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September 3, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 03 September 2025

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General Debate

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Cassandra

In the Herald this morning is a story about a Pacific family of 10 who cannot afford to eat sometimes. The father has not worked for three years because of a knee injury. The Herald article includes a plea from one of the children to the Minister responsible for more of everything including a bigger house. In the photograph of the family the father appears to be quite well fed and, tellingly, on the wall is a huge TV.
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September 3, 2025 8:02am
- pdm
  
  A bigger house?
  
  My grandparents raised 13 children in a 3 bedroomed house – their bedroom, the girls bedroom and the boys bedroom when I was a kid visiting.
  
  An Aunt and Uncle brought up 15 children in a 3 bedroomed state house. They were allocated and moved to a bigger house at about arrival of child 10 or 11 (I think). They stayed a night, maybe two and then moved back to the old house because they did not like the area.
  
  Neighbours of mrspdm growing up had so many children that one of the younger ones slept on a board over the tub.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:11am
  - Cassandra
    
    Luxury! We didn’t even have a cardboard box.
    
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    September 3, 2025 8:16am
    - mandk
      
      Cardboard box?
      
      You were lucky. We just had a sheet of newspaper to sleep under.
      
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      September 3, 2025 8:57am
      - David Garrett
        
        Mandk: We used to dream about having a sheet of newspaper over our hole int’ ground.
        
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        September 3, 2025 9:56am
      - Observer of Life
        
        We licked road with tongue.
        
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        September 3, 2025 9:43pm
- artemisia
  
  Strange that these articles never seem to supply income and outgoings information.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:13am
  - igm
    
    When vetting finance applications I was at times really annoyed to see the amount in benefits some of these people were drawing. Many were also taking boarders to give them extra in their taxpayer-funded State houses.
    
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    September 3, 2025 8:37am
  - I remember when
    
    Like how they expected to be able to bring up eight children and the steps they took to ensure they could.
    
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    September 3, 2025 11:04am
- cmm
  
  Each kid will be bringing in extra benefits so there is absolutely no motivation to curb the breeding.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:27am
- Simon
  
  National government in the early 1960s starting bringing in Islanders in to lower wages and provide a workforce for marginal businesses.
  
  The economy was going well in the 1960s so National introduced low wage immigration from the third world. This was a deliberate basic harm to the working class and ordinary worker which supported Labour and had in the majority fought WW2. It fell apart by the 1970s.
  
  Of course it is well beyond National to address issues presented in this MSM article.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:29am
  - R
    
    Simon, seems to me that you need a history book; an old one, not one of the new revisionist ones
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:04pm
- igm
  
  Maybe their new Chinese benefactors can fly them home to a big house.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:33am
- Gravelroad
  
  Perhaps this family would be happier and better looked after if they went back to live in the Pacific Island from whence they came?
  (yes I do realise they all may have been born in NZ).
  What sort of a house would they expect to be given if they lived in Tonga or Samoa?
  Would the father who hasn’t worked for 3 years be paid by the government there to stay home on the couch watching tv ?
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:38am
  - David Garrett
    
    Gravel: No state houses here in Tonga mate…no benefits either. But the Tongans are very self reliant: they grow crops on their allotment and sell the produce on roadside stalls.
    The tomatoes are particularly good – much better than the plastic ones you get down there at this time of year
    We are currently in pineapple season: not cheap, but way more flavoursome than the ones you buy at Woolworths.
    
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    September 3, 2025 9:47am
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: Did the father happen to be tattooed? Was a smart phone in shot?
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:12am
  - Cassandra
    
    No tats. He actually looks like a nice bloke. Kids look good too. The whole article comes across as BS. I find the idea of supporting a family who have had 8 children they’re unable to feed nauseous.
    
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    September 3, 2025 11:32am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: One of my ex’s sisters has 8 kids. the husband is a kiwifruit pruner and picker. He would receive many times more in tax benefits than is deducted from his wages. I should add that to be best of my knowledge, he has never been on the dole.
      
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      September 3, 2025 12:46pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      So sick of hearing people who get FREE MONEY complain.
      
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      September 3, 2025 1:50pm
- Eastlander
  
  I’ll bet he’s still doing cash jobs for extra money.
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:12am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Back in the 50s and 60s when I was at school boys were taught metalwork and woodwork and girls home economics. I suggest such lessons would be a damn sight more useful than te reo today.
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:49am
  - cmm
    
    Do you really think you could get a modern teacher to risk touching a hacksaw?
    As for home economics/domestic science: can’t have the girls learn to be patronised.
    
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    September 3, 2025 11:54am
    - rockape
      
      It’s a different world now. I left school in 65 and remember most of my teachers. My woodwork teacher learnt his skills building mosquitoes, my Physics teacher a Lt on subs, my chemistry teacher a navigator on night fighters, my biology teacher infantry and POW in Singapore . No PC amongst that lot.
      
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      September 3, 2025 1:10pm
  - T for Tim
    
    They called it maori. No Te anything.
    
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    September 3, 2025 8:35pm
- cmm
  
  “For the Latu family, the hope is that things will improve for the next generation. “I wish all my best, my ability, for these kids to have a better future,” Folau said. ”
  
  OK, for a start, teach them what condoms are.
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:52am
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: I am informed that up here in Tonga the only kids who get any sex education are those who take biology at school. There is zero sex ed for the rest.
    
    I could elaborate, but best I don’t I think.
    
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    September 3, 2025 12:53pm
- imalwaysright
  
  I wonder what the comments would be if the family were not Islanders.
  
  This looks like a pile on.
  
  Shameful that suposedly intelligent posters here jump to conclusions, but then again, that’s what a true flock does.
  
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  September 3, 2025 12:38pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Nope. Taxpayers get pissed off with irresponsible ungrateful beneficiaries of every skin colour.
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:52pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    It would be informative if we knew who the downtickers are. Unfortunately we will never know.
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:57pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Have one from me
      
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      September 3, 2025 6:24pm
  - wsk12345
    
    How is it a pile on? Any family with 8 kids and nobody working would get the same response.
    
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    September 3, 2025 2:31pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  I thought the Herald had learned not to do the inside shots after Cam Slater made a point of pointing out the fat fam, the big TV, the fancy phones, the sky decoder, the ciggies and the beer cartons in the homes of most of the families claiming poverty and starvation.
  
  It is also less convincing to claim that you have no food when Dad is clearly 140kgs plus…
  
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  September 3, 2025 3:45pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  “a story about a Pacific family of 10”
  
  Are they a “pacific family” or more accurately and importantly, NZ citizens?
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:09pm
Chuck Bird

More support for Seymour, if he needs it.

Balancing The Climate Narrative – The Science Is Not Settled

https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/balancing-the-climate-narrative-the-science-is-not-settled
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September 3, 2025 8:05am
- balanced
  
  ACT leader David Seymour previously floated the idea that NZ should exit the Paris Agreement, but last week changed his tune, saying the risk to market access and to our international reputation would exceed any benefits.
  
  https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/politics/nz-would-be-completely-mad-to-quit-paris-pact/
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:21am
  - cmm
    
    ” our international reputation” ie, giving in to cancel culture.
    
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    September 3, 2025 8:25am
    - balanced
      
      Exporters such as Fonterra and major meat processors fear withdrawal would damage market access, brand reputation, and investor confidence.
      
      https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/135012/prime-minister-christopher-luxon-says-act%E2%80%99s-policy-water-down-or-withdraw-paris
      
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      September 3, 2025 8:44am
      - sirknz
        
        Fonterra has foolishly just sold off all their brands.
        
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        September 3, 2025 10:37am
      - cmm
        
        Of course there are always “fears”.
        
        I “fear” that the extra cost/obstacles placed on the economy are causing us all to lose money.
        
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        September 3, 2025 11:58am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        ah yes, “fears”, normally followed up by “experts”…
        
        Then count the qualifiers, “could”, “may”.
        
        As in “Experts fear that [Evil coalition] policy XX could lead to a catastrophic collapse in market confidence in NZ YY that may lead to ZZ”
        
        Bullshit bingo at its finest.
        
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        September 3, 2025 3:50pm
  - R
    
    Seymour is slowly learning the realities of international economics.
    
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    September 3, 2025 11:26am
- Simon
  
  Currently big meeting of world leaders in Beijing. None remotely concerned about man made climate fraud.
  
  Climate fraud is a minority position by failing Western governments. The rest of the world is steadily moving ahead.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:34am
cmm

Herald write that another 4 have been charged relating to the murder/clean up of mob scum Zain Taikato Fox.

I’m in two minds about this.

On one hand, the more Mob related people that ende up on charges the better – especially those charged with obstruction, Gangs are getting away with pushing their weight around and this needs to stop.

On the other hand, gangs cause a lot of mayhem and burn up a lot of police resources. The little scrote had likely already used up many lifetimes of police resources. Why should so many resources be wasted on investigating the death of a gang member?

The bleeding hearts will say that a gang member’s life is as valuable as anyone else’s. That is patently false.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/zain-taikato-fox-death-four-more-charged-in-relation-to-alleged-murder/MZ27EVMW2NAJRDXWECUZHD3ARA/
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September 3, 2025 8:09am
- Eastlander
  
  Because it’s a chance to put other criminals away.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:27am
  - wsk12345
    
    On home D?
    
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    September 3, 2025 2:32pm
- Simon
  
  Law and order is a massive business in NZ. NZ government spends over $7 billion pa on law and order.
  
  Massive vested interests to keep the gangs up and running and hence the money flowing. Academics, expansion of the state powers and size of govt, the NGO grift, the police surveillance state, lawyer grift and endless political talkfests.
  
  Gangs support a massive underlying industry. There is only the motivation for gangs to keep going.
  
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  September 3, 2025 8:50am
  - cmm
    
    Of course that “industry” comes at a hidden cost to the economy.
    
    Every time you need to lock up your doors or spend extra money on security cameras etc costs businesses. So does all the extra spending on insurance etc.
    
    Some will argue that all spending boosts the GDP, but that is patently bullshit. Some spending is pure cost and does not add value.
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:22am
    - sirknz
      
      You can see some of that hidden cost if you are in the right place at the right time when a gang prospect turns up for the gang’s ‘koha’ lest something unfortunate happen to the business, and only that business, outside of work hours.
      
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      September 3, 2025 10:41am
- Ian
  
  I looked at the photo and, rather uncharitably thought, live by the sword, die by the sword…
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:36am
- Phronesis
  
  I just see more taxpayer money being spent on lawyers.
  
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  September 3, 2025 2:43pm
rouppe

Sent an email to one of the Porirua mayoral candidates, Kathleen Filo, asking her for her position on Maori wards. Her reply was:

On the Māori ward I agree that the way voting is currently set up is not ideal. At the moment, someone on the Māori roll in Porirua can vote for the mayor and one councillor seat, but they don’t get to vote for other councillors who may also represent them where they reside. In contrast, someone on the general roll can vote for the mayor and up to five councillors. That’s not equitable, and I believe it does need to be looked at. I think it would make more sense if everyone, no matter what roll they’re on, could vote for the Māori ward seat just like how everyone gets to vote for the mayor.

That is astonishing. She equating the Maori ward with the Mayor and wants to elevate the Maori ward even more than it already is.

The incumbent market Anita Baker already supports the Maori ward as does the other candidate Ura Wilson-Pokoati.

What’s a bloke to do?
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September 3, 2025 8:40am
- Ghost
  
  Good idea, roll it out to the general election as well, the Maori seats would soon be gone
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:48am
- Steve Todd
  
  Thanks for this, rouppe. Cr Kathleen Filo’s response points up a fundamental misunderstanding of PV and PR/STV.
  
  Whether a voter in Porirua is in the single-seat Māori ward or in a multi-seat General ward, the power of their vote adds up to one, the value of unity. So, Māori-roll voters in Porirua are in no way disadvantaged over General-roll voters.
  
  See, for example, page 3 of the document at ‘Description’, here: https://www.prsa.org.au/2010-08-26_todd_stephen_stv_meek_new_zealand.html. Go to column 5 of the Table, where you will see that 31.0% of this vote helped to elect Bodkins, 53.3% of it helped to elect Edkins, Atkins was excluded from the count (0.0%), 11.0% of it helped to elect Dawkins, and 4.7% of it went to Firkins, who was either an elected candidate, or the runner-up candidate. The point is, those percentages add up to 100%.
  
  Cr Filo would be correct — that “someone on the general roll can vote for the mayor and up to five councillors” — if Porirua used multiple-FPP in multi-member General wards (where everyone had four or five votes (of equal value), depending on the ward) and FPP in the single-seat Māori ward (where everyone had just one vote), but it doesn’t. It uses STV, which gives everyone just one vote, which is transferable, in whole or in part, if and as necessary.
  
  While Cr Filo is clearly quite confused about how fair representation works, and the purpose of the Māori ward*, it seems to me she is inadvertently suggesting that the 10-member council be elected city wide (at-large), which I would agree with. That way, each successful candidate would need only attain the quota of 9.091% of the votes (100/11 = 9.091), leaving only 9.090 votes available to the runner-up.
  
  * For example, she doesn’t seem to understand that, while non-Māori can stand in a Māori ward, only Māori-roll voters can vote in those wards. If everyone could vote in the Māori wards, it is likely that a non-Māori candidate would be elected (presumably against the wishes of the now Māori-roll-style minority), and it wouldn’t be a Māori ward anymore.
  
  There are sufficient Māori-roll voters in Porirua** to ensure that at least one Māori-roll-style candidate would always be elected, provided, of course, that Māori-roll voters voted, and ranked the Māori-roll-style candidates 1, 2, 3, …, before, if they so wished, going on to rank-order other candidates, 4, 5, 6, etc.
  
  ** As at 31 August 2025, there were 38,450 people on the General roll in Porirua City, and 5,080 people on the Māori roll. (See https://elections.nz/stats-and-research/enrolment-statistics/enrolment-by-local-council/?name=Porirua+City.) That is to say, 11.67% of enrolled people in Porirua City, are enrolled on the Māori roll.
  
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  September 3, 2025 3:19pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Great detail Steve, but somehow I think Cr Filo will not be reading it.
    
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    September 3, 2025 6:27pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Thanks, Bolly. I suspect you’re right.
      
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      September 3, 2025 7:21pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  I would look at it like this:
  
  Assume there are eight wards and the left have a 52-48 majority in every one. You end up with an all-left council. Then you create a Maori ward and 10% of the voters (nearly all left) sign up for it. The right loses that one but has a 48-42 majority in all the others. The right controls the council with an 8-1 majority.
  
  It is essentially the sort of gerrymander that the right in the US will attempt if they can. Create a small number of districts with a massive left majority, leaving a larger number with a smaller right majority.
  
  It’s morally repugnant, but if the left insist on doing this to themselves, why stop them? Especially when the alternative is that they try to add unelected Maori representatives to committees. That is the worst case scenario.
  
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  September 3, 2025 3:25pm
  - rouppe
    
    Try to add unelected maori representatives?
    
    Have a look at the maungaroa 2050 maori strategy.
    https://poriruacity.govt.nz/your-council/city-planning-and-reporting/maungaroa-2050-maori-strategy/
    
    In the PDF, at the end, the council has agreed to:
    • Further develop the formal partnership agreement
    with Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira that better
    enables co-governance, equitable decision-
    making, dedicated resourcing and support,
    and enduring relationships.
    • Secure equitable resource and support (human
    and financial) to oversee and implement
    Maungaroa 2050.
    • Develop a Māori strategy and workforce that is
    diverse and reflective of the Porirua community
    and that prioritises Ngāti Toa and Taurahere.
    • Establish dedicated Rautaki Māori Manager
    and Reorua Co-ordinator positions within the
    first three years of the strategy to deliver internal
    and external outcomes of the strategy.
    • Create Māori-focused roles throughout the
    organisation over the next six years to work in
    partnership with Ngāti Toa on the vision, wellbeing,
    and future aspirations for Porirua.
    • Develop pathways for tier 1 and tier 2 Māori
    leadership opportunities.
    
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    September 3, 2025 4:18pm
kiwikidsnz

Roy Morgan monthly poll update

In August, support for Labour surges to highest since the 2023 New Zealand Election

Labour/ Greens/ Maori Party would win a slim majority of 62 seats in a 120 seat Parliament

https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10014-nz-national-voting-intention-august-2025?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MRU%202nd%20September%202025&utm_content=MRU%202nd%20September%202025+CID_03ee1edc0bf3b0a7506ad641ef3a4d3d&utm_source=Market%20Research%20Update&utm_term=Read%20Full%20Article
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September 3, 2025 8:47am
- RoboRob
  
  Wow, National on 29% and Labour on 34%. This isn’t a one off as National have been trending down and labout have been trending up.
  
  When does this become a crisis for National or are they happy to be a one term government?
  
  p.s. Heard Goldsmith on the radio the other night and he was asked about fixing the gang patch law to stop judges returning them. He was also asked if he had been told while writing the law that this was a flaw. On the later he waffled and avoided the answer. On the former he said, we will wait and see if there is an appeal.
  
  This was immediately followed by the huddle, where ex Labours Stuart Nash immediately said, ‘why isn’t he just saying, they will be destroyed and we will change the law if nessasary. This sort of pussy footing is Nationals issue, Goldsmith may or may not be pissed about the situation but you just cant tell. And yes, he is perfectly ok to say we wanted the patches destroyed, that was the intent of the law.
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:31am
  - pdm
    
    `When does this become a crisis for National or are they happy to be a one term government?’
    
    Well the slippery slope to 29% shows National should be worried right now.
    
    Doesn’t National have a history of dumping leaders when their Polling slumps below 30%/
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:22pm
    - RoboRob
      
      You and I have been saying for some time that they are in trouble. It is surprising that they have left it this late. I would suggest that if they dip under 30% before Christmas in the TVNZ or Curia polls, there will be emergency action. For little reason they dont count the Roy Morgan poll.
      
      I suspect their friendly polling expert, DPF, alterted them to this polling trend some months ago.
      
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      September 3, 2025 1:37pm
    - balanced
      
      IMHO Luxons big mistake is promising to fix the banking and supermarket cartels, then putting the a4 reading, Ardern-esque Willis in charge of those promises.
      
      If Luxon tempts Aldi to nz, Goldsmith rids our legislation of the maori mumbo jumbo, and Sir Brian Roche starts shedding 20k public servants before the next election, National will romp in.
      
      Step 1. Swap Willis out for Sam U.
      
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      September 3, 2025 2:58pm
      - balanced
        
        Oh. And Put a competent minister in charge of the covid inquiry.
        
        Get answers to the questions put on kb yesterday by the economic professors (plus the questions I added in the comments), conduct a forensic audit of the $74.4b covid spend the auditor general labelled suspect, and we won’t see labour back in power until h Clark has passed.
        
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        September 3, 2025 3:18pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Oh FFS. I won’t say “let it go” but a list of clever questions of the “when did you stop beating your wife” variety is not going to get anyone anywhere. More heat than light ….
        
        It would be interesting (the great KB prefix) to know what sort of answers would “satisfy” the questioners.
        
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        September 3, 2025 4:53pm
      - balanced
        
        Quite right ian. We should:
        
        – Let $74.4b go
        – Let the 6 years of approx. 20% excess deaths in nz go.
        – Let the many young people dying unnecessarily because there’s no money to build safe roads go.
        – Let the lack of money for adequate cardiologist staffing go, heart disaese is only our biggest killer.
        
        FFS! What a bunch of democratic idiots we are, imagine speaking out asking to hold corrupt officials to account.
        
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        September 3, 2025 5:24pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @balanced
        
        So help me here. What sort of answers to these ten questions – plus your addons – would you find “satisfactory”? And what do you think the downstream consequences of a (most unlikely) “mea culpa” should be? Jail? A fine? Wot?
        
        And the “where did $75bn go”? Assuming you have the number right and it has truly vanished and a forensic audt would find it, then what? Are you looking for incompetence, wrong-headedness, malfeasance or what.
        
        The after effects of the covid thing are not great, but what is done is done. Some people in positions of power made decisions that look a bit sub-optimal with the benefit of hindsight. Let’s not forget that the non-government parties didn’t make a fuss about it at the time. OK, ACT had a muted sort of grumble.
        
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        September 3, 2025 5:55pm
      - balanced
        
        Ian. Did you read the covid questions from the professors?
        
        I expect the inquiry to find answers to those questions plus the extras I asked.
        
        The actions will be obvious when the answers are known and published.
        
        The real question is why isn’t the covid inquiry asking those questions?
        
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        September 3, 2025 7:41pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @balance
        
        Yeah I read the questions. Have expressed my opinion of them. Pretending this this is a court cross-examination which it isn’t – much as you might like it to be ….
        
        You haven’t enlightened us about what sort of answers would be “satisfactory”, and what should happen if the “missing $74b is found” someplace. Maybe you have some ideas (that you could share) as to where it went.
        
        This sort of showboating from an anonymous keyboard warrior is probably the sort of input that the RC will be influenced by 🙂
        
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        September 3, 2025 9:52pm
      - balanced
        
        Ian. If the purpose of the inquiry isn’t to hold people to account then it is a complete waste of time.
        
        It is obvious the only lesson learned was the h Clark advised ardern government should have stuck to the prepared nz pandemic plan.
        
        We of course already know that, which is why National formulated the plan that worked so well for Sweden.
        
        We need to find out why clark, ardern etc. didn’t stick to the plan and blew 74.4b in a manner the auditor general labelled uncontrolled.
        
        So what should be done depends wholefully on what is found.
        
        And if im just an ineffective keyboard warrior, why do do many fruitlessly try to shout down my comments by calling me names?
        
        Like your good self, they don’t have coherant arguments to post so why do they bother?
        
        Ps. You do realize that you are an anonymous showboating keyboard warrior as well.
        
        PPS. When good men do nothing, evil prevails.
        
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        September 4, 2025 6:09am
- Philview
  
  The Labour/media alignment is working. I expect we will be in for 12 months of relentless media attacks on the Coalition Government. Labour can front up at the next election with a blank page for policies.
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:29am
  - R
    
    Maybe Ti Pati Maori will lend Labour some policies!
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:13pm
  - RoboRob
    
    You cant blame the media on Nationals poor performance. They are the makers of their own destiny. They chose their leader and the actions they have taken that have led up to this. It feels nice to blame the media, but we should look at the root cause.
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:38pm
    - Philview
      
      Regardless of root cause of National’s performance, the sort of left wing Government coming our way next year is going to be radical. I heard an Australian businessman say yesterday he doesn’t mind paying taxes but it is the hatred of business that gets to him. He said in the US you pay taxes but that country respects people who want to get ahead.
      
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      September 3, 2025 4:15pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    They’ll set up 200 “working groups” just like before.
    
    4 0
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    September 3, 2025 1:57pm
    - Burtland
      
      and publish a manifesto in the week of the election – worked last time
      
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      September 3, 2025 10:49pm
- cmm
  
  This is a massive drop for TPM since the last Roy Morgan poll which placed them at 5% over all and at approx 70% for Maori women 18-49.
  
  They have dropped to 2.5% support over all and 31% for Maori women 18-49. 72% to 31% is a massive drop.
  
  TPM support seems to be highly dependent on rabble-rousing, especially with hand-out and grievance oriented people. No doubt we can expect a lot of drama a few weeks before the election.
  
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  September 3, 2025 12:06pm
- mogg
  
  Labour have released no policy. When they announce their CGT, Greens announce their Wealth tax, how many of these centre voters want TPM in government. Then we will see how the polls stand.
  
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  September 3, 2025 3:48pm
cmm

Stuff has written another article about grocery prices, saying how much more people pay in NZ.

One of the biggest complaints is the lack of competition. I think we just struggle to have sufficient population to have a lot more competition at the supermarket level.

Funny how the photo shows a young couple standing looking at packaged mushrooms and salad greens – about the most expensive way to buy these products.

There is actually some competition in the fruit and vege space – green grocers. Green grocers will typically have fruit and veges at far better prices than supermarkets.

I really think the biggest issue is laziness. People are not prepared to go to the fruit and vege shops to buy produce. They would rather bitch and moan.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360808724/grocery-gap-how-much-more-kiwis-pay-food
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September 3, 2025 8:49am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  I wonder what the impact of the massive increases in rates, insurances and theft is on the price of groceries ?. I saw a story last week that theft is costed at about $2.7B annually now. All of those overheads need to be recovered. Agree re green grocers, we have three within 4-5 k’s of us, three or four mobile butcher shops setting up in strategic locations during the week and three Asian shops, plus a bulk bin place in the same proximity.
  
  So there are a number of choices available, apart from the green grocers which are generally cheaper, I don’t know whether the others make much of a difference. I know my big vege garden does !
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:07am
  - cmm
    
    That $2.7B can only come out of two places: the customers’ pockets or profitability.
    
    If there is less profitability then there is less incentive for competition to open up stores here. There just isn’t sufficient market to make it all stack up.
    
    It is a microcosm of what is happening in the more shithole cities in USA where thousands of supermarkets and other shops are shutting down due to a combination of less customers and more shoplifting.
    
    If the government really wants to attract shopkeepers to NZ then the first thing they need to do is focus on making is seem viable to do so.
    
    The policies which virtually legalise shoplifting are not making NZ attractive.
    
    We end up paying that $2.7B – hundreds of dollars per month per household.
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:47am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Yes, $2.7B is $11 per week per person.
      I wouldn’t eat that much over two days, and I don’t skimp.
      The law must be enforced.
      Thieves must be jailed.
      
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      September 3, 2025 12:50pm
- balanced
  
  Both LIDL and ALDI are in Ireland so lack of population isn’t the issue.
  
  Aldi has been registered with the New Zealand companies office since 2000.
  
  Willis has already done a deal with the banking cartel devils, it looks suspiciously like she’s doing the same with the supermarket cartel devils.
  
  Perhaps Willis is preparing for a 1st class retirement in the US when she flees NZ.
  
  I hope I’m wrong!
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:30am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Population IS the issue balanced. Ireland is over 3 times smaller than NZ and it’s population is more concentrated. Even using the North Island, it’s 35% bigger than Ireland and (with 75% of NZ’s population) has 20% fewer people than Ireland.
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:01am
    - balanced
      
      Oh yeah.. population didn’t stop Costco coming although costco are now worryingly expressing surprise at how lucrative the nz supermarket industry is.
      
      A cost plus supermarket would be into the low income nz in a flash if they didn’t have as to compete with market skewing cartels.
      
      Without the cartels, Lidl and Aldi would crush their overpriced competition.
      
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      September 3, 2025 10:33am
  - cmm
    
    “Both LIDL and ALDI are in Ireland so lack of population isn’t the issue.”
    
    It isn’t just the local population. It is also how close that population is to other high population areas.
    
    Ireland might only be 5.4 million, but they are within an area half the size of South Island and are located closer to mainland Britain than South Island NZ to North Island NZ.
    
    Thus it would be more reasonable to compare NZ to UK+Ireland (ie a population 74 million people).
    
    Even then UK+Ireland are then connected to Europe (population hundreds of millions).
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:35am
    - balanced
      
      Thanks very much mr Goldsmith….
      
      In 2017, Minster of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Paul Goldsmith’s media release cited the “significant risk that cartel criminalisation would have a chilling effect on pro-competitive behaviour“.
      
      A cost plus supermarket would be into the low income nz in a flash if they didn’t have as to compete with market skewing cartels.
      
      Without the cartels, Lidl and Aldi would crush their overpriced competition.
      
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      September 3, 2025 11:13am
      - pdm
        
        Balance – I say `heifer dust’ to your last sentence.
        
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        September 3, 2025 1:25pm
      - balanced
        
        Pdm. That’s one of the reasons I spend time on kiwiblog…. coherant reasoned, and referenced discussions.
        
        Well done.
        
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        September 3, 2025 1:33pm
  - sirknz
    
    It helps that their supply chains dosn’t require shipping stock half way around the world to get to Ireland.
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:44am
    - balanced
      
      Aldi and lidl managed to get their products to Australia and price them competitively.
      
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      September 3, 2025 1:34pm
      - cmm
        
        You might have noticed that:
        A) Australia has far higher population density than NZ (about the same over all, but is concentrated into high density areas).
        B) Australia has a far higher population than NZ.
        
        These really impact on the attractiveness and profitability of supermarkets.
        
        You will find that Aldi is rather absent from many Australian cities. There isn’t one in the shithole of Alice Springs. Not even in Darwin.
        
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        September 3, 2025 4:49pm
      - balanced
        
        Cmm. I always encourage peple to read my posts before commenting. It saves a lot of embarrassment.
        
        The excuses you make for the nz supermarket cartels are false.
        
        I’ve already covered population today.
        
        Nz supermarkets are amongst the most profitable In the world.
        
        The nz market is ripe for a Cost plus supermarket to enter and crush the competition.
        
        The reason competition doesn’t come is because the nz government supports the cartels (see the rediculous cartel statement by Goldsmith I posted above).
        
        And Nicola Willis doesn’t possess the integrity nor the intelligence to fix the problem.
        
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        September 3, 2025 5:39pm
  - Paulus
    
    But Foodstuffs and Woolworths are not in Ireland !
    
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    September 3, 2025 2:50pm
    - balanced
      
      Why bother when they make so much money in nz?
      
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      September 3, 2025 3:27pm
- MCōs
  
  High supermarket prices are a win for both the government and the opposition. The latter can blame the former and they can blame the supermarkets who don’t care much because they know nothing is going to change and people have to eat.
  The shops who peddle stuff people don’t have to buy, like Smith’s City , Smith & Caughey are struggling. That’s what’s hurting the government, I’d say, even if most people aren’t affected it just sounds bad.
  I don’t think Education, Law & Order, Health are ever a winner for a government because people don’t notice when they’re ticking over properly.
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:45am
  - cmm
    
    … and the higher the prices the more GST into the coffers.
    
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    September 3, 2025 10:37am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  We used to have more competition. Then the Commerce Commission allowed Woolworths to acquire Progressive Enterprises (Countdown and Foodtown).
  
  Remind me, Mr Hipkins – who was in government in 2005?
  
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  September 3, 2025 6:34pm
Paulus

It really is about a lack of education for some years past along with ignorance as a result and the lack of ability to think outside their perceived and media sold wellness. as they are told.
No Common sense is apparent because that is not what they see in others, or what they are taught, or would accept anyway – as they have never not had to make with they have or make do.
Some of us very olders have London Blitz in WWII to understand what we needed to do to just survive as our mothers taught us.
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September 3, 2025 9:17am
NothingLeft

UK on cusp of economic collapse (lotus eaters)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcq6BRIUWW4

They’re borrowing $200billion pounds a year to pay interest, which is skyrocketing. Tax increases have gotten into negative territory on laffer curve (reduce tax take), high net worth and companies are fleeing UK, interest rates rising rapidly, pound falling (in anticipation of govt starting to print money after they lose ability to borrow). And nearly-essential IMF bailout won’t happen because members of IMF are all in dire financial shit too.

Add in the break down in social cohesion, stazi-esque policing and destruction of freedoms and enormous anger at the blob-pushing-immigrants-on-hoi-polloi and its hard to see how UK doesn’t fall into cataclysmic disruption of social order and govt collapse in next year.

Will this be the spark that lights a massive global economic/govt crisis?
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September 3, 2025 9:17am
- NothingLeft
  
  Gold has doubled in last 2.5 years, likely as a response to how wobbly highly indebted big economies are, clearly a lot of people think we are in ‘end times’:
  https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price
  
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  September 3, 2025 9:42am
- Dougal10
  
  If the UK economy completely collapses do the economic migrants get in their rubber boats and leave for somewhere better.
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:31am
- Philview
  
  I read yesterday that France is in even worse shape.
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:24am
- imalwaysright
  
  Borrowing money to pay interest says only one thing. You’re f*&#÷%…
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:53am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Thank goodness we aren’t doing that in NZ. 🙂 Here the gummint is paying interest on debt while running up a bit more. A huge relief to find that this is not the same as borrowing to pay interest …. 🙂 We would apparently be totally screwed if gummint was doing. this. You could probably assume that the rating agencies know all this and still have NZ at AAA. So their take is not the same as yours.
    
    Go figure
    
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    September 3, 2025 6:03pm
nathie

Stuff headline this morning: “A squeaky Jack Tame and a fake PM: how AI scammers are fleecing New Zealanders”.

“Apparently” Chris Hipkins is barking that he is being left out of these Deep Fake videos and that it is unfair because the Coalition Govt is now receiving more social media coverage than Labour so he intends to lay a complaint!
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September 3, 2025 9:24am
- mandk
  
  If Hipkins is pissed off about not being featured in AI scam videos, he should claim that the interview he had with Ryan Bridge, in which he couldn’t say how much NZ is currently paying annually in servicing the country’s debt, was a Deep Fake.
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:51am
- Ehlana
  
  Who does one complain too about being left out of Deep Fake videos?
  
  Seems a bit like complaining that your neighbourhood has been left out of gang violence…
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:05am
- imalwaysright
  
  Lets face it, how deep would the Deep Fake have to be to make Hipkins look fake? He does it all by himself …
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:59am
Philview

I have just read about the arrest of Graham Lineham at Heathrow Airport by 5 armed police officers. I am sure you know Graham is the creator of Father Ted and other shows and has been critical of the Trans identity. It appears he has done a offensive tweet. I think this type of policing will be coming our way under the next Labour/Greens/TPM Government.
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September 3, 2025 9:38am
- NothingLeft
  
  Unless enough people stand up to it – which is starting to happen in UK as a large fraction of population no longer see the govt as legitimate moral authorities and are starting to actively resist the repression.
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:42am
- nigel2010
  
  just remember this is the same laws that Cindy wanted but she wanted to expand it to all media platforms so even a comment on here could result in a prison sentence
  
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  September 3, 2025 12:31pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  What I’m laughing about is that Starmer has had crack at the Metro cops about this.
  
  But that’s only because Linehan is famous. This sort of shit has been happening to about ten people a day across Britain for several years now, ever since the shitbag Tories passed the Hate Speech laws (God, Teresa May was a fucking idiot).
  
  Starmer and mates – including the Tories and the Professional Management Class – never expressed any such concerns about little people like Lucy Connolly.
  
  Too late Starmer; cats out of the bag now. Luckily for him the traditional British treatments of traitors – hanging, plus even being drawn and quartered – has long since gone out of fashion.
  
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  September 3, 2025 12:36pm
  - Phronesis
    
    A great leap backwards to saner times is what is required. I couldn’t support drawing and quartering, but hanging doesn’t seem all that unreasonable given the crime Starmer is guilty of is essentially treason.
    
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    September 3, 2025 5:17pm
- mandk
  
  It will be here soon.
  
  I’ll have to watch out next time I post something about Islam being an utterly vile religion and the cause of most of the terrorist activity in the world today.
  
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  September 3, 2025 4:40pm
imalwaysright

This is extremely odd.

Apparently the “Amazon Data centre” opened by Luxon may not exist.

Its possible that Amazon has merely installed some of their servers in other companies data centres and turned them on yesterday.

The actual data centre was abandoned due to electricity prices.

Embarrassing for Luxon if true.

Opinion: Amazon gives up building its own Auckland data centre, as power prices soar | RNZ News https://share.google/gEKBC2zXppN3jt4fR
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September 3, 2025 9:58am
- artemisia
  
  Still a data centre regardless of who owns the bricks and mortar. No doubt electricity will be paid by the user.
  
  Assume it is a business decision, and why not? Maybe too difficult and expensive to go through the consent and build processes.
  
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  September 3, 2025 10:36am
  - Quail
    
    Two points.
    Yes ,your last question demonstrates just how past NZ Governments have over regulated the economy and it’s individual citizens.
    Secondly this Government has had the mandate, and encouragement of most of NZ to do something about that.
    Sadly they keep pushing the necessary changes into the future, and those they have achieved are merely on the fringes of what is needed!
    
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    September 3, 2025 11:29am
anonymouse

Speaking of China,

Soo…. Less than 6 months ago stuff were trumpeting that they were part of
“an investigation by more than 100 journalists worldwide, including Stuff, lays bare the extent and tactics of China’s global repression campaign.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360667816/china-targets-global-investigation-reveals-beijings-targeting-people-nz

BUT , this morning tell us that they will be livestreaming Xi’s propaganda parade …
So I guess spreading the word of repressive regimes is now OK???

“China’s missiles, fighter jets and other military hardware — some on public view for the first time — will be displayed in a major parade in the nation’s capital.
….
Stuff will have a livestream of the parade on this page”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360811080/china-will-show-its-weaponry-tightly-controlled-military-parade
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September 3, 2025 10:18am
- Philview
  
  Remember when China unleashed a virus on the world and it killed a lot of people and caused massive economic damage. Perhaps it was all a dream.
  
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  September 3, 2025 1:23pm
- Ghost
  
  Why not live stream it? It’s news. It’s also a very well done parade.
  
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  September 3, 2025 2:08pm
cmm

St John numbers show that this year has been the sickest winter on record

We can spin that in two ways:

A) The whole Covid lockdown was a sham overreaction to a non-event.

B) Well done Cindy! Thanks for saving us! Your magic and wise leadership meant that a The World’s Worst Health Event In Living History was less severe than a normal winter.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360811298/st-john-has-busiest-winter-record
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September 3, 2025 11:01am
- MCōs
  
  You may recall that when Covid was at it’s worst there were all sorts of lockdowns and other restrictions to control the spread of the disease, which had the side effect of controlling other respiratory illnesses such as influenza and the common cold.
  
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  September 3, 2025 1:42pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Perhaps it’s the lingering effect of Covid on the immune system. Or the lingering effect of the jab.
  
  How would we know.
  
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  September 3, 2025 6:40pm
David Garrett

Eighty years since the Japs – as they were then known – surrendered unconditionally aboard the USS Missouri.

Victor Davis has a short YouTube out rubbishing the revisionists who claim that it wasnt necessary to drop the bombs on Horoshima and Nagasaki.
At the time, the Yanks estimated they would suffer a million casualties – and the Japanese 5 million, mostly civilians- if they had had to mount a land invasion of the home Islands. Thank God for Truman
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September 3, 2025 11:02am
- Inandout
  
  DG, that Victor Davis is a treasure trove of facts and I was fascinated by that video, and indeed by most of his articles.
  
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  September 3, 2025 11:30am
- Ipanema69
  
  If you have a chance checkout the “fat electricians” video on the pied piper of Saipan. It is a very interesting video about Guy Gabaldon. Guy was a japanese speaking marine
  on Saipan.
  
  It goes into a lot of detail about the Japanese committment to fighting to the death and the difficulties in convincing them to surrender.
  
  Well worth a wstch.
  
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  September 3, 2025 1:07pm
- Wandering Star
  
  Why would they have “needed” to invade the Japanese mainland as the alternative, though? They could have blockaded Japan with naval forces and brought Japan to her knees.
  
  This is one of these claims we see often, which is that an illogical proposition is presented as the only alternative to, and as justification for, some horrific policy that was actually applied.
  
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  September 3, 2025 2:38pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Another armchair general.
    I am grateful to the Americans and the thousands of brave men they lost fighting that we aren’t conversing in Japanese.
    Thinking we know more than they did about ending the war is just hubris.
    The moral worth of that generation far exceeds the generations that have come after.
    
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    September 3, 2025 3:17pm
  - Ipanema69
    
    The blockade & continued conventional bombing strategy was seriously considered by the planners at the time (only very few people were aware of the A-Bomb).
    
    If they had gone down this path there would have still have been a need for conventional invasions of all of the territory held by the Japanese that had not been liberated. Remember that the Pacific war strategy executed by Nimitz and MacArthur only retook specific strategic objectives to penetrate the outer and inner Japanese defensive rings.
    
    As an example in August 1945 Malaysia, Singapore , Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam were all occupied by the Japanese. These operations would have incurred losses. Delaying these operations would have left the inhabitants subject to the actions of an increasingly unhinged occupation force.
    
    The conventional bombing strategy had evolved to large scale fire bombing which was yielding casualty numbers equivalent to the A-Bomb. Tokyo was firebombed in March 1945 with more than 100,000 casualties and the Japanese still fought on.
    
    The blockade strategy would have yielded mass famine in Japan.
    
    Ultimately and correctly the decision was taken to end the war by cutting the head off the snake.
    
    Overall this saved lives on both the Allied and Japanese side,
    
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    September 3, 2025 3:42pm
john1234

Anyone else getting database errors and extremely slow page loads on KB today?

[Mod – We are having a few issues, sorry]
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September 3, 2025 11:03am
Diogenes

A strong warning about the not-so-hidden dangers of introducing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

“They (*see below) are building a full-spectrum digital cage, and its two locked doors are Digital Identity and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). You cannot have one without the other.

“The plan is to replace your government-issued ID with a Digital ID, but it’s not just a card in your phone. It is fundamentally built upon your immutable biometrics: your fingerprints, the precise structure of your face, the unique pattern of your iris.

“This biometric data is the key. It is the hard link that ties your physical body directly to your digital identity credential.

“Your very body becomes your password. The reason this is so critical for them is the financial system. UN & Bank for International Settlements docs overtly state that Digital ID and CBDCs are designed to be integrated.”

https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/1962549041532743900

* MY NOTE: This is not a conspiracy theory. The “They” include, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), European Central Bank (ECB), People’s Bank of China (PboC), and World Economic Forum – all of which have openly stated these intentions.
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September 3, 2025 11:03am
- Wandering Star
  
  Give me convenience, or give me death.
  
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  September 3, 2025 2:40pm
I remember when

When I’m sixty-four: Dave Heatley – Asymmetric Information.
He suggests that wealth taxes are either, a revenue source or sometimes punishment for being rich.
“A wealth tax that does not adjust for age will likely reduce the amount saved before retirement and increase the drawdown rate after retirement.
Post-retirement incomes will take a substantial hit.
And that, in turn, may create its own drag on public finances.”

He suggests that at 24 he wouldn’t have considered becoming a millionaire and nobody would need that much money.
Inflation has meant that you need to be an asset plus savings millionaire for a secure retirement.

So if you are older it’s a turkey voting for christmas option.
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September 3, 2025 11:38am
- Swifty
  
  Friedman on inheritance taxes.
  
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aFUKJMOuaL0
  
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  September 3, 2025 2:29pm
- mogg
  
  One million is no longer enough for a secure retirement, it would take two million plus at the very least.
  
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  September 3, 2025 3:40pm
cmm

Police are preparing for a gangster’s funeral by telling people to expect a large number of gang members on ths streets.

Hello cop! Stop pandering to the gangs. The only things you should be preparing are the holding cells and a means of transporting them.

Handy reminder: check the tyre pressure in the paddy wagons. Some of these are large chunks of meat.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360810360/police-prepare-large-gang-funeral-king-cobra-leader-rocky-pulete
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September 3, 2025 12:17pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  I had to stop reading the article as I could feel my blood pressure rising.
  
  Here’s me thinking the police had been given instructions by the minister to crack down on gangs not pander to them.
  
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  September 3, 2025 12:58pm
  - Inandout
    
    North, it is not the way the government is running the economy that has seen them slump in the polls, it is their bloody election promises not kept.
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:23pm
  - Paulus
    
    The Gangs would love a violent physical conflagration as it would be supported as anti present Government – look at thens called media who would both be there and love it !
    
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    September 3, 2025 2:55pm
    - cmm
      
      Quite possibly the gangs would like it, but give them a whiff of teargas/pepper spray and they will soon lose their enthusiasm.
      
      But I suspect that the honest hardworking taxpayer that dutifully ticked Blue on the back of the National promise to get tough on gangs would be thankful to finally see some action.
      
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      September 3, 2025 4:53pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        OK. Let’s make you God for the sake of this analysis. What would you actually do here? I mean a detailed sort of 1-2-3 thing.
        
        Bearing in mind that …
        
        There might be a thousand gangies at the tangi. The logistics of detaining, questioning then possibly charging them might be a bit daunting. Some (most?) won’t all be identifiably guilty of anything more serious than cluttering up the road.
        
        How many cops, holding spaces and prosecutors might we need to get this done? How much valium would DG need? 🙂
        
        How long might it take go-to-whoa? How many cops would be taken away from the burglaries and assaults and whatever else they were doing …. etc etc ie what would happen to the cases they were working on before this event?
        
        I guess the bottom line is that we really aren’t geared up to deal expeditiosly with large-scale civil disobedience. Particularly if the “dealing” also aims to deal with the history of the disobedient.
        
        You can deplore this, but it is what it is. Maybe we need another couple of thousand cops … Please don’t suggest that the army get into it – they are trained in how to kill people, not to control disorderly crowds. Some army personnel might feel a bit conflicted about being thrust into this role.
        
        Go figure
        
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        September 3, 2025 5:25pm
- David Garrett
  
  cmm: Every time I read an article like this I need to take a valium. This sort of gathering should present the cops with a golden opportunity to check everyone there for outstanding warrants, and have vehicle inspectors there to do the same to their vehicles. Every scum gang member who does a burnout should be arrested for sustained loss of traction. Every POS that is remotely offensive should be arrested. In short, attending one of these funerals should be risky business for your average gang POS.
  
  Instead the cops see it as a chore which is all about “managing” the bastards. I thought things may change with the new police commissioner, but apparently it’s business as usual down at Police HQ
  
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  September 3, 2025 1:01pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    DG
    The position of the cops seems to be to get through the gang initiated event with as little conflict as possible.
    That is the attitude of subservience.
    The gangs dictate what the cops can do, simple as that.
    
    The NZ police are conflict averse, they turn up at post-crime scenes with multiple officers mishandling semiautomatic rifles in an attempt to show force.
    
    If someone is at actual risk, the cops stand off at a safe distance, this is consistent with the current Commissioner and his predecessor declaring that the safety of “their” officers is paramount.
    
    Bring on vigilantism
    
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    September 3, 2025 1:15pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Bring on vigilantism
      
      Would you be at the front of the line with your motorbike helmet, kevlar bike gear and baseball bat? 🙂
      
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      September 3, 2025 5:03pm
    - Ghost
      
      Cops know how to do the job. Easy to sit at your computer and say how it should be done.
      
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      September 3, 2025 5:18pm
- cmm
  
  National should stop trying to pander to everyone.
  
  The gangs will never vote National. Stop trying to play footsie with them.
  
  Sure, National likes to think of themselves as a broad church, but they are not that broad.
  
  Bottom line is that if you try to stand for everything you end up standing for nothing.
  
  Gangs represent the worst of NZ and they need to be worked on. Hard. They are not cultural groups. They are criminal organisations. No discussion.
  
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  September 3, 2025 4:58pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    The gangs will never vote National.
    
    So what. I wouldn’t bet that “who to vote for” is a big part of running their daily lives.
    
    Gangs represent the worst of NZ and they need to be worked on. Hard
    
    The logistics are not simple. If we “work on the gangs” and go “hard” enough to make a difference there will be some civil rights violations that even hard-nosed individuals might find a bit excessive.
    
    And of course – given that this “hard on gangs” thing would chew up appreciable police resources and that the police aren’t exactly slacking off now – I guess we would need a lot more cops – who don’t grow on trees and can’t just be magicked up.
    
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    September 3, 2025 5:46pm
Swifty

Hahahahaha!

Remember when Jackson has called Seymour and others ‘useless Māoris’?

Well that’s what TPM are now calling him, and he doesn’t like it!

https://x.com/suitandtie9999/status/1963097608903393573?s=46

Hahahaha! Suck it up Willie.
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September 3, 2025 7:29pm
NZer In Exile

The latest insanity from Starmer’s woke mental asylum (aka The UK):

Man (a comedian by the way) jailed for suggesting (in a roundabout way) in a tweet that men in girl’s changing rooms should be told to leave and if “all else fails” they should “punched in the balls”.

https://modernity.news/2025/09/02/british-comedy-writer-arrested-for-three-gender-critical-tweets-hospitalised-as-a-result/

I’m guessing about 99% percent of parents with girls would be 100% behind the comedian.
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September 3, 2025 8:54pm
NothingLeft

How ‘diversity’ and multiculturalism destroys societies, inevitably leading to sectarian strife, corruption and state collapse as different groups look out for their own tribe, with only way of holding things together then being brutal autocratic repression; observations of an Educated Lebanese catholic on lotus eaters:
https://youtu.be/tt-RiR40sRg
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September 3, 2025 9:26pm

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