About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

August 21, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 21 August 2025

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment186

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (186)

Login to comment or vote

Colinxy

The Evolution of Marxism: An Examination

Marxism, often revered with religious fervour by its adherents, has undergone a long and convoluted transformation. What began as a philosophical response to historical conditions has metastasized into a sprawling ideological framework, absorbing metaphysical speculation, theological motifs, and creating modern identity politics. This essay outlines the key stages in the development of Marxism, tracing its intellectual lineage from ancient philosophy to contemporary technocratic globalism.

Pre-Marxist Philosophical Foundations

Parmenides: The Static Ideal

Parmenides, the pre-Socratic philosopher of permanence, argued that reality is unchanging and that reason and not sensory experience revealed truth. Though Marxism ultimately rejects this static worldview, Parmenides’ legacy lies in the opposition he provoked. However, his metaphysics opened the door to imagining alternate realities, a concept that would later underpin utopian ideologies like Marxism.

Heraclitus: The Dialectic of Change

Heraclitus, in stark contrast, emphasised perpetual flux and conflict. His concept of the “Unity of Opposites”, where contradictions are not only inevitable but necessary, laid the groundwork for dialectical reasoning. This idea, later formalised by Hegel and weaponised by Marx, celebrates struggle as the engine of progress. Heraclitus’ famous aphorism, “No man ever steps in the same river twice,” encapsulates the fluidity embraced by Marxist theory.

Plato: The Realm Beyond Reality

Plato attempted to reconcile Parmenides and Heraclitus by positing the Realm of Forms—a metaphysical domain of perfect, immutable archetypes. This realm, “more real than reality,” echoes in Marxist idealism. Plato also introduced dialectics, the concept of philosopher-kings, and the Demiurge: a flawed creator figure later reimagined in Gnostic and Marxist thought as the oppressive architect of false consciousness.

Religious and Political Precursors

Gnosticism: The Demiurge as Oppressor

Gnostic traditions cast the Demiurge as a malevolent creator who traps souls in a false world. This dualism, between the true self and imposed reality, resonates with Marxist narratives of alienation, false consciousness, and systemic oppression.

Council of Nicaea: The Trinity Template

The Christian Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, established a triadic structure that would later influence dialectical models. This theological triangle subtly informed the metaphysical scaffolding of Marxist thought, particularly in its recursive logic and moral teleology.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Romantic Rebellion

Rousseau, a Romantic thinker, rejected original sin and proposed that man is inherently good but corrupted by society. His concept of the “Noble Savage” and critique of civilisation introduced the oppressor-oppressed dynamic that Marxism would later codify. His famous line, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” became a foundational slogan for revolutionary ideologies.

François-Noël Babeuf: “Crude”-Communism

Babeuf’s “Conspiracy of Equals” was the first organised attempt at a communist utopia. He laid the groundwork for collectivist revolution, predating Marx by decades and foreshadowing the totalitarian impulses that would later define Marxist regimes.

The Philosophical Engine of Marxism

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Dialectical Architect

Hegel synthesised Plato’s dialectics, Heraclitus’ contradictions, and Christian metaphysics into a dynamic model: Abstract + Negation = Concrete. This recursive process, which he dubbed “scientific,” became the backbone of Marxist theory. Hegel also introduced the idea of history as a moral force, giving rise to the notion of being on the “right side of history”: a phrase now used to silence dissent.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis

Fichte reformulated Hegel’s dialectic into a more digestible triad: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. This model became a staple of Marxist analysis, especially in its historical and class-based applications, and remains central to revolutionary rhetoric.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The “Nihilistic” Muse

Goethe’s Faust deeply influenced Marx, particularly the character Mephistopheles, the devil, whose nihilistic declaration, “Everything that exists deserves to perish,” was Marx’s favourite quote. This nihilism is baked into Marxism from inception, helping explain the catastrophic human toll of its implementation.

The Young Hegelians: Utopian Dreamers

This group believed the dialectic would culminate in a utopia. Marx emerged from this milieu, rejecting the idea that history had reached its endpoint and instead advocating for perpetual revolution: a secular eschatology.

Karl Marx: Prophet of Revolution

Marx, alongside Engels, positioned himself as the messianic figure of a new secular religion. He viewed atheism not as an end but as a means; to clear the ideological field for his own doctrine. Despite a shallow grasp of history and economics, Marx was a master manipulator of intellectual trends and social grievances. His tactics, such as “Rule or Ruin” and the sanctification of “Revolution”, remain central to Marxist praxis and political strategy.

Twentieth-Century Transformations

World War I: The Great Disillusionment

The failure of Marx’s prophecy during WWI led to ideological fragmentation. Some Marxists abandoned the faith; others rebranded it. Fascism, under Mussolini and Gentile, and National Socialism, under Hitler, emerged from Marxist roots but diverged in method and mythos. Lenin, recognising Marx’s impracticality, adapted the theory into Marxist-Leninism, an authoritarian but workable variant that retained the Revolutionary spirit.

Cultural Marxism and Its Architects

György Lukács: The Cultural Turn

Lukács identified Western traditions as obstacles to Revolution. His controversial educational reforms and moral relativism laid the foundation for Cultural Marxism, which sought to erode cultural norms as a prelude to political upheaval.

Antonio Gramsci: Counter-Hegemony

Gramsci expanded Lukács’ ideas, arguing that cultural institutions must be infiltrated to dismantle bourgeois hegemony. His work deeply influenced the Frankfurt School and later Marxist movements, especially in education, media, and religion.

Mao Zedong: Revolutionary Synthesis

Mao fused Marxist-Leninism with Cultural Marxism, launching the Cultural Revolution. Though his connection to Gramsci is unclear, the ideological parallels, especially in targeting tradition and intellectual dissent, are unmistakable.

Marxism in Modern Thought

Simone de Beauvoir: Feminist Marxism

In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir reimagined patriarchy as a Demiurge-like oppressor. She also separated sex from gender, arguing that becoming a woman was a social construct imposed by patriarchy. This foundational idea underpins modern gender theory and queer activism. Notably, “Queer” is a political identity rooted in Marxism, as established by theorist David Halperin.

The Frankfurt School: Critical Theory

Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse developed Critical Theory: a Marxist critique of culture, power, and ideology. Marcuse’s concept of “repressive tolerance” remains influential in progressive activism, justifying censorship in the name of liberation.

Liberation Theology: Marxism in Religious Garb

This movement merged Catholicism with Marxist principles, fulfilling Gramsci’s vision of ideological infiltration. Paulo Freire adapted it into Critical Pedagogy, reshaping education to challenge Western epistemology and promote “other ways of knowing”, like Maturangi Maori.

Postmodernism and Identity Marxism

Postmodern Thinkers: Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida

These disillusioned Marxists rejected objective truth, framing it as a tool of power. Their theories laid the groundwork for identity politics, subjective epistemology, and the deconstruction of Western rationalism.

Combahee River Collective: Intersectional Roots

This group of Black lesbian Marxists introduced the idea of layered oppression, marking the genesis of what is now called “Woke.” Their framework emphasised identity as a site of struggle, not just class.

Kimberlé Crenshaw: Intersectional Marxism

Crenshaw fused postmodernism with Neo-Marxism, fully developing the framework of Intersectionality—a lens through which all social relations are viewed as power struggles. This model now dominates academic, legal, and activist discourse.

The World Economic Forum: Technocratic Marxism

In recent years, Marxist principles have been synthesised with technocratic governance and corporate power. Under leaders like Jiang Zemin, China pioneered a synthesis of communism and fascism. The World Economic Forum appears to be the next stage in this ideological evolution, promoting centralised control under the guise of global cooperation and sustainability.
18 8
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:01am
- Conservatarian
  
  This details the long long bastardisation of intellectual production by some of worst “smart people” in history. We’ve allowed them to have a major say, or control in some cases, in our institutions.
  
  An excellent and concise summary. Thanks Colin.
  
  19 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:21am
  - stewmar
    
    Ridiculously long
    
    9 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:12am
- Tom Hunter
  
  It’s good stuff Colinxy but too long I’m afraid, and I say that as someone who has written lengthy comments occasionally.
  
  You might consider pulling it, or asking the Mods to do so, and asking DPF for a guest column.
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:05am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    and asking DPF for a guest column.
    
    Good idea.
    
    I didn’t find it too long…. but as it is a useful summary of names and jargon, I’d be interested in relocating it again.
    
    17 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:17am
  - Colinxy
    
    Thanks Tom – I think.
    
    I did look around Kiwiblog a while back to see if there was a way of submitting guest posts, but I couldn’t find anything.
    
    I tried to keep it as brief as possible. I reduced the examples, removed some characters and topics to keep the length shorter.
    
    I had hoped that by making the headings and sections clearer, it might be more digestible – in chunks.
    
    I’m certainly biased on the topic, but I think more people need to see the various cults of Marx and how they operate – hence the original comment. IMHO, too many people think Communism was just the Soviet Union, whereas the cults have changed and morphed to the conditions.
    
    [Mod – contact DPF at [email protected]]
    
    15 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:22am
    - pdm
      
      If DPF turns you down email me and I will run it as a guest post at No Minister.
      [email protected]
      
      Not the same exposure but, a reasonable coverage.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:54am
- R
  
  Colinyx,….this eccellent summary is well beyond the comprehension of any one educated(sic?) In our schools since about the late 1980’s
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:13am
- kowtow
  
  TLDR
  
  Easier version is “you have wealth , I have more guns ( or power) I’m taking what you have”
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:49am
  - Colinxy
    
    True, but you need to convince your grunts to use those guns and ideologies or religions are the most powerful ways to foment the masses.
    
    Karl Marx wanted to rule the world, but he needed his puppets to do the work for him.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:43am
    - kowtow
      
      colinxy
      
      Excuse my smartarsery.
      
      Good on you , genuinely , for going to the trouble.
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 1:38pm
- Parnell Gun Club
  
  Normally I would agree with comments above that this is too long. Not this time. A jolly good read.
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:34am
- Philview
  
  An interesting essay. As a note of caution and I am sure you well know, the streams of modern Marxism are very powerful in New Zealand with people very happy to punch down on critics.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 1:42pm
Chuck Bird

The title says it all. No paywall.

Primary sector is driving New Zealand’s economic recovery – Dr Jacqueline Rowarth

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/primary-sector-is-driving-new-zealands-economic-recovery-dr-jacqueline-rowarth/JDVOK73SYBAI3PYF53IECEGXFU/
26 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:03am
- kowtow
  
  Buying and selling houses at inflated prices and flooding the country with immigrants is no way to run an economy ; and it sure ain’t “rock star” , is it John.
  
  Now the ‘clever’ folk in Wellington need to get real , drop carbon bollocks , support our farmers and miners , including coal , which we need to power the economy and heat our homes , reliably and cheaply .
  
  30 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 8:16am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    The only way they can drop “carbon bollocks” is to repeal the Zero Carbon Act.
    
    Also what actually is the government doing on climate change? It is running an ETS with a cap not even close to meeting the 2030 Paris Agreement commitments. Apart from the ETS what else is there?
    
    As far as I can tell, the Government is just leaving the Act in place and doing little of substance. At some point it will fall over.
    
    It is all smoke and mirrors. Just as it has been in New Zealand for the last 30 years
    
    18 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:06am
  - Paulus
    
    But is not the problem of the economy and houses particularly being that Ardern/Robertson printed $80 billion. and the RBNZ have commented that they believe some $44 billion has not been recovered yet and much of it is still floating in the economy.
    Buy a new Electric car and look at the cost.
    It will take generations to recover to an earlier position, and sadly the poor will increase daily.
    For example look at Auckland Airport and cost what families are spending on family holidays, and where that has come from, and what is left to subsume into the economy.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:45am
    - Quail
      
      Fiddling with interest rates ( lowering OCR) in NZ can have a very similar effect to quantitative easing ( printing money)!
      Both actions, have the effect of inflating the price of imports and creating a loss of value for the NZD.
      NZD is one of the smallest by volume currencies in the world and is susceptible to speculation in world money markets.
      The dangers are clear as are the solutions.
      Having an exchange rate that is supported by stable interest rates and finite monetary volume is absolutely vital for the financial health of NZ!
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 12:32pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Just a small fact Quail you may be unaware of.
        
        The NZD – USD pairing is the 7th most traded, by volume, IN THE WORLD.
        
        Back 20 years ago I traded Forex on the spot market and this was one of my favourite trades, living in NZ with US contacts, I figured I had a small edge. Then bot trading arrived and I couldn’t compete
        
        Recovery will happen to a small amount Sept 18th when the Fed does its rate review. If it drops their Interest rate NZD will go back up a bit, am sitting on my hands until then.
        
        1 0
        Report
        August 21, 2025 3:18pm
- Eastlander
  
  And we have three parties eager to cut the branch they sit on.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 8:59am
  - AitchW
    
    4 if it suits Peters at the next election.
    
    14 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 9:47am
    - R
      
      4…… I guess you need someone who may have the practical skills, to operate the saw. Let’s hope that the other three are sitting on the outer end of the branch from the saw cut.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:42pm
Chuck Bird

This shows why Ardern, Hipkins, Roberson, and Verrall show be compelled to appear to the public.

https://rcr.media/episodes/rcr360-unplugged-martin-lally-exposes-flawed-covid-modelling
32 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:08am
- Scooter
  
  He was very good on The Platform, basically the media should be held to account also for “catastrophizing” COVID (listen around 21min). He also says maybe the politicians went along with the COVID narrative because they wanted to win votes. I would say spot on and that’s why Labour got over 50% in 2020, the nation was in the grip of a mass hysteria.
  
  https://theplatform.kiwi/podcasts/episode/martin-lally-on-the-economics-of-new-zealands-covid-response
  
  35 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 8:39am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    the politicians went along with the COVID narrative because they wanted to win votes
    
    OTOH they maybe weren’t as smart as you and thought COVID was a serious matter …. you should have been out there campaigning to reveal the truth to all those uninformed voters.
    
    The country needed your advice. Whining anonymously on KB was probably a good start …. 🙂
    
    5 57
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 8:46am
    - Keith White
      
      Well Ian, some of us went public and / or direct to the Govt and MOH and Medical Council with our reasoned concerns about the not-fit-for-purpose jab and lockdowns and MedSafe’s craven rollover etc., and lost our careers and incomes.
      
      [Mod – just debate the topics]
      
      34 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 8:58am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Fair enough. FWIW I agree the reactions were too extreme. But I can’t quite handle the thought that it was all a conspiracy run by people who knew they were doing it wrong. I suspect that if my career and income had been on the line (they weren’t) I would have just shut up – or maybe found a blog where I could air my concerns anonymously.
        
        Go figure.
        
        2 12
        Report
        August 21, 2025 1:42pm
    - Yabster
      
      [Mod – drop the abuse and debate the topic]
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:08am
    - Swifty
      
      There you go railing against anonymous posting on KB again. That’s twice in the last few days and dozens of times over the years.
      
      That debate is long, long over, if it in fact it ever existed.
      
      [Mod – let’s just debate the topic without the personal jabs, thanks]
      
      10 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:24am
      - Ian Boag
        
        I was just commenting that if you really want to change opinions, then posting anonymously on a right-wing blog where people by and large already agree with you is not likely to have much effect.
        
        I respect your right to post anonymously, but it decreases my respect I might have for what you are posting. Particularly when a significant amount of the anonymous posting is abusive rants. Ask how I know 🙂
        
        3 12
        Report
        August 21, 2025 1:38pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Ian, I respect you for posting here on what I assume is your real name. From what you’ve commented, you’ve done well for your self; good on you & enjoy the sunny uplands of retirement.
        
        For those of us who remain working class stiffs, with responsibilities to family, employers, colleagues & others, we don’t have the luxury of posting under our names.
        
        I hope that you evaluate my opinions on their merits or otherwise, rather than the fact that my parents did not christen me Never Mind.
        
        8 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 4:12pm
    - Cassandra
      
      Ian: I don’t think that’s appropriate on a blog. As the mod says: play the ball, not the man or WTTE. Having had a heap of abuse myself I dropped my actual name years ago.
      
      27 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:31am
    - Jigsaw
      
      The Labour government knew from quite early on that Covid posed only a tiny risk for primary aged children and much the same for secondary kids and yet they closed the schools creating the mess we are still currently dealing with.
      
      [Mod – this is a sensitive topic for many, but we need to be able to debate these issues without the little personal jabs]
      
      18 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:36am
      - nova
        
        In response to the mod, it would have been nice to be able to debate the issues without jabbing the little people as well! Politics very much got in the way of sensible decision making, when it came to vaccinating children the health advice received appears to have been ignored.
        
        8 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 2:14pm
      - kiwimike
        
        the Labour Govt (read Cabinet) and today the National Govt (read coalition ACT & NZF)
        are continuing to jab kids and pregnant women…
        
        when other countries overseas have made note of the studies showing harm and banned it !!
        
        nothing will be done will it Mr Luxon…
        
        4 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 4:32pm
    - Scooter
      
      Ian Boag, so if they thought it was a serious matter why have Ardern, Hipkins, Robertson and Verral not appeared in public at the Royal Commission.
      
      24 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:40am
      - R
        
        Yes, WHY won’t they?, particularly if, as they claim, they were telling the TRUTH!
        
        20 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 10:22am
    - RoboRob
      
      If you recall Ian, anyone who spoke out against COVID policy be that; Vax, lockdowns, social distancing, masks, were shunned from society, blocked from social media dn potentially lost their jobs.
      
      Perhaps you might remmeber the ‘river of filth’ that went to protest lock downs.
      
      27 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 9:42am
    - R
      
      And pray tell me Ian, where during, or since Covid were you going to find MSM outlets that would publish any questioning of the Podium of Truth propoganda.
      
      25 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:20am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Indeed, between “the science is settled” the “podium of truth” and the “responsible journalism” funded by the PIJF, what hope did any dissenting voice ever have of being heard?
        
        12 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 1:16pm
    - I remember when
      
      “they maybe weren’t as smart as you and thought COVID was a serious matter…
      Or, maybe they realised that they needed to keep people thinking that COVID was still a serious matter and that as long as half the people believed that, they kept being the Government.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 11:29am
  - artemisia
    
    In the early stages New Zealand followed local once-were-experts and other countries. Some of that started to fall apart, but the centre still managed to hold due to widespread fear. Of something.
    
    An example of that fear. I recall Wellington City Council had a plan ready to roll that involved removing some CBD carparks so footpaths could be widened. Social distancing. Outside. With masks and vax. Fear does that. To council staff anyway. The council did pull the plan, but actually not long before work was to start.
    
    27 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 9:02am
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      Bradburys blog had a resident columnist who started posting pictures of workers standing too close together and other such cardinal sins.
      
      Covid sure revealed the extent of the curtain twitchers and snitches and there were a troubling number who lived in all societies-people who lived in Soviet Europe know this.
      
      23 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:19am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, we certainly learnt how gutless much of our society is, and how easy it is to coerce the populace with lies and threats, and how many people were prepared to “dob in” their friends & neighbors Nazi/Communist style, and how untrustworthy politicians are – or can be.
        What happened to the solid fighting society we had after WW II ?
        
        19 3
        Report
        August 21, 2025 11:03am
  - Stu2
    
    I didn’t object to the early closing of the borders and lockdown. Gave us time to figure out how dangerous Covid was, and how the health system could be best configured.
    
    It was what followed that was so damaging to the economy and education – restrictions in the south island which had no cases, closing schools, keeping restrictions in place far too long, vaccine requirements for a vaccine that only provided limited immunity ….
    
    The control regime got a life of its own, as the Govt borrowed and borrowed and borrowed
    
    23 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:05am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Read what the Maxim Institute said in its submission.
      
      https://www.maxim.org.nz/content/uploads/2025/04/COVID-19-PHASE-TWO_APRIL-25.pdf
      
      8 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:22am
    - R
      
      Ardern and her sycophants saw this event as an opportunity to institute regime change in NZ, and could have succeeded!
      
      20 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:28am
    - gravedodger
      
      Christchurch had a rest facility that suffered several deaths very early triggered by a worker returning from the Philippines, in south Chch
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:51am
      - Stu2
        
        Yes
        
        But then it was restricted with no cases at all, felt like a sop to Auckland. An economic burden with no upside
        
        6 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 11:15am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Counter factual: what if Donald J Trump had been re-elected in 2020 (for the sake of this thread, let’s pass over the results in silence, shall we).
    
    What would his impact have been on the US and international reaction to Covid?
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 4:17pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Even if they appeared in public and gave a “truthful” account of what they did, I wouldn’t believe them.
  
  They talk with forked tongues as far as I’m concerned.
  
  29 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:21am
- imalwaysright
  
  Chuck
  
  “This shows why Ardern, Hipkins, Robertson, and Verrall show be compelled to appear to the public.”
  
  That’s assuming that the Covid Commission would dare to ask them even moderately uncomfortable questions.
  
  Remember Hipkins said they ran out of questions for him after just one hour.
  
  Hardly the sign of a rigorous in-depth Commission; more of a box ticking exercise. Just another day in Aotearoa….
  
  15 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:33am
  - R
    
    Perhaps Hipkins answers were incoherent, and they ran out of patience trying to get a straight answer from him. He has form in this respect.
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:15am
  - artemisia
    
    Seem to recall the initial meeting was more a private courtesy briefing and general Q&A for relevant Ministers during the period. Now being framed as done and dusted.
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 12:16pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Where did you hear this “courtesy briefing” thing? A citation would be good ….
      
      2 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:56pm
Bridgenag

Houston, We Have Another Problem: Unvaccinated Children Born of Past-Vaccination Mothers, Despite Never Contracting Covid…Are Dying Now at 77% Excess – a 24 Sigma Event

“Children born after the rollout are experiencing sustained excess mortality across multiple physiological domains, a pattern consistent with systemic biological disruption. Alarmingly, these effects mirror the very disruptions documented in adults who were direct recipients of the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine.”

“These signals demand immediate, transparent, and unflinching investigation. To dismiss them is not only to deny the data but to gamble recklessly with the health of the living and the yet-to-be-born alike.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/2ndsmartestguyintheworld/p/houston-we-have-another-problem-unvaccinated?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
22 10
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:09am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Come on. The first sentence of the linked article shows the author is a conspiracy theorist nutter.
  
  “Before we get to the horrifying data that once again proves that these Modified mRNA slow kill bioweapon “vaccines…”
  
  You should have stopped reading right there.
  
  9 14
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:19am
  - Luke Piewalker
    
    @Nikola
    Trust the science … safe and effective …
    Thalidomide
    Nicotine
    Asbestos
    DDT
    Silicon breast implants
    Covid vaccine
    
    11 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:36am
    - kowtow
      
      CO2 is a pollutant . Te he he.
      
      So then is H2O. But that really would be an inconvenient truth!
      
      6 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 11:29am
    - Colville
      
      Nicotine is beneficial.
      Asbestos is fine if used safety.
      Silicone tits they knew they were bad but the women getting them were making money so didn’t care.
      
      My Mum took some drug when I was nearly due to stop breast milk coming down … Perfectly safe and I am fine 😂. Bwahahahah🤣
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 7:02pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Rather than Bridgenag stop reading, perhaps you could start reading. You appear very uninformed.
    
    Perhaps start reading beyond main stream media.
    
    The first sentence of the linked article shows the author is a conspiracy theorist nutter.
    
    A more scientific approach is to discuss the science and outcomes, specific by specific, instead of knee jerk reacting and repeating the term “conspiracy theorist”.
    
    At the moment the difference between “conspiracy theory” and “shocking truth” is about 12 months.
    
    8 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:33am
    - RichardX
      
      Please tell us more about the science behind the Martian inhabitants of Altantis about whom you have previously posted.
      
      I’m guessing you believe the 12 months has passed on that one.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 22, 2025 6:58am
Bridgenag

better pigs this time
the anniversary of animal farm

“we’re in a period of terrible overproduction of elites and it’s a consummation as pernicious as it is tedious.
and this glut of pigs is eating us out of house and home.
the song and dance changes, but the refrain remains the same:“

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/better-pigs-this-time?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
15 4
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:12am
Chuck Bird

There is a book that can be downloaded called The People’s Position that can be purchased or downloaded.

It shows how negligent Labour was from day one in regards Covid 19.
25 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:14am
- Observer of Life
  
  I’ve purchased a copy. I’ve got a growing library of books that I believe will be important for my grandchildren to read. Most about ToW/Maori/Pakeha etc truths.
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:23am
- kiwimike
  
  I bought 2 one for the wife and one for me.
  it links right into their website with links to overseas studies and further information.
  
  it is horrendous reading, as you realise what idiots we have here in MOH and Parliament.
  
  do look up the NZ Health forum on Instagram, FB and Youtube.
  
  The Vaccine Injured were not picked up (I suspect deliberately) by the system and have been gaslit since by MOH.
  it is thousands of New Zealanders according to the NZ Health Forum.
  
  The book is a Free digital download.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 4:40pm
pdm

When Speaker [Mod – just use his name] Brownlee evicted Chloe Swarbrick from the Parliamentary Chamber a couple of weeks ago and then came back to explain his decision he said something like this:

“the need to withdraw and apologise does not lapse”

When Swarbrick refused to do so on Tuesday 12 August he not only kicked her out but Named her as well – with resultant penalties that come with the naming.

This week Swarbrick has been back at QT and has been her normal obnoxious self – including asking Questions.

What I have not seen or heard is any indication that she has withdrawn and apologised for her unparliamentary remarks of a couple of weeks ago.

Has [Mod – just use his name] capitulated and let her off?

A Black Mark if he has!!!
40 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:46am
- AitchW
  
  I get heartily sick of her witless shrieking across the chamber ever question time.
  What happened to “rare and reasonable” interjections?
  She’s an overgrown schoolchild.
  
  42 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:01am
  - mandk
    
    “Overgrown schoolchild” is apt.
    
    As I suggested the other day, Chloe and Greta Thunberg are like two peas in a pod.
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:36am
- cmm
  
  Maybe he had another cozy coffee with GG and asked her opinion?
  
  13 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:14am
- Beach Haven expat
  
  Interesting in her appearance on Al Jazeera she only referred to New Zealand. It was like she knows no one understands what an Aotearoa is. Or she’s a filthy colonial bigot.
  
  PS She’s giving off more Manson family vibes by the week.
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:21am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “PS She’s giving off more Manson family vibes by the week”
    
    Very good. Made me laugh.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:37am
- nova
  
  Chloe wasn’t named for refusing to apologise. She was asked to apologise, didn’t, and then was asked to leave the chamber. She was named as a consequence of refusing to leave the chamber. A minor point, but the media seem to keep reporting this as a consequence of her initial statement, but it is her subsequent actions that have caused the punishments. And yes, she seems to be back this week, without any formal statement to parliament. Though when I saw the start of QT on Tuesday, I thought she was absent at first, but it was actually the Maori party co-leaders who were missing in action.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:29am
  - Paulus
    
    But of course Chloe got all the media publicity she wanted.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:48am
- Ghost
  
  She was named and suspended, that’s her punishment. Once named the member is suspended for 24 hours. Second time is 7 days. Third time is 28 days.
  
  7 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:30am
  - pdm
    
    How does that over ride this?
    
    `“the need to withdraw and apologise does not lapse”.’
    
    14 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 9:35am
    - RoboRob
      
      I imagine it doesn’t. However what would we have Brownlee do?
      
      He could suspend her for 7 more days and then 28 as Ghost mentions. However that just helps her even more. Imagine the publicity.
      
      The rules of parliament were designed with moral and ethical gentlemen in mind. Nobody would have invisiged the rise of social media and the TPG and TPM.
      
      The only people that can punish the Greens and TPM are the voters and unfortunately a lot of them are lapping this stuff up.
      
      p.s. I am not saying Brownlee has handled this, or other acts in parliament, well. His poor control has led to this.
      
      14 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:00am
      - pdm
        
        Based on the above it looks like Brownlee took the easy way out and capitulated creating another precedent that:
        
        “the need to withdraw and apologise does lapse”
        
        Very disappointing.
        
        Or as is said regularly on this forum – it is okay when the left do it!!!
        
        4 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 12:07pm
      - Keith White
        
        He could suspend her for 3 years…
        
        5 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 1:54pm
    - Ghost
      
      The naming and suspension sets out her punishment, after she has served that punishment she is allowed back in the house. The name and suspension superseded the requirement to apologise.
      
      1 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 2:18pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  A “mark of colour” thank you.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:21am
- kowtow
  
  He is a dreadful Speaker.
  
  Standards are so poor and it is down to him.
  
  Highest court in the land . Turned into a veritable circus.
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:31am
  - Ghost
    
    Speaker follows the rules set out by the standing orders committee.
    
    1 7
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:59am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Kowtow,
    
    EVERY court in the land is a veritable circus.
    
    The rules of our society have been undermined by Marxists; and the Marxists aren’t only on the Left.
    
    6 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 1:11pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Maybe Cloe could concentrate on Gizzy instead of Gazza.
  
  When is the last time she was there…
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 1:32pm
Paulus

I have woken today in Tauranga with a clear blue sky and a warming temperature – Spring is not far away, but ……
Why am I so sad as firstly I read as a full front page that because of lack of money skin specialists cannot see people in the Public sector.
Money alone will not solve what they bitch about.
What miseries they are, and so many other fields in New Zealand.
The next the Teachers – simple question
Do Teachers not get a scale rise every year of $5,000 ?
So a Teacher gets say another $850 a year with nothing to show for it.
From what we now see Teachers should be ashamed of themselves for putting themselves and children knowingly into such a terrible position and all they seem to care about is money for them to try and teach children.
Today this is but two areas where I see all gloom and the media playing on misery.
What a sad place we now find ourselves.
Did 52% of the voting population vote for it and now all we hear is Bitch Bitch.
52% is a majority and can we assume they would do it all again = probably.
26 3
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:47am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  I want to be upset with the teachers striking because on one hand they work part time and get great holidays, but they do have to look after all the kids that have been terribly parented at home and come to school to disrupt with no intention to learn.
  
  Sure, our pass rates are terrible but the teachers can only teach the provided curriculum to the best of their ability.
  
  If a kid comes to school after eating bad food and staying up most of the night on social media, what chance to the teachers have?
  
  My kids are going well at school but they eat well, learned to read at an early age (and now get through as many books as can get for them) have managed and monitored “screen” time and are nowhere near social media or online interaction.
  
  If I was a teacher I would want more money to babysit these screen zombies who have zero life ambition.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:31am
  - Philview
    
    I read that Teachers had a 14.5% increase last year so they haven’t been harshly treated. This feels like a political move from the Unions to create noise that the media can run with.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 12:50pm
    - kiwimike
      
      no Philview
      they asked for more staffing first then more money to attract more staffing.
      they got offered a pay cut in 1%
      
      what don’t you understand about this.
      MOE Negotiators is not an honest broker.
      
      0 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:49pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      I read that teachers had a 14.5% increase last year
      
      Where? Citation? Judith Collins 🙂
      
      1 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 5:01pm
      - Ghost
        
        If memory serves me, it was a pay increase from labour that was due to come in last year
        
        1 0
        Report
        August 21, 2025 5:11pm
  - greybeard
    
    It is that “reading” word which is the most important: how many kids live in houses where there are NO books, or newspapers, or magazines, or anything at all to read ? How many of those kids have parents and grandparents who not only don’t bother reading to their kids but in many cases probably can’t read themselves ?
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 1:33pm
  - kiwimike
    
    Anthoney
    
    one teacher I know has yr 9, 10, 11 with large % not covering their Maths or English
    some of these kids think they are going to UNI whilst failing their maths and english at their year level.at their year level.
    
    obviously it is historical.
    
    Parents aren’t listening either……
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 4:47pm
- Ghost
  
  I saw a teacher holding a sign that I completely agree with and support their statement. It was an honest offer I believe
  
  “Pay teachers what they are worth”
  
  I agree with that. There are some teachers that actually do deserve more than they earn. There are some teachers who are worth a lot less than they are worth, and should consider other occupations.
  
  30 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 9:39am
  - MCōs
    
    Which ones taught you?
    In the good old days if we stumbled at school it was our fault.
    Now it’s the teachers/school/curriculum/goverment – anyone, but the students
    
    I read that the average post primary teacher is on a salary of about $100k, 1% increase is about $25/fortnight after tax. Can’t grizzle about that.
    
    7 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 9:50am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      In the good old days …we were TAUGHT… we weren’t left to choose our own way of “learning”, or “construct” our understanding of a topic by spending hours/days/weeks guessing at what the point of the “lessons” was.
      
      21 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:05am
      - MCōs
        
        You might have been taught.
        School was a place to be endured for me. It wasn’t until I moved on to tertiary education that I suddenly did more than scrape through
        My school teachers were poor and uninspiring teacher/priests with a couple of exceptions.
        Years later I did a bit of tutoring at a polytechnic and the other guys were the epitome of nine to fivers with the old exception
        
        8 5
        Report
        August 21, 2025 10:32am
      - kiwimike
        
        Maggy
        We had curriculem books/folders that the teachers taught too.
        
        is that what NZ schooling is???
        
        Those I know say not !
        
        3 0
        Report
        August 21, 2025 4:54pm
    - Ghost
      
      I’ve always remembered my history teacher saying that she got into teaching because she loved the job. That no one became a teacher for the money because it wasn’t great. I always had great teachers that knew how to inspire the students and make them want to learn. Teachers who were there before school preparing and there well after school. Heck it would be common to be playing in the school field in the weekend and there would be teachers in the classes getting ready for the next week
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:41am
    - kiwimike
      
      MCos
      
      [Mod – deleted)
      
      Think abit.
      like the nurses you need to ask what is their hrly basic rate not with extras or overtime (some of it forced) added.
      The Media and Govt sources are Liars.
      
      They have had enough of the bullshit from Govt.
      
      That’s why the senior doctors and junior doctors struck……
      and the nurses just recently…..
      
      what did the Cabinet ministers do???
      slagged them off….
      
      0 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:53pm
  - cmm
    
    Like pretty much any group of employees in any field, there are few who are excellent, few who are really bad and the bulk are adequate.
    
    As thousands of homeschooling parents show every day, you really don’t have to be excellent to be a good teacher. The most important thing is conveying the right attitudes and that’s not really the teacher’s job.
    
    These days there are so many ways to access education that teachers are all but obsolete.
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:02am
    - MCōs
      
      So you’d be quite happy if all the schools were closed down — sort of like a continuation of the situation during the covid lockdowns
      In 1948 the schools didn’t open until April 19 due to a polio epidemic. The kids were taught by correspondence and everyone was driven up the wall.
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/in-new-zealands-worst-year-for-polio-fatalities-173-people-died/B7UMNHADSTNU2Z6WAJM3UGMN2Q/
      
      2 6
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 10:18am
    - Jack5
      
      CMM’s teachers are all but obsolete …
      
      Can’t agree with that. Behind every great video instruction course, behind every Teach Yourself book, series or courses, are people who know how to teach.
      
      For necessary work discipline you need either parents, teachers, or yourself. Somewhere on the other side of the learning process teachers are needed.
      
      I’ve learned with correspondence courses; self-learning books; internet video series; the electronic flash-card system Anki; and, for languages, online interchange with foreign learners. All great help, but facing a good teacher in a classroom is the best start.
      
      Classroom teachers aren’t the sole valuable tradition.
      
      In this 15min YouTube video from the last fortnight, a brain researcher and pathologist explains why hand-writing engages the brain more than other methods of note taking. “The whole brain is involved when your write by hand or you draw. That is not the case when you are usinga keyboard.” An interesting short talk:
      
      https://youtu.be/TAQBchbqrIM?si=HYlGJ4mjzc_HDQTc
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 11:35am
  - R
    
    From the statistics being published, would seem that TREASURY should be receiving significant refunds from people staffing education facilities in NZ
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:42am
    - MCōs
      
      Should something similar happen at Fletcher Building, do you think?
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:32pm
- kiwimike
  
  Paulus
  Teachers like the Nurses are understaffed (1500-4000 nationally).
  
  Increasingly their working environments aren’t safe and for Nurses not safe for the patients…
  
  Do think about that, I know both and their stories about work are not good to horrendous.
  
  0 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 4:44pm
Swifty

Every time an extremist uses the word ‘racism’ or the phrase ‘white supremacy’ and in the absence of any evidence supporting the claim, more and more New Zealanders are driven away from feelings of support for and empathy with Maori causes.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360797992/last-week-erica-stanford-decision-was-branded-white-supremacy-really

Further, I am absolutely confident that because of this extreme, strident and frequently unhinged language we’ve seen more and more of in recent years, almost always without any facts in support, greater and greater proportions of our countryfolk are now actively repelled by Maori causes.

The social division and harm caused by this extremism should not be underestimated and I wish the extremists would stop doing it.

Eventually all goodwill will have evaporated.
23 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 9:21am
- greybeard
  
  I read this article and found that like most of Taylor’s contributions to Stuff it was a puff-piece for using more maori language: the heading was simply bait.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:33am
- kiwimike
  
  Swiftly
  It already has in my household.
  
  Maori Apartheid will be the result of creeping maorisation of NZ.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 4:57pm
Hugh Jarse

I see Damian Grant drawing a fair comparison about the different approaches to name suppression by the judiciary for the male 47 year old getting name suppression for 11,0000 or so exploitation images and the female school teacher losing name suppression for a number of charges of sexual offending against one of her pupils.

She obviously was not from a well known family or able to pay a $50K bribe to receive special treatment.

Also noted how the media apart from the NBR and the Platform are not going anywhere near this shocking case of preferential treatment. Again a comparison with the way they rightfully pursued McSkimmings suppression orders raises questions.
17 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 9:31am
- DimChappie
  
  Can someone please post a link to this Damian Grant article, Stuff cannot be easily searched and I tried Google (failed.)
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 12:30pm
  - MCōs
    
    Here’s a number of his opinions, though not the one you want I suspect
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/authors/damien-grant
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 2:09pm
- Scooter
  
  There’s also the 22 year old from Nelson who’s name has been published. He obviously couldn’t “buy” his name suppression.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 6:03pm
Skippytony

Question for the hive mind here. I got caught up in a conversation with a friend recently.
I was wondering if anyone has looked at this seriously.
Basically their view was that the gap between Maori achievement in Australia vs Maori in NZ is basically the same as Maori in NZ vs all Kiwi here.

Examples being that in Australia there are roughly 170,000 Maori in Australia (Te Papa). There are no Maori vs Pakeha stats, but in total Kiwis make up 2% of the prison population in Australia, being .6% of the population (Aus Bureau of Statistics). In NZ Maori 15% of the population and 52% of the prison population. Labour participation in Aus 93% nationally, 87% for Maori in Aus, but 63% for Maori in NZ. Maori income in Aust $44,556 vs $46,551 (ABS) mainly due to lower educational levels on arrival. ~$60,000 is the national average here vs $50k for Maori. Hard to get this but it seems M born in Australia achieve educationally broadly in line with the national average.
The general view here in NZ is that Australia is a more racist country (Im an Aussie living here for 20 years and people tell me this all the time) and yes, the plight of Aboriginals in Aus is a disgrace, but it seems that generally, Maori enjoy better lives (well in terms of jobs, income, prison rates and education) than they do in NZ. I couldnt find any health or mortality data.
So how can it be that the Maori who leave NZ do better than the ones who stayhere? What drives that?
We came down to two obvious things. 1. Being Maori in Australia doesnt get you any special considerations, in the main Australia doesnt discriminate between Pakeha and maori for stats etc – inference being that the Maori have integrated in to Aus quite successfully and 2. No Treaty.
Again, has anyone seriously looked at this? On the basis of the stats that I could find the only rational thing for a Maori family to do is jump on a plane to Aus.
That seems counter-intuitive. Almost (being flippant here) like colonisation and whiteness has nothing to do with the gaps here……
15 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 9:36am
- cmm
  
  It is the self selection bias at work.
  
  Those Maori who get off their arses and are motivated and organised enough to get a passport, buy a plane ticket, fly to Australia and find a job are generally going to be much more motivated than the general population and will do better.
  
  No doubt you would find the same with Australian Aboriginal people. Those who are organised enough and motivated enough to move overseas will tend to do far better than those that stay at home.
  
  And no, it is not just a dark-skinned issue either. It applies to whites equally well. People who get off their arses and move are going to be more motivated/driven and more likely to succeed than those just doing the default. (ie. those 120 NZers leaving NZ are from the brighter end of the population – regardless of their race).
  
  This effect is far stronger when there is a welfare state because the welfare state makes the default option (ie. just sit on your arse, accept WFF or whatever) much easier. Those that move away from a welfare state are far more driven and likely to succeed.
  
  17 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:34am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    100% self selection. Asian kids winning all the academic prizes in our schools are another example. People who move to another country (for economic reasons, not refugees) tend to be above average.
    
    What it does suggest is that the ‘intergenerational trauma due to colonisation’ assertions are a load of crap.
    
    16 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:10am
    - Skippytony
      
      Many years ago I worked for an ASX 200 company in Australia. They hired a number of kiwi people (including David Kirk) many of who kicked arse. They were all well qualified high achievers and the magnetic pull of bigger $$ and bigger opportunities was very compelling. We wondered at the time how many of the top 10% percent of high corporate achievers left NZ what does that do to NZ long term?
      
      10 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 11:35am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        We do the same for Third World countries. Those with get up & go, have got up & left.
        
        2 0
        Report
        August 21, 2025 7:03pm
    - MCōs
      
      I read somewhere once that the reason Chinese kids do so well at school is because while other parents make their kids get jobs outside school hours the Chinese parents make their kids study.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:07pm
  - kowtow
    
    Twenty odd years ago the legacy media were prepared to posit that Maoris moving to Oz , for better opportunities were also fleeing all the then growing ‘Maori’ b/s that was holding them back.
    
    Today I suspect any mainstream media commentator daring to make such an assertion would be unpersoned.
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 11:49am
- imalwaysright
  
  There is a tendency for a small minority of Maori to criticise and ridicule other Maori who do, and try to do, well.
  
  A friend works at a college and sees it almost daily amongst Maori pupils.
  There probably is a self selection bias, the ridicule also happens in general, but the Maori pupils ridicule seems to be the most potent.
  
  16 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 10:49am
  - cmm
    
    Ah yes, “acting white”.
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 10:51am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Correct.
      
      Ridicule is very powerful and is underestimated.
      Especially among children, exclusion from the group is a fate worse than death. (Unfortunately sometimes literally)
      
      13 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 11:02am
- kowtow
  
  ‘The general view here in NZ is that Australia is a more racist country’
  
  I reckon that’s just petty nationalist, small country chip on shoulder b/s from the usual suspects , repeating the race tripe that’s been fed to them for decades.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:46am
  - Conservatarian
    
    In the late 2000s and early 2010s, I used to watch “7 Days”, that TV3 comedy show on Friday nights . It was funny for a while, then it became tiresome as they started to inject factory-settings leftism and political jokes (all of which were at the right’s expense). They would regularly have visiting Aussie comedians on, and it was an article of faith among the Kiwi mainstays that Aussies were racist. The Aussie comics never pushed back (in their own version of default leftism)
    
    I turned off, and they continued to pocket their taxpayer funding.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 2:20pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Same.
      They are all pathetic toadies.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 6:55pm
- Paulus
  
  But the problem remains is that you cannot get into Australia with a criminal record.
  They are very strict on this.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:53am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    That’s not going to stop the law abiding among us, whether pakeha or maori.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 7:04pm
I remember when

At a time when most Treaty settlement have been finalised, why are so many Maori leaving school without qualifications?
The number of Maori schools continues to increase helped by the government. Schools, universities, kindergartens, local bodies and the State Services actively promote the Maori language, why are so many Maori students leaving school without qualifications?
Treaty settlements have allowed access to large sums of money, RMA consents provide a source of finance, Maori seats in Parliament and on local bodies provide income and opportunity to have a voice, why are so many Maori students leaving school unqualified for future employment?
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 10:50am
- Graeme Hall
  
  Plump benefit system -> no need to work?
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:10am
- MiddleclassTrash
  
  Maybe they are experiencing a kind of Pikey effect. In the UK, the cleverer blue collar types got plucked from their community and educated in grammar schools, so the average IQ of that class got much lower. Those left behind get looked down on by the general working population, and are called Pikeys, low IQ workers. Have all the academic Maori intergrated more with the general population, leaving those who strongly identify behind?
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:21am
- Paulus
  
  Treaty Settlements will never be finalised !
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:55am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Poor parenting.
  
  There is no cause and effect relationship between family income and student achievement, just the basic truth that people who are bad at raising their kids are likely to also be bad at holding down a decent job. Chucking money at them does not change anything. In fact it makes it worse by encouraging the production of children by people who are least able to care for them properly.
  
  It is not specifically a Maori problem. Every country with a generous welfare system also has an underclass with higher birth rates and intergenerational failure. Not always linked to race.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 12:52pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Marx called it the lumpen proletariat.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 7:05pm
Ghost

Who wants a child’s playground in a cemetery….

Article

Timaru councillors have endorsed a draft cemetery landscape plan at a proposed new site, but it was not a unanimous decision with some questioning the budget for the project.
A business case study would also be brought back to Timaru District councillors to help inform the timeline for the project.

I’d also wonder if anyone wants a cemetery across the road from the water supply…..
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 11:01am
- kowtow
  
  Dunedin City council decided to build one on what was the main street , before they killed it , turning the city centre into a veritable cemetary for the long suffering business owners there.
  
  And costing a prince’s ransom.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350340799/ups-and-down-dunedins-600k-inner-city-playground
  
  Sorry about linking to $1uffed , the ODT story is paywalled.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 11:54am
- Tom Hunter
  
  “You son of bitch. You left the bodies and you only moved the headstones”
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 2:03pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Great movie!
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 4:24pm
I remember when

Nautilus:
With regards to the Invisible: A Kendra Greene.
“Greene’s essay is woven of threads from her California upbringing, where drought and wildfires were present in everyday life, yet seldom recounted.”
“Greene’s narrative, her rediscovery of lost climates, unfolds as wildfires raced toward Pacific Palisades, California, this January, swallowing the neighbourhood her grandparents once called home.”

Ah, lost climates, forgotten memories.
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 11:21am
Philview

The Triggernometry podcast had an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu today. This is quite something for those 2 guys who come from a stand up comedy background. Netanyahu is a smooth operator but I agreed with most of his comments. The interviewers didn’t push too deeply on concerns that Israel deliberately ignored Intelligence about October 7th.
7 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 12:36pm
imalwaysright

Good to see the Ukrainian puppet showed up to the Whitehouse wearing a collar.

Ironic really…
5 6
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:00pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/360798574/aussie-tv-presenter-shares-brutal-mail-he-received-after-debuting-subtle-new-look
This is what passes for headline news on $tuff today.
Australian Tv weather guy gets new haircut.
Someone writes polite letter saying he/she/they don’t like it much.
Brutal.
Meanwhile, another child here gets the bash.
Not brutal.
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:02pm
- graham
  
  As someone said recently, if Stuff staff go on strike, will anybody notice? Or care?
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 3:21pm
  - Miritu
    
    Yes it seems so, especially here where commenters continue to consume their content and promote it here. Why the fascination with frequenting their sites if they are so untrustworthy? Especially with so many better news alternatives available.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 4:24pm
infused

I’ve just come back from aus. Brisbane is booming. Restaurants full. People everywhere are happy.

National have lost thr next election. Nz is a hellscape right now. National have done sfa to address it.

If National are hoping announcements next year are going to save them, they are ine for one hell of a shock.
15 8
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:11pm
- kiwimike
  
  National have to close down the present Maori Apartheid then they can get going.
  starting with the seats and co-Governance.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 5:02pm
Swifty

Career charlatans and grifters:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360796353/former-arise-leader-now-pastor-australian-pentecostal-church

‘Appointed by God…”

Equally sickening and laughable.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:15pm
- MCōs
  
  Crooks the lot of them
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 2:23pm
Swifty

This is but one of the many negative consequences of the permanent name suppression of guilty parties:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rich-lister-wrongly-linked-by-ai-to-child-abuse-case-demands-real-culprit-be-identified/E7X4X4ZJRJABHOFUP5SJ7IHVQI/

I do hope the suppression is successfully appealed.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:46pm
- Ghost
  
  There were a couple of cases last week, and it appears people are also mixing up the cases as well
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 1:54pm
Ghost

Apparently the USA national guard and department of labor’s new campaign has set some precious people off as being nazi propaganda. I think I need some Panadol after reading the x posts

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/you-wont-believe-what-theyre-calling-nazi-propaganda-now
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 1:59pm
Swifty

Labour and the Maori hate party will repeal the gang patch ban when next in government:

https://x.com/suitandtie9999/status/1958307577651155232?s=46
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 2:25pm
- Ghost
  
  A mistake to say it out loud perhaps.
  
  Labour MP Peeni Henare, the party’s candidate in the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, was “mistaken” to claim Labour would repeal the gang patch ban, according to the party’s deputy leader.
  
  Article
  
  The commitment came as a surprise, given Labour leader Chris Hipkins had previously indicated he didn’t support a repeal and had long said he would assess its value if Labour returned to Government.
  
  Perhaps Peeni is hinting Mr Hipkins you won’t be leader…..
  
  Labour deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni today affirmed to reporters at Parliament that her party would not repeal the ban and wondered whether Labour’s initial opposition to the ban before it became law could have influenced Henare’s comments.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 3:08pm
  - Swifty
    
    Hahahahaha.
    
    More headless-chookery from Labour.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 3:19pm
  - Eastlander
    
    Who actually believes they wouldn’t? So many of their voters are either criminals or relatives of criminals.
    
    7 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 4:29pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      So many of their voters …
      
      And of course “everybody knows … ” but unfortunately noone seeems to have any clues about what “so many” means as a number …. if you have any idea of the nunber you could perhaps share it?
      
      2 7
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 4:51pm
      - Eastlander
        
        Finding that out would be a useful exercise yes. Funny that this particular jibe rankles you so much – presumably because you know very well it’s true.
        
        3 1
        Report
        August 21, 2025 5:49pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Orani & Peeni look pretty cool in their Mongrel Mobster colours…They’d fit in well down here in Kaiti.
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360799033/labour-mp-says-party-will-revoke-gang-patch-law
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 5:24pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Oreni is rocking that activist-chick vibe.
      
      Reminds me of Rick from The Young Ones.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      August 21, 2025 7:10pm
Ghost

I enjoyed watching Caught in Providence. A judge that actually cared about those before him. He’d bring defendant’s kids up and let them help decide how much to fine the parent. He would have people come before him, fined for parking at the hospital, he would either throw it out or pay for it with donations sent in by the public. More than once he gave those before him money to take their kids to get breakfast.

US judge Frank Caprio, known widely as “America’s nicest judge”, has died at the age of 88 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Caprio served as the chief judge of the municipal court of Providence, in the US state of Rhode Island, between 1985 and 2023.

Article
4 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 3:02pm
vand

“Crooks the lot of them”
Mcos , maybe- but the Bible sees us all as crooks, but some are repentant, and have forgiveness and a future hope.
3 6
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 3:19pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “Lord, make me good, but not yet”
  
  St Augustine of Hippo
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:11pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    He also said ‘Per molestias eruditio’
    
    Through hardship comes education
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 7:53pm
Swifty

Of all the things we look to our government to enable, right at the top of the list is secure, relatable, plentiful energy.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/570637/gas-crisis-warning-as-mbie-warns-again-supply-falling-faster-than-expected

While our political parties endlessly squabble about language on passports, butter prices or road cones – we have elephants in the room that our political systems and class seem unable to effectively deal with.

A pox on all their houses.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 3:30pm
- Swifty
  
  Chris Trotter recently shared an anecdote – sitting in his house is a set of encyclopaedia dating from the 1950s. He didn’t say the country of origin, but I strongly assume either British or the US.
  
  In one volume is an entry on New Zealand, it reads “New Zealand…..the best governed country on Earth.”
  
  Now we have a government greatly more vast than what we had in the 50s, employing orders of magnitude more people and funded annually with ocean liners of our cash.
  
  And we can’t even get the basics right – energy, crime, educating our kids, housing, economic growth etc.
  
  My god how we’ve fallen.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 5:07pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    It’s sobering to contemplate the paths of Uruguay and Argentina from the 1930s through to today.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 7:13pm
- Skippytony
  
  The bill for “captains calls” and ridiculously optimistic wishful thinking and pathological inability to be honest about trade offs is going to land in either 26 or 27.
  Prepare yourselves. Power prices say double? Planned blackouts?
  Here it comes. If it arrives early it will cost Nats the election.
  Simple equation: Demand rising. Gas supplies diminishing faster than forecast. Renewables coming on slower than forecast. Equals cost skyrocketing and service levels dropping.
  Sad thing is it’s already too late to fix. If you are thinking of solar and a Tesla battery, I’d be pulling the trigger sooner rather than later……
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 5:34pm
Surely Knott

Council elections: For council elections you can vote in multiple areas where you own multiple properties where you pay rates.

So if you own a home and you rent or own a business in a standalone building in a different area you get 2 votes. One in each area.

And if you rent your home you get to vote.

But if you own a home and you rent a floor in a commercial building you only get to vote in the home area. Even though the amount of rates you are paying via opex to your landlord may be multiple times what you pay on your home rates. And the councils treatment of the area in which you are renting a floor of a building very much affects your business.

The fact you can vote if you rent a home, or an apartment but not a commercial offices premises even though you pay rates there via your landlord means that small business owners are grossly under represented.
6 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 3:40pm
- rouppe
  
  When I’ve done that, you only get full voting options for the ward in which you reside.
  
  For the rental property you have to register as a “non-resident ratepayer elector”. You don’t get full voting options, your tenant does.
  
  I can’t remember which, but you only get to vote for either the Mayor or for councillors in the ward your rental is in. Not both, and not other ancillary votes like dhb etc.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 4:39pm
DimChappie

Mainstream media have picked up the story of the name-suppressed rich man jailed for child sex images. The wrongly identified rich lister calling for the identity to be released is none other than Wayne Wright jnr, financier of The Platform:

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/rich-lister-wrongly-linked-by-ai-to-child-abuse-case-demands-real-culprit-be-identified/

“A rich-lister who a chatbot wrongly claimed was a wealthy Kiwi family member convicted of having “extreme” child abuse material says the real culprit should name himself.

“The public have a right to know people have done such things and these folks should not have permanent name suppression,” falsely identified businessman Wayne Wright jnr told the Herald.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 3:47pm
Pope Punctilious II

Will Labour repeal the gang-patch ban? Tamaki Makarau hopeful Oirini Kaipara says “yes”, seconded by a serial no-hoper from the Maori caucus. Caramel Sepuloni says “no”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360799033/labour-mp-says-party-will-revoke-gang-patch-law
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 4:28pm
- AitchW
  
  Clearly collective responsibility isn’t a Labour Party thing. Or do you say one thing on the stump then another when you get elected?
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:05pm
- greybeard
  
  “The truth will out”.
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:12pm
Ian Boag

Maxim Institute is an “independent think tank” whatever that means … funded “Since its inception in late 2001, over 1700 individuals and trusts have contributed financially to Maxim Institute.” – about 70-odd donations/year or 6/month.

Go figure …
3 5
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 4:47pm
kiwimike

Is it because they are “Christians ” the main IAN ??
1 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 5:05pm
Ghost

This (words would get me a ban) should not be allowed to drive in NZ

A speeding tourist has been slapped with multiple infringement notices, with including driving with five unrestrained children in his rental vehicle.

On Wednesday morning, Senior Constable Dan Bartlett, of Oamaru, was patrolling State Highway 8 near Omarama and Twizel when his unmarked vehicle was overtaken by a rental car.

That vehicle was clocked at 127kph, but it was the sight of a young child standing on the driver’s lap holding the steering wheel that was the officer’s biggest concern.

Article
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 5:06pm
Ian Boag

Someone on BB&H posted this …

And the ‘oil & gas ban for Taranaki’ is a drastic falsehood. Only NEW offshore lease districts were stopped. Those who held offshore leases were free all the way through to apply for drilling permits. If the media were not so thoroughly lazy, they would have been inquiring into why no such drilling was proposed. Anyhow it never was banned, even offshore, let alone onshore in Taranaki.

Is this a true report?
1 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 5:35pm
- greybeard
  
  Well I for one have understood that it was only any NEW exploration licences which had been stopped. Is there no drilling or exploration happening at present ?
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:11pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  It’s a confidence thing. Anyone with 8 figures to invest needs to be confident that the Govt will not act arbitrarily. Jacinda acted completely arbitrarily, without even seeking MBIE advice, apparently. If she can do it once, she can do it twice.
  
  Who in their right mind would invest in such circumstances?
  
  And, Ian, you’re too canny not to know this.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:18pm
Jack5

Carter Holt Harvey will close its Nelson sawmill, hitting near 150 jobs (first link below).

This will likely be related to the Government’s announcement last month to open the NZ building markets to a wide range of imported products (second link below).

That was an economic move in the opposite direction to Trumpism in America. Politically it will be labelled as southern jobs axed to help Auckland new-house costs.

Big sawmill to close:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/570602/planned-closure-of-eves-valley-sawmill-would-affect-142-jobs-mayor-says

And, more imports for NZ building industry:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/27/govt-making-thousands-more-building-products-available-for-nz-use/
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 6:32pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  It’s hard to believe that anyone will be importing 4 by 2s into NZ – assuming that sustainable sourcing is required.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 21, 2025 7:20pm
  - Jack5
    
    A “farm forestry” view of timber imports (18 months old):
    
    https://www.nzffa.org.nz/farm-forestry-model/tree-grower-articles/february-2024/substituting-imported-wood-with-new-zealand-timber/
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    August 21, 2025 9:31pm
NothingLeft

Huge Japanese study (18 million patients) of Covid Vaccines show without any shadow of doubt that it killed a lot of people raising risk of death for 8-10 months after vaccination peaking at about by about 3-4x about 3-4months after vaccination, and the more boosters the more likely it was to kill you. Dr John Campbell video:
https://youtu.be/ABxekx2Rp3Y?t=264
4 2
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 7:23pm
Ghost

I disagree. Everyone should have the right to be able to go home and not be harassed in their home. Protest on the streets. Protest in front of parliament, in front of mp’s offices. The home should be off limits and would be off limits to any decent person. The politician is fair game, their partner and children, their home should be off limits

The Government’s proposal to criminalise protesting outside people’s homes is being promoted as a way to protect the safety of politicians, but not all MPs support it.

The Green Party confirmed it wouldn’t support the bill on Thursday, after Green MP Teanau Tuiono raised concerns it could be used by governments to crack down on free speech.

Article
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 7:48pm
- gander
  
  I apologise for the fingerfehler, Ghost, that first downtick was supposed to be an uptick.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  August 22, 2025 3:15am
AitchW

The Greens will seize any opportunity to don a keffiyeh and intimidate anyone, anywhere, any time. But not if it’s someone they approve of. Then it’s harassment.
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
August 21, 2025 8:21pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Full data set – showing the NZ School LEAVERS’ outcomes for 2024 – available now.

Seeing the same Judge »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

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

Links

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

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: