an expert chartered accountant.
      
      So what’s her plan when you’re pushing up daisies?
      
      3 2
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      July 30, 2025 11:52am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Well done Mr Notts, on the longevity of Marriage, parenthood of offspring and doing the cleaning up!!.
      Obviously the last being a secret to the longevity of the matrimonial state.
      
      Will hold my judgement of being an “”expert”” chartered accountant. Self praise being no recommendation.
      
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      July 30, 2025 2:48pm
      - R
        
        Mr Notts and Mrs Notts, sounds like you have prepared your daughter’s very well, to face the challenges of adulthood!
        
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        July 30, 2025 8:00pm
- mandk
  
  I wonder how many $millions IR are pissing away by writing off amounts of less than $50 owed.
  
  They pay refunds for small amounts – like the $8.96 I overpaid in taxes last year – so they don’t seem very good at stewarding the country’s resources.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:04am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Yes, but imagine if you will the pearl clutching and moronic moaning from the left if someone somewhere did not get their 15 cents back. It would be insufferability curated by the left and promoted by the MSM.
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:12am
  - cmm
    
    I would think it is very few millions.
    
    Very few people will owe less than $50. Maybe 20,000 tops – call that $500k all together.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:54am
- RoboRob
  
  IRD are by far and away one of the best run departments. Their IT implementation, despite being ‘plain’, is effective and easy to use.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:09am
  - kowtow
    
    Ironic .
    
    The dept that takes the most off us ,is the best run.It also has draconian powers.
    
    Tells you all you need to know about government.
    
    6 2
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    July 30, 2025 10:12am
  - mogg
    
    Despite having an accountant doing my taxes, when he made a mistake I called them directly. While on the phone they looked back at previous years agreed the mistake, gave me a credit, a week later I received confirmation in the mail. I am very impressed.
    
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    July 30, 2025 3:03pm
  - rouppe
    
    Is interesting… not that many years ago ird were being lambasted for an expensive system rewrite. IIRC people were comparing it to INCIS.
    
    I’ve not been keeping track but assuming it is completed – or largely so – rather than abandoned (which we surely would have heard about) then it has been a pretty big success.
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:27pm
- Ford Prefect
  
  The IRD were great to us. We have a nice new investment property but filled our return out wrong, they notified us that we hadnt included the mortgage interest properly. We refiled saved thousands.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:32am
- rouppe
  
  I’m not sure I’d say it was efficient if you had to pay it and then just have it refunded.
  
  Why not submit the tax return and have ird confirm there’s nothing to pay.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:56am
  - RoboRob
    
    If you are doing it on line, the web site tells you you owe < $50 and dont need to pay. It really is good.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:00am
- jonno1
  
  I queried (in an attachment) an error whereby via my IR3, filed online, I had been charged an ACC levy against my National Super. Received a polite phone call to say it had been fixed. Presumably a coding error, but I did wonder how widespread it was.
  
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  July 30, 2025 2:08pm
Bridgenag

Outrage Trolling, Big Pharma, and MAHA
Fearing for our safety is part of the package.

We have a couple on this site

“For the gullible, easily manipulated, and frankly, paranoid personalities, outrage trolling – or really, rage-baiting posts and essays- often cause great confusion and anger, as they are meant to do.”

https://www.malone.news/p/outrage-trolling-big-pharma-and-maha?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
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July 30, 2025 8:50am
Bridgenag

Inconvenient Truth-Bombs, Vaccine History and More PsyWar

The worm is turning, and the propagandists are facing setbacks on multiple fronts

“MAHA is increasingly acknowledged as the most significant contemporary US political movement. Those industries, cabals, trade organizations (particularly corporate political action committees), and Medical guilds (AMA, AAP, etc.) that are at risk for losing revenue, stock value, power, and status from the coming policy changes are not going to take this lying down.’

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/inconvenient-truth-bombs-vaccine?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 30, 2025 8:53am
I remember when

Why would we expect Christopher Luxon to have experience/knowledge of Maori?
Born in Christchurch, moved to Howick then back to Christchurch.
Hardly centres of Maori population.
Secondary schooling at St Kentigern College, Howick College and Christchurch Boys High.
Then overseas or in executive positions during his working life.

About as far removed from most Maori as the leaders of Te Pati Maori.
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July 30, 2025 9:01am
- ISeeRed
  
  At a café and just saw husband and wife as nearly white as me sporting Maori tribal tats on his arms and legs and a moko on her chin. She was also wearing a hoodie that said “Ake Ake Ake A Forever Language”.
  
  It was their two kids I felt most sorry for. Both boys with mullets who apparently will be brainwashed into the cuzzie cult and never learn of their non-Maori heritage.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:51am
- cmm
  
  Next question, why would anyone want him to have experience/knowledge of Maori mumbo-jumbo?
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:56am
- R
  
  IRM..your post is a good comment on the success of a motivated person
  
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  July 30, 2025 12:06pm
oldpark

Just been checking the NZ Stats Department on the type of Money Nurses earn . Seems Circa $125,000 per year plus overtime .
They are finding it difficult to live on that type of income .Yet seems they just turned down a 2% increase plus 1% next year plus 2,000 flat rate for Senior Positions.
Go Figure .Nuff Said.
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July 30, 2025 9:10am
- Ghost
  
  https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/assets/For-health-professionals/Employment-relations/Employment-agreements/NZNO-Nursing-Workforce-Factsheet.pdf
  
  Not all are on the top wage, but they certainly earn it
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:58am
  - R
    
    I didn’t start my working career on the top wage either, but I managed to live a satisfying life. No Union manipulating my mind though, helps!
    
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    July 30, 2025 12:08pm
- Ian Boag
  
  So how much do you think they should earn?
  
  Let us know how you arrive at the figure … 🙂
  
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  July 30, 2025 12:20pm
- kiwimike
  
  I think it is the no of staff that is getting them.
  because they are understaffed it means working is fraught.
  plus when they have waves of sickness/leave then they really shit off.
  no one needs that crap all the time.
  It is not safe.
  
  simeon Brown is not our friend.
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:11pm
MCōs

I read a piece yesterday about the late Paul Holmes who used to have a show after the six o’clock news in which he used to ask awkward questions of politicians and others.
Fast forward to the same time slot last night and an appalling item about how long a forgotten cup of coffee will remain on your car roof if you drive away
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July 30, 2025 9:14am
- newview
  
  I saw that MCos. My wife had to tell me to settle down. FFS, I switched to Netflix. Although she loves those coffees she didn’t argue.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:49am
  - RoboRob
    
    You tax payers money hard at work providing quality NZ centric news and current affairs 🙂
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:02am
Rusty

Did anyone else notice the predicted atmospheric river event that was meant to hit Auckland and elsewhere?

I didn’t.
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July 30, 2025 9:19am
- rjay
  
  It belted the Bay of Plenty with evacuation recommended in parts of Rotorua.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:55am
  - R
    
    Hit the wrong place, geography is no longer taught in school; not the journalists fault not knowing NZ areas
    
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    July 30, 2025 12:11pm
- [email protected]
  
  We had 100+ mm of rain in Whau Valley, Whangarei yesterday.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:05am
- MCōs
  
  Predicting anything in NZ is leaving yourself open to ridicule. So is not predicting anything . . . . .
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:08am
  - kowtow
    
    Weather service “forecasts” .
    
    But then these days and its adoption of the climate religion , perhaps predict , as in shamans or druids is apt.
    
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    July 30, 2025 12:17pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Weather forecasters only exist to give economists a good name.
      
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      July 30, 2025 9:36pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Maybe yesterday’s post about your clearing the drain has caught on…
    
    ‘Legends armed with shovels’ clear SH1 slip – NZ Herald https://share.google/iT5C2Va9VCSC1KkbU
    
    3 0
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    July 30, 2025 12:21pm
- Ghost
  
  The warnings were cancelled for Auckland and some other places
  
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  July 30, 2025 12:22pm
Paulus

I have found the answer to part of our educaion woes this morning.
The changes in school class set up is now reported in particularly to one large Secondary school in Tauranga whose NCEA results, as a result of accepting the room changes, has exceeded all expectations of the NCEA results.
Being an NZME baby paper we of course see the comments from selected opponents as expected.
One Head says thay returning to more traditional spaces was far more complex than walls, sliders, or class layout.
Understood, but she goes on that she has no way she will change.
She goes on “our current design aligns with our pedagogical approach and we feel confident it delivers strong outcomes for our learners”
Now that it is pedagogical I understand, as of course the children would too ” !
Isn’t this just one of the problems beset our sad and actually appalling education results.
= sod the Minister I will do what I want.
I was never misogynistic, but getting closer and the education system is run like that.
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July 30, 2025 9:29am
- kowtow
  
  The teaching”profession” , actually it’s largely a failed industry , should be collectively ashamed of itself.
  
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  July 30, 2025 9:43am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The education system is a babysitting service for people who are unfit for employment….the staff.
    
    If they were a private operator they would be in breach of commerce laws for taking money under false pretences.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:14am
    - kowtow
      
      Not to mention the bloated numbers in the ministry.
      
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      July 30, 2025 12:18pm
      - Paulus
        
        What bloat, there are only 4,500 of them – with no losses, but numerical adjustment with other Departments in Welllingon.
        
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        July 30, 2025 2:34pm
- artemisia
  
  Pedagogical approach, not changing because of? Great example from the principal to staff and pupils. Positive thinking, effective problem solving. Not.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:13am
JJ56

some long overdue balance returning to climate policy https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/DOE_Critical_Review_of_Impacts_of_GHG_Emissions_on_the_US_Climate_July_2025.pdf

The stuff on sea level rise and extreme weather particularly is well worth a read as a counterpoint to some of the rubbish we see from the media, MfE and TLAs.
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July 30, 2025 9:40am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And Matt Ridley explains the consequence of adopting climate-change policies:
  
  The climate boondoggle is one of the most regressive wealth transfers in history: never in the field of human commerce, or at least not since the sheriff of Nottingham, has so much tax been paid by people so poor to people so rich.
  
  https://rationaloptimistsociety.substack.com/p/matt-ridley-corrects-the-daily-mail
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:53am
- rjay
  
  This is a valuable resource JJ56 and I hope many readers of this blog take the time to read even the executive summary. Thank you.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:04am
Quail

From maritime= executive.com
“NZ Navy Idles One- Third of its Fleet Due to Manning Shortage “
HMNZS Otago Wellington and Hawea are mentioned.
That leaves 5 / 6 ships still available out of a fleet of 9
Blamed are a surge in wages driven by a post pandemic record setting rise in median wages of 9%
among other factors leading to an attrition rate of 17%.
Question where has the extra defence funding gone?
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July 30, 2025 9:49am
- Jack5
  
  Navy manning shortage?
  
  The captain-esses overlooked this press release.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:03am
  - Phronesis
    
    It’s lucky they sunk that ship or they would be even more short manned. On the other hand if it had been manned at all it wouldn’t have sunk.
    
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    July 30, 2025 11:35am
- kowtow
  
  Seems to be a problem across the west .
  
  From AI
  
  “The Royal Navy’s only amphibious warship, RFA Argus, is currently unable to sail due to safety concerns. This means the Navy has no ships currently capable of transporting Royal Marines into war zones. The ship’s safety certification has been withdrawn by maritime authorities because of issues including a leaky ballast tank, problems with fire doors, and a worn seal on the main aircraft lift. ”
  
  Meanwhile our enemies are furiously building more warships and threatening ever more international sea lanes.
  While the legacy msm obsess about a canoodling couple cheating at a concert.
  
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  July 30, 2025 10:16am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Argus is 40+ years old. Built on the cheap by Sea Containers, STUFTed during the Falklands then bought and converted by RFA in late 80’s. RFA Fort Victoria is 40 + years old.
    
    Plus the wages of the civilian manned RFA have not kept up and people can earn far more in commercial shipping and Tax Free
    
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    July 30, 2025 10:42am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘This means the Navy has no ships currently capable of transporting Royal Marines into war zones.’
      
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      July 30, 2025 11:01am
      - Jack5
        
        Meanwhile, one of the UK’s two new aircraft carriers visits Darwin and the UK Defence Minister warns Britain is “ready to fight” over Taiwan.
        
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        July 30, 2025 12:16pm
imalwaysright

The case of Moana and her white foster parents was discussed yesterday.
The Herald article said:

“The Smiths stopped being Moana’s foster parents after the appeal because “ongoing personal attacks” made their living situation “untenable”, Mrs Smith told Stuff”

If a Maori couple were actively racially victimised by people acting in their capacity as Public Servants it would be a fair bet that it would lead the news for a week, heads would roll, and criminal charges laid.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/justice-criticises-oranga-tamariki-awards-108000-to-former-foster-parents/NRY6GQB7R5BXDKPOXOX6HTVCPY/
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July 30, 2025 10:02am
- greybeard
  
  Well done Judge Peter Callinicos.
  Well done Justice Helen Cull.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:18am
  - Paulus
    
    We do not appear to know where the child now lives and with whom !
    
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    July 30, 2025 2:36pm
Swifty

Really? Child rapists didn’t appear to have any fear of consequences?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/568430/child-sexual-exploitation-not-sufficiently-addressed-in-nz-new-report-finds

Well then, time they were made to isn’t it?
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July 30, 2025 10:49am
Jack5

Stuff ain’t going to be Left behind ….

A headline today:

Kiwi voices needed: We want to hear from New Zealanders on Gaza, writes Keith Lynch, Editor-in-Chief

All you need to know, Mr Lynch, is that the overdone Gaza disaster porn is tedious. The war’s sad and wrong, but over-coverage is dulling people’s sympathy, empathy. The shock’s long gone.

TVNZ broadcasts and broadcasts Gaza suffering to the point of Gaz-umping viewers into tedium.

Stuff in sympathy unleashes Paula Penfold . She was frequently negative about NZ troops in Afghanistan. She should look at the mess in Afghanistan now; look at the plight of Afghan women.

Is Stuff now seriously loosing Penfold on the Israeli Army?
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July 30, 2025 11:21am
- cmm
  
  How many NZers are there in Gaza?
  
  And, no, I don’t mean Gazans with an NZ passport.
  
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  July 30, 2025 11:59am
  - Jack5
    
    Perhaps “in Gaza” would mean Hamas and prisoners in the tunnels.
    
    “On Gaza” would be the poor ordinary people and the Israeli soldiers.
    
    “Off Gaza” would be TV viewers tired of coverage and over-coverage of the war.
    
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    July 30, 2025 12:12pm
  - Ghost
    
    Enough to fill a car…..
    
    https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/350109582/half-new-zealanders-trapped-gaza-have-escaped
    
    7 0
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    July 30, 2025 12:17pm
  - MCōs
    
    So you’re saying naturalized NZers are not real Kiwis?
    
    4 2
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    July 30, 2025 12:33pm
    - cmm
      
      It depends….
      
      If they naturalize, then stay here. Yes, they are real Kiwis. I have been here for 33 years with 2 weeks outside the country on holiday to Oz and a few weeks on business trips. I have revoked by previous South African citizenship. More than half my life has been on NZ soil. I think I can call myself a real Kiwi.
      
      However, many stay here just long enough to get a passport, retain dual citizenship and then bugger off “back home” to Australia or wherever and only remember they’re NZ citizens when it is convenient to do so. Do you call those real Kiwis? I don’t.
      
      12 1
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      July 30, 2025 1:44pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Can we send them Minto please.
    
    6 1
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    July 30, 2025 1:44pm
- kowtow
  
  We’re certainly being lied to by the western legacy msm.Who seem to be all too willing to go along with terrorist propaganda.
  
  ‘A widely circulated image of an emaciated Palestinian child has been used to falsely accuse Israel of starving children in Gaza, charged the Defense Ministry body overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories on Monday, as Israel continued to combat accusations of having deliberately starved the population of the Gaza Strip.’
  
  https://www.timesofisrael.com/image-of-gazan-child-with-genetic-illness-being-used-to-falsely-smear-israel-cogat-charges/
  
  7 4
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  July 30, 2025 12:22pm
  - Rusty
    
    @Kowtow
    
    Your right “one” emancipated Palestinian child paraded by the worlds media. How about hundreds or even dozens of starving and sickly children lined up in pictures for us to see?
    
    6 3
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    July 30, 2025 2:14pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    This is premium. Buy a copy of the Herald and tell be that Netanyahu does not bear a lot of responsibility. Donald Trump is moved by this atrocity.
    
    Why the Israel-Gaza conflict remains a ‘War of the Worst’ – Thomas L. Friedman
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/why-the-israel-gaza-conflict-remains-a-war-of-the-worst-thomas-l-friedman/54PKWPVRG5CUJP6EEJUZMA4GME/
    
    1 4
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    July 30, 2025 4:35pm
    - Jack5
      
      TV3, under its new owner, was in line with TVNZ with plenty of focus on Gaza tonight.
      
      It did make one error on another subject. Talking of the capital expansion for Kiwibank, it said the Government owned Kiwibank. In fact state ownership of the bank is now down to just 65 per cent.
      
      The rest is widely held in small packages held by investment banks and the like.
      
      3 1
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      July 30, 2025 7:35pm
- rouppe
  
  There are email addresses to tell Mr Lynch that…
  
  2 2
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  July 30, 2025 1:10pm
JJ56

Michael Reddell continues his commentary on Orr, Quigley and the Reserve Bank saga from the post referenced yesterday. A useful summary of events https://croakingcassandra.com/2025/07/30/rereading-the-material/
8 0
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July 30, 2025 11:41am
- Phronesis
  
  I think Mike might be getting pretty close to the truth with that post. It does cast the awarding of a new medical school to VC Quigley in an interesting light. Particularly considering Down to Earth Kiwis (Professor Robert MacCulloch) final post.
  
  4 0
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  July 30, 2025 12:34pm
- JJ56
  
  And a fascinating follow up release from the TY potentially indicating Orr may have flounced out of the meeting with the Minister on the topic of the funding agreement. https://croakingcassandra.com/2025/07/30/the-treasury-file-note-of-the-24-february-meeting Note caveats in the TY release.
  
  6 0
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  July 30, 2025 1:33pm
  - JJ56
    
    I note that the Herald in covering this story makes no mention of the role Reddell had in bringing it to light.
    
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    July 30, 2025 9:14pm
Swifty

Good grief.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/568442/gloriavale-leader-howard-temple-pleads-guilty-to-indecency-charges

I wonder which is it? That the religious cult environment turns them into rapists and abusers or that rapists and abusers are attracted to religious cults?

Years ago I had some admiration for Gloriavale and the people within it, particularly around their hard work and enterprise.

That was before all the abuse was discovered and reported in.

Now I’m just disgusted by it all and wish it all closed down with the innocent among them free to live good lives.
7 1
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July 30, 2025 12:08pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Little girls have been subjected to gropey males for 50 years in Gloriavale and their mummies and daddies don’t seem to have a bloody clue!.
  
  https://www.abuseincare.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/28180/edwards-j-gloriavale-details-of-crimes-committed-by-founder-hopeful-christian-made-public-for-first-time-rnz-news-17-february-2023.pdf
  
  https://tautokotane.nz/news/former-gloriavale-member-convicted-of-child-sex-abuse/
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/133371627/major-gloriavale-investigation-finds-138-potential-abuse-victims-dozens-of-suspected-offenders
  
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/08/09/ex-gloriavale-teacher-jailed-for-sexual-violent-offending/
  
  https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350216072/gloriavale-man-jailed-abusing-nine-children-over-more-three-decades
  
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  July 30, 2025 8:00pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Hard to believe, Maggy. By definition, most of the Mums at Gloriavale were themselves adolescents at Gloriavale at some point across the last 50 years.
    
    2 1
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    July 30, 2025 9:42pm
Swifty

“So in the future the engagement will happen. This highly technical matter was not the subject of consultation in a detailed way, it was dealt with with a great deal of confidentiality. And in terms of providing a Māori dimension, I interviewed myself.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/568388/last-minute-change-puts-oil-and-gas-cleanup-decisions-in-ministers-hands

Heh.
4 0
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July 30, 2025 12:29pm
Ghost

Bloody hell

A knife-wielding man is in custody after he allegedly threatened to kill protesting nurses in Christchurch.

The agitated man allegedly began to wave a knife with a long blade, Mitch said, and shouted that he would kill nurses because his grandmother was “dying” in hospital and they weren’t working.

Article
4 1
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July 30, 2025 12:47pm
- kowtow
  
  Closing the big secure mental asylums was a big mistake.
  
  12 0
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  July 30, 2025 1:05pm
  - R
    
    Thank you Comrade H!
    
    1 0
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    July 30, 2025 8:09pm
    - Ghost
      
      Started long before her.
      
      0 0
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      July 30, 2025 8:17pm
MCōs

Howard Temple the aging leader of the Gloriavale community has pleaded guilty to a dozen charges of sexual assault.
Another in a long list of hardline religious leaders who can’t be trusted to practice what they preach
9 4
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July 30, 2025 12:56pm
- Keith White
  
  So, like all the senior monks, bishops, imams, popes, rabbis, etc. then.
  
  2 1
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  July 30, 2025 4:23pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    All, Keith?
    
    0 1
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    July 30, 2025 9:43pm
Ghost

Reports that Tsunamis from the Russian earthquake are starting to hit some places.
4 0
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July 30, 2025 1:20pm
- cmm
  
  AP feed on stuff is showing some massive waves. Looks like this is hitting Japan based on cars on left hand side of the road.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360775164/powerful-quake-hits-near-russias-kamchatka-peninsula-japan-issues-tsunami-alert
  
  2 0
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  July 30, 2025 2:53pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I read somewhere that in some parts of Siberia they drive on the left, as their cars come second hand from Japan and (almost) no one drives from Siberia to the rest of Russia. Not sure how true that is, though.
    
    0 0
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    July 30, 2025 9:45pm
- Ghost
  
  Emergency messages on the phone down here for the strong currents
  
  0 1
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  July 30, 2025 4:19pm
Conservatarian

Who else enjoyed the panic evident in Starmer’s eyes when Trump holds a press conference and speaks plain truths on farming, windmills, migration, etc. The things that ordinary people think and that technocrats don’t allow them to say.

Every time he speaks, the position of technocrats gets weaker and more embarrassing, and the media complain in the manner of “Look at how crudely he says true things. Isn’t he awful?”
17 3
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July 30, 2025 1:51pm
AitchW

Question time in the House. Swarbrick shrieking like a fishwife then, as soon as the PM starts to answer her question, interrupts him.
7 1
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July 30, 2025 2:29pm
- R
  
  What else would you expect from someone with no recognizable knowledge
  
  5 1
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  July 30, 2025 8:12pm
David Garrett

A tsunami warning here in Tonga…all the locals clogging the roads heading for “higher ground”…problem is on an Island the highest point of which is 30 metres – and the area on top of that one lhill is very small – there isn’t any significant higher ground to head for.
14 2
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July 30, 2025 2:35pm
- cmm
  
  The friction of the water against trees, buildings etc will improve the situation a bit the further you are from the coast – even if you are not high up.
  
  Good luck there mate…
  
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  July 30, 2025 2:54pm
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: thanks for ur good wishes…I have used the tsunami warning as an excuse to take an early shower – or more accurately a cleansing ale or three at the Nuku’alofa Club – which is only about 500 metres from the sea. The tsunami is predicted to arrive here at about 10.30pm, so i will wait until the Tongans have all fled inland before attempting to drive home.
    
    8 2
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    July 30, 2025 3:55pm
    - cmm
      
      Sounds like a good plan.
      
      If you have to go, no point in being grumpy when it happens.
      
      5 0
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      July 30, 2025 4:41pm
      - David Garrett
        
        cmm: It’s predicted to be about a metre here…and several substantive buildings between the seafront and the Club…I’ll be fine I am sure.
        
        4 2
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        July 30, 2025 4:51pm
      - MCōs
        
        As you know it’s not the height of the wave that’s the problem, but the volume of water.
        A dam, for example, can fail when the height of the water exceeds what it’s designed for if the water is calm
        
        2 0
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        July 30, 2025 5:49pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Pays to walk, don’t get caught up in a queue of cars.
  
  2 0
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  July 30, 2025 8:02pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Maggy: 14 minutes since the wave was supposed to hit here…No sign of any water in my digs
    
    1 0
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    July 30, 2025 9:15pm
cmm

Some anime cartoonist who has been lauded as a prophet predicted a July tsunami event in Japan.
According to the cartoons, it is supposed to be massive, so still too early to tell there.

Still, this is likely to enhance her ratings.
6 0
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July 30, 2025 2:57pm
Swifty

Trump versus Starmer:

https://x.com/seanyboyy89/status/1950307906122854491?s=46

😁
2 2
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July 30, 2025 3:34pm
cmm

Weird how small the world is…
Just got off the comms to our son in Mexico… His workmate’s sister works in the NYC building that was shot up yesterday and was live-texting them during the gunfire.
4 0
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July 30, 2025 4:39pm
cmm

Big Cop presence in BoP.

Do the Wassilieff household have overdue library books?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/large-police-operation-in-maketu-closes-road/FVAVTAMWB5DXLNDLMFNZ3K2YOY/
2 2
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July 30, 2025 4:47pm
- David Garrett
  
  cmm: Maggy is in Poverty Bay mate, not the BOP
  
  6 2
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  July 30, 2025 4:53pm
  - cmm
    
    Thanks.
    
    All the same to someone who lives in the mainland…
    
    3 2
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    July 30, 2025 5:14pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The distance between Gizzy and Maketu is about the same as the distance between Christchurch & Oamaru.
      
      3 0
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      July 30, 2025 5:39pm
Tauhei Notts

I have seen a piece from John Allen’s sub-stack. He writes;
“Kathryn Ryan is a ravenous breast feeder from Radio New Zealand’s bodacious taxpayer-funded bosom.”
I thought that was well written.
6 2
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July 30, 2025 4:51pm
- David Garrett
  
  Tauhei: Actually IMO Ryan is the only announcer worth listening to on Nat Rad
  
  5 3
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  July 30, 2025 4:55pm
  - cmm
    
    A few years back I remember Ryan saying she was looking forward to taking her shotgun down to the maimai when the season opened and shooting a few ducks.
    
    Bet that chilled the air in the RNZ coffee room.
    
    7 3
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    July 30, 2025 5:18pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Jim Mora is up there also.
    
    2 0
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    July 30, 2025 9:47pm
surfing

Nurses are complaining about patients in corridors, understaffing, and the abhorrent treatment of new graduates.

So , how does the minister of health respond to this? He highlights the number of cancelled surgeries, and says that nurses get paid well.

So he tries to make nurses feel guilty about cancelled ops, then bangs on about salaries which is not the sticking point here. He’s a slippery eel.
3 4
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July 30, 2025 6:24pm
- MCōs
  
  I saw Minister Brown on the news tonight doing his best to belittle the work of nurses
  
  2 6
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  July 30, 2025 7:35pm
- Ghost
  
  I went and had a look, I don’t watch the news. I was left thinking that we need a new health minister.
  
  3 3
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  July 30, 2025 7:39pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  This is the best possible excuse to knock some of the wokeism out of the public sector.
  
  Example: Ministry of Women’s Affairs or an extra $10m to spend on additional nurses.
  
  Pick one.
  
  Etc.
  
  2 1
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  July 30, 2025 9:50pm

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