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November 24, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 November 2025

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General Debate

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grumpy

Could this explain the Government’s belated action on outlawing puberty blockers for children?
https://gatewayhispanic.com/2025/11/trump-orders-u-s-embassies-take-note-countries/
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November 24, 2025 8:02am
- Northshoredoc
  
  We’ll be able to tell conclusively when the speaker turns up looking like an orange.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:17am
- imalwaysright
  
  Re Converting kids with dysphoria
  
  If it was a real condition, and an effective treatment, then they would also be converting homosexual people into heterosexual people ??
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:50am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    I don’t follow.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:16am
  - David Garrett
    
    Imalways: Until about 1974 homosexuality was considered a mental illness which could be treated. I have read that that only changed after intense lobbying by homosexual groups in the US.
    
    The uncomfortable inference of course is once you declare that one form of deviation from the norm – which homosexuality undoubtedly is – is in fact “normal” you open the door for the next one. Paedos of course think their inclinations are entirely normal…
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:19am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Exactly DG, it shows deliberate bias of the current conspirators within the medical profession, enabled by political inaction, that their focus is only upon the type of dysphoria that tends to homosexuality.
      
      Surely there are homosexual children who feel the same effects of the dysphoria and see transitioning to “becoming” heterosexual as their solution, but they seem to be outside the scope of the aims of the conspirators, thankfully.
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:41am
    - kiwimike
      
      DG
      It changed because the homosexual Psychiatrists got themselves voted onto the ethics committee of the PPA in USA, when Geoffrey Satinova was the Chair.
      
      They then applied to change the rules for the DSM on Homosexuality & disrupted the main meetings of the PPA in that year.
      Threatening worse publicity if their demands weren’t met..
      
      As a result the liberal Psychiatrists caved, the other PPA body for Pscychologists followed soon after.
      
      NB: Both PPA’s have large groups supporting removing Paedophilia from the DSM too.
      
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      November 24, 2025 1:21pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  There was a rally in Wellington on the weekend claiming that “trans children” will be wrecked because they need to go through puberty. Suicide. Mental health.
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/gFR7VUidB7
  
  Here is a question. In the 1950s there were no puberty blockers. Was there an epidemic of trans children turning to suicide? Were the suicide rates of trans children in the 1950s documented in the literature?
  
  If an otherwise healthy ten year old girl says she is a boy, there is a serious problem. She should be given all the resources of a compassionate society. That does not extend to affirming her mental illness by giving her drugs to stop puberty.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:51am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Governments in the future will be sued by kids who at young ages were subject to gender reassignment surgery and puberty blocker treatments that have wrecked their lives. The very idea that a child who can’t make a decision on what toy he wants to play with in the next five minutes can decide that he wants to be a girl for the rest of his life is in my view ridiculous.
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:00am
    - peterwn
      
      You mean like the Lake Alice situation?
      
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      November 24, 2025 10:11am
      - Hugh Jarse
        
        Yes or the abuse in state care.
        
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        November 24, 2025 10:12am
      - Phronesis
        
        In some ways the trans thing makes Lake Alice look positively modern. Treating psychological problems with surgery has more in common with the 1930’s fashion for frontal lobotomy.
        
        I’ve seen Jordan Peterson talking about how we should deal with the individuals responsible for ruining these lives. He thinks a line has been crossed, they need to be punished. Essentially do you go with a post apartheid style truth and reconciliation response or a Nuremberg trials response. I can see his point, it’s scary that so many people in positions of power supported the mutilation of innocent children, surely there needs to be justice for the victims. I think what will happen is it will all quietly be forgotten, pronouns removed from bio’s, people carry on in their jobs despite clearly lacking critical thinking skills or any moral clarity whatsoever.
        
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        November 24, 2025 11:49am
    - Christopher Thomson
      
      There are a lot of parents who will be looked at too.
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:25am
  - kowtow
    
    ND
    
    The Fifties!
    
    Get with it , we’re “progressive” now.
    
    Same sex ‘marriage’ , full term abortions , trans , DEI , ( feel free to ad to the list)
    
    Interesting how what was once the simple classical Marxist dialectic of the two classes struggle has morphed into a gender /sex struggle.
    
    It is “gaslighting” in that folk are being invited , nay bullied into questioning their own sanity , powers of reasoning. Interesting too that the gender most susceptible to this asymetric class warfare is the female of the species.
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:10am
    - Tom Hunter
      
      An astounding graph, in the USA aince 2022, women over 40 have had more babies than women under 20. It follows a massive drop in the latters birth rates since 1995, and likely the same decline from the early 60’s but the graph doesn’t go that far back.
      
      Another example of the demographic collapse that’s upon us and possibly the prime reason even beyond big factors like contraception, abortion and careers, plus the cultural attitude of looking down your nose at woman who make a career choice of marriage and kids early on.
      
      “Women over 40” means one designer child, both because of greatly reduced fertility and that coping with a baby/toddler/little kid is a hell of a lot tougher than when you’re in your 20’s.
      
      Having babies in your 20’s means more of both, but although there are increasing thoughts among Gen-Z women that feminism may have sold them a false bill of goods I can’t see any of those factors above being turned around.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:44pm
      - Mike
        
        It’s almost as if women choosing to control their own fertility was a bad thing
        
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        November 24, 2025 1:09pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Depends how they control it – the moral way, or the ‘unwanted pregnancy’ way.
        
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        November 24, 2025 2:59pm
  - Notsofast
    
    The missing suicides like the missing extra terrestrial intelligence.
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:44am
  - RichardF
    
    Oh my goodness. What a collection of weirdos and perverts. Those poor children. Parents of any child who says they are something else should be charged with child abuse and grooming. Its always the parents “affirming” this bullshit. An article in the spinoff from a parent of a trans child said they “knew” their daughter was a boy the moment “he” was born. These people are not rationale.
    
    It saddens me, but I have hope for the next generation, my kids. In the US they have passed peak trans and we will soon follow. Soon it will not be cool to cut your bits off and pretend to be something you’re not. My 9 year old son thinks these people are weirdos. I find that encouraging.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:02am
    - PurplePen
      
      at least thankfully these people are very very very much a minority. tho it’s odd how noisy their supporters can be and how the MSM gives them as much space as they do. I can’t imagine it sells much advertising.
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:06am
    - wisteria
      
      Who are the 3 who vote no on nearly every post.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:09pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Unemployed lefties.
        
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        November 24, 2025 1:04pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    BTW I highly recommend this interview with this biologist who was hounded out of Harvard because she said there were two sexes.
    
    She also discusses the effects of puberty blockers. Citing evidence.
    
    https://youtu.be/GbmsPY8NEEo?si=oSzGbX5pIKIOJT5S
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:22am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    I put this down to a trend of attention seeking mass hysteria which future generations may well look back on with amusement.
    
    Your Biological make up determines your sex, but the prevailing thinking determines Gender is a social construct and that you can choose this at will. These are the same progressives that will lambast you for cultural appropriation of another ethnic culture, even though Ethnicity is also determined by your Biological make up, and that there is far more diversity in ethnicity than there is in Gender.
    
    Remember the case of UK Influencer Oli London, who announced that they were now identifying as a woman, to much support and fanfare, but when ‘they’ announced that they were identifying as a Korean Woman, was roundly criticised.
    
    So I ask the question, who determined that one set of Biological Criteria was open to self identification while the other was sacrosanct, despite ethnicity being far more diverse?
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:29am
  - Jake Dee
    
    There’s been a lot of interesting talk over the last few years about “Mind Viruses” partially inspired by Richard Dawkins concept of the “Meme”, the self replicating idea that ‘infects” minds and causes them to spread the meme further.
    Some memes like writing, can be symbiotic with the host, helping them. Others like suicide cults, not so much.
    Some people are resistant to them, but others are less so.
    I think actual physical chemical compounds can work like this. Narcotics like the various opioids, heroin, morphine, fentanyl etc. infect the body and alter human behavior to cause more of the chemical compound to be created and spread further.
    I can see this all through the Trans movement, a memetic alliance between the chemicals and the ideology. Their minds are only partially their own, an important part of their consciousness is in the systems of a synthetic body & mind altering chemical compound.
    Spooky stuff.
    There’s a whole hidden history of the psycho-chemical world yet to be written and we’re living through it.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:39am
  - Philview
    
    I remember a girl in my street claiming she was a boy back in the 1980s and had a short back and sides to match. Her older brothers were really into their rugby. She hit puberty and at some point turned into an attractive young woman. Now days she is married with 3 children. Children back then were allowed to be children.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:00am
    - pdm
      
      phil – in those days the word `tomboy’ would still have been in use I think.
      
      Never heard now as far as I know.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:10pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Who hasn’t had a go at dressing in clothes from the opposite sex or even saying innocently I wish I was a girl. As someone else expressed here, a child can’t even make up it’s mind which toy you play with in the next 5 minutes. None of it means they want a change. They’re just exploring vocab, and the world around them.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:08am
    - David Garrett
      
      Purple: I have to say that never once in my memory did it ever occur to me that I was other than male
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:42pm
      - Philview
        
        David,
        I recall back in the days when Boy George was big there was some fairly colourful characters about. I remember being in a pub toilet one night and this guy came in wearing high heels and a dress and he hitched his skirt up to go to toilet in the urinal. There wasn’t any preciousness about vowels or gender back then.
        
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        November 24, 2025 1:54pm
  - R
    
    ten year old girl…..sounds like she needs new mature normal thinking REPLACEMENT PARENTS.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:51pm
- Notsofast
  
  RNZ is completely out of control on this.
  There is borderline criminal enterprise in their promoting of trans maximalism.
  Search puberty to find a plethora of shameless advocates, with scarcely a notion that medication pledging to damage the body is to be questioned.
  
  You are all paying these charlatans.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:38am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    “You are all paying these charlatans.”
    
    Not bloodywell willingly.
    
    Take away the government compulsion of taxation and see how many people would prefer a freemarket nation.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:30am
  - pb
    
    Running a proxy war on morality through sacrificing our children was never going to catch on. Perhaps that we allow it, voids our claim to civis.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:32am
Yvette

Unfinished hard Labour …
Labour MP Willie Jackson stated in 2021 that he was glad Winston Peters never saw the He Puapua report, though he denied it was deliberately withheld from New Zealand First. Jackson’s comments came after Peters claimed Labour ministers had suppressed the report, which outlines a plan for achieving the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), until after the 2020 general election.

Peters described the situation as a “gesture of ingratitude and bad faith” and characterized the report as a “recipe for Māori separatism”.

“… you’ve got to remember they [New Zealand First] were trying to use anything to get the vote up, and it would’ve been gold for them.” – Willie Jackson
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125521049/labour-mp-willie-jackson-glad-winston-peters-never-saw-he-puapua-report#
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/he-puapua-willie-jackson-pleased-nz-first-and-winston-peters-didnt-see-report/B4LOHMCMJJFJAKZHRGSP7ZEXEQ/#

Note: While many portrayed David Seymour and ACTs attempt to clarify the Treaty as evil incarnate, Labour had in He Puapua started “messing with it”, as the Late Maori King feared politicians would do, and Labour was already beyond the extent Pita Sharples had said the Crown would handle UNDRIP, where the Treaty was to define the extent they would engage with it.

Ironically …
Cabinet paper MCR-19-MIN-0003 is a document from April 1, 2019, concerning the development of a plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Present: Rt Hon Winston Peters, Hon Shane Jones (and others)

You find all this mess if you look under the carpet, where it still lurks ready for uptake and reanimation – not by Guillermo del Toro, but by Willie Jackson.
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November 24, 2025 8:02am
- KKNZ2025
  
  Chris Trotter has an interesting take on Winston / NZF ambitions for next years election
  
  “Winston Peters plans to set off a landslide of disillusioned Labour voters by deploying the explosive force of democratic expectations”
  
  https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/136286/winston-peters-plans-set-landslide-disillusioned-labour-voters-deploying#comments
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:40am
- Quail
  
  Yvette ,
  So Peters and NZ First must have known about UNDRIP and He PuaPua if he was present at that Cabinet meeting you documented ?
  If so action should be taken against him by the speaker an grounds of “ misleading Parliament and in the process New Zealand voters .”
  Every party should refuse to work with him ever again.
  
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  November 24, 2025 1:26pm
Cassandra

Apparently the 28 point peace plan is just a Russian wish list, not the actual Trump proposal. According to the Secretary of State anyway.

Not the usual way negotiations to end a war are conducted. I’m sure that Zelensky can’t wait to see what he’s actually supposed to agree to by Thursday.

Let’s hope the final version is not the complete sellout that the current draft is – mostly the Russian demands and preparing Ukraine for Phase 2 to in a couple of years.
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November 24, 2025 8:02am
- David George
  
  The European leaders were, a few days ago, highly critical of the peace proposals. Reality has sunk in:
  
  “Europe has offered to invite Vladimir Putin back into the G8 under a peace deal to end the Ukraine war.
  European officials have agreed to a cap on the size of Ukraine’s army during peace negotiations in Geneva.
  
  The European counter-proposal suggests Kyiv’s forces should be limited to a number of 800,000 in a rebuttal of the 600,000 cap proposed in Donald Trump’s 28-point peace plan on Friday.
  
  Even with the cap, Kyiv’s army – which currently stands at around 850,000 – would be one of the largest in the world.
  The latest version of the US draft plan for ending war in Ukraine now includes most of Kyiv’s “key priorities”, its negotiator said Sunday, after holding a few rounds of talks in Geneva.
  
  Rustem Umerov, Ukraine national security advisor, said: “The current version of the document, although still in the final stages of approval, already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/23/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-power-plant-moscow-geneva/
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:21am
  - surfing
    
    Your argument around troop levels is based on all nations having equal threat levels.
    
    In my view, it is necessary to have a larger army than normal if you are adjacent to a belligerent warmongering country such as Russia.
    
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    November 24, 2025 8:57am
    - Wandering Star
      
      Canada and Mexico need to start recruiting then.
      
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      November 24, 2025 1:51pm
  - Colville
    
    David.
    Your quote says their army is 850,000 but DPF told us it was 4.9mil in his anti Trump rant the other day.
    Which is correct?
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:15am
    - David George
      
      They’re both right.
      The Telegraph figure is for active service personnel, there are, additionally, 4 million reserves – that’s for all armed forces but the vast majority are army.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:02pm
      - Colville
        
        But DPF says their army is going to go from 4.9mil down to 600,000.
        You say from 850,000 to 600,000.
        Thats a big difference.
        
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        November 24, 2025 12:29pm
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: The latest story – well, the most recent I have noticed – is that it is not a Russian wish list…but who knows? Things change within the Trump White House daily, if not within a day.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:40am
- RoboRob
  
  I haven’t been following this closely but when you say the agreement is a ‘sellout’ to the Russians, what did people expect?
  
  Russia is winning / will win the war. Winners tend to get the spoils. No I dont want Russia to get anything but the reality is obviously going to be different.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:07am
  - Cassandra
    
    It doesn’t have to be that way, Rob. Who is next, if Putin gets what he wants this time?
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:37am
    - Jake Dee
      
      Who is realistically going to stop it?
      This is going to be a harsh wake-up call to reality, and moral posturing and political rhetoric won’t stop it.
      NATO and the West have wickedly over estimated their strength and over played their hand, betting mainly with Ukrainian lives, their hand has been called.
      As Kenny Rogers told us back in ’78,
      “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run…”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hx4gdlfamo
      
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      November 24, 2025 10:57am
      - R
        
        Four years of BIDEN certainly encouraged PUTIN, aided immensely by the worldwide marxist MSM
        
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        November 24, 2025 11:29am
    - RoboRob
      
      What is the alternative? Nato boots on the ground?
      
      Neither option is particularly palatable, chose your poison.
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:25am
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Why not? How many nationalities are fighting for Putin?
        
        Russian, Norks, Chechins, any I have missed?
        
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        November 24, 2025 2:22pm
      - RoboRob
        
        @Christopher Thomson
        
        Would you want to send New Zealanders to fight Russia? Would you want to fight there? Would you want your kids dying for Ukraine?
        
        If Nato / US goes all in then how long before China & others join Russia? Then we have what, a WW3?
        
        If Russia starts taking a beating what odds of a nuclear launch?
        
        p.s. NK is the only country actively involved on the ground for the Russians, any others are proxy states for Russia.
        
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        November 24, 2025 2:48pm
- kowtow
  
  According to the UK Daily Telegraph , the Ukrainians are running out of suitable fighting age men . They’re now conscripting the sick , unfirm , elderly and frail . Very few Ukrainians of fighting age that haven’t been called up are willing to defend their country .
  
  If that’s the situation then Ukraine has no hope of any realistic “victory” .
  
  It’s a bit rich for western “leaders” who have done nothing but run down their own military capabilities , who’re unwilling to give Ukr everything it needs to fight the war criminal Putin and indeed who’re still actively funding the Russian war effort by buying their oil and gas , to insist that the Ukrainians fight to the last Ukrainian.
  
  They may fear a Russia on their own borders in the event of a Ukrainain defeat , but what realistically are they doing domestically to prepare for that.
  
  Oh yes , they’re at G20 fretting about the weather and claiming the need to spend trillions thereupon.
  
  Si vis pacem parabellum.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:19am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Again this is just the harsh wake-up call to reality.
    Western leaders were never going to give Ukraine what they needed to win the war against Russia because they never had it in the first place.
    Their arrogant hubris in thinking they were the axis around which world history spins has blinded them to the reality that they’re much weaker than they supposed.
    The vast majority of the wars they’ve fought over the last 30 years have been against much weaker opponents without an air force or industrial base.
    They’ve been fighting wars on the cheap for over a generation and just guessed that it was going to go on for ever.
    Russia doesn’t play like that.
    Western capitals were never going to do the vast mobilization of their own sons, voters and taxpayers or devote the vast sums of capital into the war machine necessary to win this war.
    Any western political faction that seriously worked towards war with Russia would be swiftly ruined in the ballot box and in the stock market.
    But they could deploy their vast ideological and propaganda apparatus into convincing people that none of that mattered and they would win on…something, the feel good vibes and the arc of history perhaps.
    They cooked it and now they’ve got to eat it.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:13am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Magyars birds is a Ukrainian drone battalion of about 2500, they’ve killed (with video evidence) 27 thousand Russians in last 18 months, for a loss of about 25 (ie 2 dozen) of their own.
    
    Offensive war in drone age has become unbelievably costly, with loss ratios frequently above 10:1, or 1000:1 for the above specialist drone unit. No man’s land is 20km wide now, tanks and armor are useless, people in the open have survival half-lives of hours, and attack has devolved to individuals or groups of 2 or 3 using motorbikes or feet to scamper and find holes and basements to hide in occupied territory
    
    The west has probably missed it’s chance to save Ukraine that is now suferring probably unendurable nightly drone attacks on its infrastructure and cities. The west needed to provide parts to build 1000 large long range drones (like Shahed) a night to wipe out Russian power, oil and gas and transport infrastructure. That would have cost a few billion a year, less than 10% of what they have been spending on supporting ukraine and would have probably ended the war within 6 months.
    
    And sanctions with teeth to shut down Russian trade 2-3 years back would have likely done similar.
    
    Western politicians are weak and incompetent. All posturing but lacking in necessary mettle and intellect.
    
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    November 24, 2025 2:09pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      True, “Western politicians are weak and incompetent.” Who is responsible for that other than the Westerners themselves?
      These policies weren’t imposed by invaders from outer space. The idea that the government and policies of a democracy are the true will of the people has been central to Western liberal democracy for at least a century.
      
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      November 24, 2025 2:58pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Nothing.
      A believable reference to corroborate your story would be nice.
      Otherwise its just another opinion
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:31pm
- BananaLlama
  
  I wouldn’t worry too much.
  If it is true that Ukraine has an armed force of 4.9 million men, then they won’t agree to anything. That’s larger than the German army which invaded the USSR.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:26am
  - Mike
    
    Hiw did that work out? Do you think Ukraine is invading Russia?
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:40pm
    - BananaLlama
      
      I’m just giving historical examples so that it is easier to understand the scale of fighting that would be required. I don’t think anyone is willing to do that right now and so, it goes a long way to explaining why the rate of advance is so slow.
      I don’t think it would even be possible for Russia to take major cities like Kharkov or Kiev so why would Ukraine ever consider a surrender? Maybe a negotiated peace but again look at the numbers they would still have available.
      Trump must be dreaming or stirring up drama to cover up something else in the news cycle.
      
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      November 24, 2025 1:08pm
    - Paulus
      
      A Winter Snow Job like the predessor Napoleon neither of who reached Moscow.
      
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      November 24, 2025 2:32pm
      - BananaLlama
        
        Paulus must be reading some Alt History, very unfortunate name as well.
        
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        November 24, 2025 3:09pm
      - kowtow
        
        N did reach Moscow. or do I miss your drift.
        
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        November 24, 2025 3:49pm
      - Mike
        
        The Grande Armee certainly got the (snow)drift.
        
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        November 24, 2025 6:47pm
- Eastlander
  
  Inter alia, it would entail them forfeiting two cities they claim as provincial capitals and paying the Americans for the privilege. Hardly their wishlist. Indeed if you’d been trying to devise something to maximally offend both parties you could hardly have done better.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:17am
- pb
  
  How can the US, which funded and still funds the war, make a claim to be a credible peace negotiator. They were the main belligerent. This is a 28 point victory plan for the US looking at the headlights of another military defeat coming down the tunnel.
  
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  November 24, 2025 11:37am
Tomtoddy

Verity Johnson has written a piece in defence of Wellington’s ex Mayor, Tori Whanau. I am getting the blame for driving her out of the country. Yep, she said I am responsible for belittling her, accusing her, harassing her, mocking her, and more. I exaggerated. I “roasted her”. Now, I am supposed to be ashamed. Somehow, I “let her down”.

The weird thing is I have no memory of having raised a murmur about this woman. Not a word. Never uttered a syllable. Spilt no ink.

It is more a commentary on how Verity Johnson sees the world. Apparently, she is one of our leading journalists. We are supposed to sit up and take notice when she takes up her pen. She has every right to use her privileged position, her well paid job to give us not just her thoughts for the day, or a well-constructed editorial on the leading stories of the day but she is entitled (yes, ‘entitled’) to attack me and try and shame me for whatever non-story enters her pretty head.

It is just one more angle on the world where there is no self-responsibility. When someone fails it is ‘society’ that’s to blame. We are all supposed to be ashamed and repentant. Judges find a hundred and one things about the accused’s world that are to blame except the accused’s lack of responsibility. Socialists only see ‘society’ not individuals. A rosy make-believe world where we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

Sorry, Verity, you can mumble away in your beer about how you feel but leave me out of it. I am busy looking after my responsibilities.
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November 24, 2025 8:04am
- artemisia
  
  Personal responsibility or blame someone or something else. Or preferably that pesky ‘system’.
  
  For example, the proposal for parents to support their unemployed 18 and 19 year olds has met resistance from bureaucrats. MSD’s preferred option in its Regulatory Impact Statement is more of OPM for education and training services, including addressing numeracy and literacy barriers. Preferred option – of course it is.
  
  Possibly parents who made sure their offspring went to school regularly could have fewer NEETs in the household.
  
  https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/information-releases/cabinet-papers/2025/tightening-access-to-jobseeker-support-and-emergency-benefit-for-18-and-19-year-olds/regulatory-impact-statement-tightening-eligibility-for-18-and-19-year-olds.pdf
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:10am
  - R
    
    Bureaucrats only understand the dispersing of OPM, as the solution to the needs of NZ
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:34am
- Boy Geoff
  
  For one thing Tom, your racism is clearly institutional and ingrained – you referred to Whanau as a woman and not a wahine!
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:10am
  - NothingLeft
    
    wahine-r, in more ways than one.
    
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    November 24, 2025 2:14pm
- pdm
  
  Careful TT.
  
  Under no circumstances should you disagree with anything `gushing’ Verity writes.
  
  To do so on Stuff will see you suspended for at least a week.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:27am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    Verity Johnson is the epitome of the Jacinda clone journalist that David Cohen describes in Jacinda – The Untold Stories…
    
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    November 24, 2025 8:42am
  - David Garrett
    
    pdm: As an aside, why on earth would you bother commenting on the online Women’s Weekly, a.k.a Stuff?? It’s good for the quiz and a handful of stories in any one week.
    
    17 4
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    November 24, 2025 8:42am
    - pdm
      
      DG -if good men stand by and do nothing as the saying goes.
      
      Then everyone suffers the consequences.
      
      I have checked with mrspdm and she says that occasionally in the last (almost exactly 58 years we have known each other) I have been both good and a man at the same time.
      
      Her enthusiastic endorsements makes me stand firm.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:23pm
    - NoFax
      
      That’s a bit unfair to Women’s Weekly.
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:22pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      DG. Its called freedom of choice.!!!
      
      Its healthy IMHO to look at different sources from time to time to give one information to facilitate
      Making your own choice.
      
      Dictatorship is insisting people do what you say. 🙂
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:35pm
- BarryB
  
  I recall a while ago when Verity visited a dairy farm. She was surprised to find that bulls were not milked – this was when she was on a TV or radio programme.
  How could an educated young woman who presumably understood the difference between human males and females, and who should have known that in none of the existing forms of animals on the earth did the male produce milk; not assume that the male form of bovines did not produce milk.
  Her mind is on another planet……………
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:37am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    Wow! How genderist can you get??
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:34am
  - Local Miller
    
    Well we all know men can chest feed and that men’s milk is as good as woman’s milk if we could only work out what a man and a woman actually are.
    In reality, the bulls are often being “milked”, for their sperm. I have a vet friend in South Africa who’s involved in bovine artificial insemination, a big thing in breeding programs to get cows that produce more milk. He owns the patent on a solution that indicates male vs female sperm, allowing vets to easily separate the sperm to ensure only cows are conceived in the breeding program.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:00am
  - Taieri
    
    She was surprised to find that bulls were not milked
    ———
    
    She should know everything there’s to know about bulls as someone who makes her living from bulls’ product…
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:43am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Visiting foreign airmen at Ohakea were always a bit surprised to hear the local milk came from Bulls 🙂
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:53am
  - R
    
    ……..what mind?. I suspect that like most activists there is only empty space between the ears.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:37am
- Ipanema69
  
  The move to Melbourne is almost certainly being driven by an absence of employment opportunities in New Zealand.
  
  I suspect that even the green party views Tory as a liability. It must be fairly tough to have the luvvies abandon you.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:41am
  - Colville
    
    You think a Melbourne Maccas will take her on?
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:33pm
    - Ipanema69
      
      Colv,
      
      I suspect that is where it is heading. I doubt she will secure any significant role with an NGO or a government position in Australia. Any cursory google search will indicate to any potential employer that there are significant reputational risks present i.e. potentially unresolved issues with alcohol
      
      Even a heavily “woke” organization is not going to run the risk of a senior staffer making an ass of themselves in a bar.
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:01pm
  - surfing
    
    I find it amazing how that left voters choose the most incompetent and least capable people they can find. While Helen Clark was probaby the best ‘leader’ labour has had in the last couple of generations, she was also useless. (what happened to the knowledge economy? Still seems we raise cows and grow kiwifruit.
    
    Ardern was an absolute shocker , as is Whanau albeit in local politics.
    
    The commonality behind these people is that they have no idea of the value of money or how a monetary system functions.
    
    They tend to subscribe to the build it and they will come philosophy — i.e, you don’t need to be rational when it comes to spending other people’s money.
    
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    November 24, 2025 1:02pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      purity spirals afflict the left – they do nothing of value in the world and come from an anti-meritocratic ethos, so their jockeying for status involves who beats their drum loudest for the extremist versions of the ‘kind’/’nice’ idea.
      
      There is no reward, only opprobrium for nuance or toning it down or being at all critical of the extremists. The natural end state of such a system of incentives is of course the promotion of loopy extremists with no judgement or balance (and no intellectual depth) into positions of leadership.
      
      Same in the academic humanities
      
      And that’s how we get the deranged incompetent airheads that make up the caucuses or Labour, Greens and Te Racists – with only the most tenuous grasp of reality and none of the skills necessary to be an effective manager of a country.
      
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      November 24, 2025 2:23pm
- Flossie
  
  The part that really made me choke was when she described Tory as something along the lines of attractive and youthful! It’s all in the eye of the beholder isn’t it.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:44am
  - PurplePen
    
    Ageist and skindeepist. Presume it’s ok then for Verity to say someone was the opposite, ugly and old.
    
    In any case, two words to Verity and Whanau .. boo hoo.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:15am
  - sirknz
    
    Eye of the beer holder in this case…
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:19am
- Gravelroad
  
  Ms Johnson is described as a “writer” just as we are all “writers” here. Her contributions are received without question and with impunity.
  She is not a journalist.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:53am
  - TripeWryter
    
    Gravelroad:
    Yes. She’s a stripper.
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:16am
- KKNZ2025
  
  It’s a typical “having your cake while eating it” opinion, completely ignoring Exhibit A – the pearlclutching vitriol that hounded Len Brown & Bevan Chuang.
  
  The Tory Whanau movie isn’t yet available.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/len-browns-former-mistress-bevan-chuang-princess-of-chaos-dramedy-to-screen-after-local-elections/TVTCABP3NBMHPM7COYHOK2UEPY/
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:56am
- Vidar
  
  “her well paid job”
  
  The last thing I saw from her was about how broke she was.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:07am
- Colville
  
  Tom.
  Verity says she knows nothing about the performance of Whanau. Does Verity live under a rock? I am quite sure that media covered it that Whanau failed as Mayor and was rejected even as a race based councilor.
  
  Tried and found wanting. Leaving with her tail between her legs.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:21am
- Local Miller
  
  That article is surely satire. It’s abundantly clear to anyone with half a brain that Tory brought all that criticisms on herself. She apparently only had a few drinks, but obviously, based on her behaviour those few were a few too many. Everything she was badgered over was all of her own doing, so she has no one to blame except herself. Verity doesn’t do her any favors trying to make it look like everyone else was to blame.
  There are two things you should never do for people. The one is deflect responsibility from them onto other’s where they are clearly to blame, and the other is to do for them stuff they should be doing for themselves. The left seem to have never learned these 2 basic lessons.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:46am
- Eastlander
  
  Proud to have been one of those who drove her out of the country by ridiculing her on the Internet. But gentlemen, the cure is not enough, we need prevention. To that end it is imperative that each and every man who does love the country’s good should keep his eyes peeled for any proto-Tory or proto-Golriz and tease them out of public life before they can float up to positions of responsibility.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:24am
- Clyde
  
  I read the Johnson piece of crap about this Whanau woman. Wish I hadn’t but hard to unread it. Whanau may be young and attractive to Johnson who needs to toddle off to Specsavers sometime soon, but the reality is that Whanau was incompetent and is unemployable in New Zealand. As is Ardern.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:39am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Read this; That’s just standard behaviour in a country where a bottle of wine a night and a bottle of vodka on the weekend is normal drinking.”
    
    Jaysus, really? That is normal?
    
    According to V. Johnson it is.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:11pm
- sirknz
  
  Pretty sure that Tory Whanau got voted out by the same people who voted her in and is nigh unemployable by any organisation that isn’t the Greens.
  
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  November 24, 2025 11:17am
- Paulus
  
  Has Verity got GCSE finally ?
  
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  November 24, 2025 2:34pm
artemisia

The Uber SC decision postings here last week mentioned a paywalled Newsroom article by Eric Crampton. It is now available on the NZ Initiative site. If interested in contractor / employee conditions it is well worth the few minutes to read.

He goes into some detail about current conditions of the (contractor) drivers compared to possible impact of permie contract conditions. I guess the 4 Uber driver claimants might have to be offered permie contracts. I wonder if Wellington City Councillor Nureddin Abdurahman accepts the offer, if there is one. Could be tricky.

As an example, Mr Crampton says If drivers are really employees while logged into a ride-sharing app, it will be impossible for those apps to maintain flexibility for drivers to come and go as they like or to be logged into many apps simultaneously.

He also runs through his understanding of some of the elements the SC considered in coming to their decision. He doesn’t seem too impressed.

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/if-this-is-employment-law-the-law-needs-to-change/
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November 24, 2025 8:05am
- Simon
  
  NZ Court strikes blow against parasite globalist company exploiting mosty foreign labour.
  
  Uber receives massive govt subsides in the form of the tax payer funding of govt services that the mostly foreign labour are of course allow to use but cant even remotely begin to pay via their own taxes. This is why low wage third immigration has been a train wreck for NZ. They dont pay their way, the only people who really benefit are corporates through lower wages & general increase of aggregate demand.
  
  Lower wages and increase in aggregate demand are core National party economic polices. Which the tax payer has to carry the real cost.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:18am
  - cmm
    
    I agree with some of what you say, but not the whole lot.
    
    You are correct that we cannot keep importing low-skilled foreign workers and pretend they will compensate for losing our brightest to overseas countries. Quantity does not replace quality.
    
    Is Uber really a global parasite? No, not really. They provide a flexible “gig economy”. They have little hold on the people that work for them.
    
    What is frightening though is that the draconian law changes are not just limited to solving “the problem”. They apply to all contract workers – including people such as myself – whether they want these “protections” or not.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:45am
  - NoFax
    
    If only citizens were entitled to any government spending, including schools for the kids, hospitals, working for families, etc, then we might see fewer immigrants coming to NZ.
    
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    November 24, 2025 3:25pm
- cmm
  
  I sent an email to the minister about the new rules they are proposing. The way they are worded will kill off the sort of consulting that people like myself do.
  
  But all Uber really needs to do is turn the business around like the taxi businesses do.
  
  The taxi drivers do not work for the taxi companies. Instead the taxi companies provide a service to the taxi drivers.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:46am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  It is a good point. Many Uber drivers I use have a couple of other ride share apps they are signed up to. Good luck being allowed to do that if you are an Uber “employee”.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:59am
Simon

India is a country of huge importance to New Zealand’s prosperity, security, and society. We’re working hard on a New Zealand-India free trade agreement that would create massive opportunities for Kiwi businesses in the Indian market.

https://x.com/chrisluxonmp/status/1985987496065523838

As National intend throwing open the doors even more to add to the huge numbers of Indians already here, NZ must prepare: Eg

October 14, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario
From: RCMP National Headquarters
An extraordinary situation is compelling us to speak about what we have discovered in our multiple ongoing investigations into the involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity in Canada.
Through our national taskforce and other investigative efforts, the RCMP has obtained evidence that demonstrates four very serious issues:
1. Violent extremism impacting both countries;
2. Links tying agents of the Government of India (GOI) to homicides and violent acts;
3. The use of organized crime to create a perception of an unsafe environment targeting the South Asian Community in Canada; and
4. Interference into democratic processes.

https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2024/10/rcmp-statement-violent-criminal-activity-occurring-canada-connections-agents-government-india
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November 24, 2025 8:06am
- I remember when
  
  Warning over looming driver shortages following commercial licence revocations: NZ Herald.
  “NZTA revoked 440 commercial driving licences after discovering false or altered documentation…”
  
  The accompanying photo, of a meeting of the drivers, suggests the transport companies will have to Sikh replacement drivers.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:41am
  - Simon
    
    Indian truck drivers caught with fraudulent licences in New Zealand claim innocence
    
    https://www.noticer.news/new-zealand-indian-truck-drivers-fraudulent-licences/
    
    Indian ACT Party MP Parmjeet Parmar also spoke out in defence of those who had their licences revoked, saying “it’s clear many of them acted under pressure and believed they were following the correct process”.
    
    ACT Sikh the Indian vote by excusing criminality. Almost as bad as National.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:19am
    - cmm
      
      ““it’s clear many of them acted under pressure and believed they were following the correct process”
      
      That is clear bollocks. They had perhaps bribed people and thought that, like the culture they came from, that is enough.
      
      Act should distance themselves from this MP.
      
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      November 24, 2025 10:39am
      - Mike
        
        Oh noes, ACT have another rogue MP?
        
        0 6
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        November 24, 2025 12:48pm
      - MCōs
        
        She used to be National list, but was too low to get back in on the list in 2020.
        On the outer with the Nats she popped up on the Act list at #9 and back at the trough as people here like to say
        
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        November 24, 2025 6:06pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      Everyone knows that’s no excuse at all and a weak-tea deflection. If you’re working under false documents then you’re breaking the law no exceptions.
      If there is some sort of conspiracy to get those people false documents then they can start to name names, which of course they will never do if it’s them, their brothers and cousins doing it.
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:38am
    - NoFax
      
      Acting under pressure and believing they were following the correct process is mutually exclusive. When I got my driver’s licence, I wasn’t pressured as I knew I was following the correct process. We must remember that people from different cultures have different worldviews, including their ethics. This liberal nonsense that all people are the same and once they are in NZ they will be just like us has gotten the West into deep trouble.
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:30pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        Here’s an interesting concept worth knowing and spreading the word about,
        “Izzat” the Indian sub-continent’s concept of honor and shame.
        
        https://x.com/XJosh/status/1992348701793349827
        
        In this case, getting a job with fake papers is seen as a clever win, it’s getting caught that brings disgrace. Hence the feeble lying and excuse making, admitting that you did wrong is shameful for you and your clan.
        
        Warning: Kiwi Farms is in NO WAY a New Zealand site.
        
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        November 24, 2025 6:00pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Back in the good ‘ol days Dougal Stevenson read a news article about a Sikh man in London being fined for not wearing a helmet while riding his scooter.
    
    Dougal looked down the camera and said, deadpan, “Which just goes to show, Sikh and ye shall be fined”…
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:21am
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  Surely we simply have more than enough Indians? They’re constantly in the news for raping, enslaving, defrauding, corrupting, and tax dodging.
  
  Trade agreements that include an immigration component are a con.
  
  New Zealand simply doesn’t need a trade agreement with India that sees us provide them with food while they provide us with Indians.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:44pm
cmm

Only 15 kids at this school can swim 50 metres and, somehow, that is the taxpayers’ problem.

““For many reasons, our tamariki and rangatahi don’t attend lessons.” The primary one being that they do not prioritise teaching children to swim over other things.

Here’s me thinking Maori were supposed to have some natural affinity with the water. Is that all bullshit?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360892487/programme-will-save-lives-bay-plenty-school-students-dive-life-saving-skills
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November 24, 2025 8:09am
- Cassandra
  
  My parents taught me to swim and then took me to the swimming pool for lessons .I can now swim (badly).
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:23am
- Gravelroad
  
  I have young grandchildren who go to swimming lessons at the local pool.
  The lessons are not free. They cost money.
  Money that some parents do not have, or money they prefer to spend on other things.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:24am
  - cmm
    
    Like Cassandra, my parents taught me the basics of swimming. Yes, we had swimming lessons in school in South Africa but we had almost all learned to swim in lakes, sea and pools before going to school.
    
    It takes maybe 10 lessons at $13.80 (Christchurch prices) to learn to swim sufficiently well to stay alive. That is a lifetime cost of $138 per child. However it is easy enough learning for free in a creek or the sea if the parents can be bothered.
    
    I submit that if a parent cannot be bothered to spend $138 per child’s lifetime they should have rather not have had children.
    
    Of course some parents will prefer to spend money on other things if the taxpayer is forced to keep paying for them.
    
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    November 24, 2025 8:42am
    - Flossie
      
      As long as taxpayers front up with money for swimming lessons, school lunches etc there is never going to be an incentive for parents to pay.
      
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      November 24, 2025 8:46am
      - cmm
        
        They are not even turning up for the “free” lessons.
        
        11 1
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        November 24, 2025 9:41am
    - MCōs
      
      I spent a lot of time around water when I was a kid, but can now swim as well as a fish can climb a tree.
      
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      November 24, 2025 9:28am
      - MCōs
        
        Pointing out that hanging out around water doesn’t necessarily convert to an ability to swim
        Likewise I learned far more from a few hours of language tutoring than years of immersion in the society, although the latter was certainly a big help.
        Other people had different experiences
        
        4 1
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        November 24, 2025 10:09am
      - Local Miller
        
        That’s on you and to your loss MCos. My kids spent a lot of time around water as kids, as did I, and we all swim like fish. My wife grew up far from the sea in a country where swimming was something only done for competitions, with almost no private pools. Even so, when we met she was 19 and could swim well enough to make time in the pool a pleasure. My 2 older grand children (3 & 5 yo) have both had swimming lessons and are confident around water, at least enough to keep their heads above water and try get to the edge of the pool. Mom and Dad paid for this, and at least one parent or relative or friend had to be in the water with the kids when they were starting. It’s all about how much effort you are prepared to put in for your children.
        
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        November 24, 2025 10:14am
      - cmm
        
        Local is correct. IIRC he grew up close to where I did.
        
        Just down the road from where I grew up there is Midmar Dam which hosts the Midmar mile swim every year (the world’s biggest annual swimming event). There are typically over 10,000 swimmers every year that swim the mile.
        
        There is a category for under 13 with thousands of kids entering. Heck, even kids as young as 5 have swum it. I never entered, but my siblings did many times. I have done swims of a few km in the sea though.
        
        Swimming just needs the thing that is most missing in Maori households – getting off your arse and doing it.
        
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        November 24, 2025 10:28am
    - RichardF
      
      Hi ccm. I learned to swim that way in the 1980s. Mid 40s now and love the water, I swim in the river most days in summer. But I am not a strong swimmer, and I know my limits. My daughter just graduated from a swim programme, and my son will probably finish next year. We have invested a lot of money, they typically spend a term at each level. I can see the difference with their friends who are self/parent taught. The swim classes at the local pool are not as good – we started there. You are correct though, it is an inexpensive option thats better than not learning, but I disagee that 10 lessons is all you need. You get what you pay for.
      
      Here’s our programme.
      
      Level 1 – Beginners
      Water confidence, learning to put face under
      
      Level 2 – Confident
      Full submersion and learning to float
      
      Level 3 – Kicking
      Kicking and propulsion
      
      Level 4 – Stroking
      Kicking on front and back with breathing
      
      Level 5 – Rolling on back to breathe
      Stroking and breathing to 7m
      
      Level 6 – Freestyle (5 per class)
      Improvers up to 10m
      
      Level 7 – Improving technique (5 per class)
      Improvers up to 14m
      
      Level 8 – Improving distance (5 per class)
      Stroke Control and Personal Survival
      
      Level 9 – deep water survival and preparation for swim clubs .
      
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      November 24, 2025 10:42am
      - cmm
        
        I am not suggesting that 10 lessons is all you need to become a proficient swimmer.
        
        10 lessons is enough to learn to float/survive without panicking to the extent you can be saved. Level 2 on your programme.
        
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        November 24, 2025 12:25pm
  - OlderChas
    
    A few years back I broached the subject of my great grandies swimming prowess. Their mother confessed that she had been unable to afford the $60 – I think per term? (maybe year?) – for her twins at a primary school. When I asked why not let me know she said she was too proud to ask me for financial help with it. She got that help the next year. Point is – how on earth can a school be allowed to let a contractor teach kids to swim at a cost of $60 per pupil???? (Say – 20 kids in a class? That’s a nice little earner of $1200 PER CLASS per term. Multiply that by 3 or 4 classes, by 3 or 4 schools.) Back in the day – the PE teacher used to do it as part of their job.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:08pm
  - AitchW
    
    Once upon a time virtually every primary school in the country had a pool, and every kid was offered free swimming lessons.
    I believe that H&S requirements put an end to most school pools.
    The school I attended from form 2 was a private boarding school. On my second day there I, along with all the other new boys, was required to swim a length of the school pool. Anyone not competent was required to take swimming lessons, no exceptions, no excuses. Admittedly that was in the mid 70s….
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:52pm
    - RichardF
      
      My primary school had/still has a pool. I’m not sure about today’s nanny state, but back in the 80s and 90s you could get a key and use the pool for private use in the evening and weekends. As such we swam a lot.
      
      I ‘borrowed’ my father’s diving mask for the swimming sports at primary school one day. All was going well until I loaned it to a friend, who broke the mask diving in head first! I got a good kick up the arse for that.
      
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      November 24, 2025 4:44pm
- Conservatarian
  
  I guess several more millions in funding will fix it. As soon as the funds hit the bank account, the freestyle and breaststroke lessons will magically follow.
  
  Every time I’ve been to a public pool, the Maori kids are all performing endless “manus” (plural of “manu”) and other “bombs”. That seems to be the activity where their practical interest lies.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:53am
  - cmm
    
    Naah, millions will hardly be enough to gift it a Maori name.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:26pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  It is hard to see the barriers to children learning to swim. Aren’t these lessons free, or low cost? The only equipment required is swimming attire. $10 at the warehouse. And a towel.
  
  I was never a strong or confident swimmer but I went to lessons at school. So I swim. Because my parents told to do so. The teachers at school put me on a bus to the pool. I was not asked my opinion. Otherwise I would not have learned to swim.
  
  These reasons that Maori kids don’t learn to swim are called parents.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:57am
- imalwaysright
  
  It would be interesting to know how many of the people who drown could actually swim.
  
  Its also possible to swim yourself into trouble by underestimating currents and stamina, perhaps a couple of lessons on how to float and to not be embarrassed to call for help would be a bare minimum starting point.
  
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  November 24, 2025 8:57am
  - Local Miller
    
    A lot of NZ beaches have surf lifesaving groups over the weekend. If you play/swim between the flags you are much safer, and swimming at the beach is free.
    Yes, currents can be a problem, but you should be a strong enough swimmer with enough understanding by the time you’re going outside the flags to be able to swim confidently.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:20am
  - cmm
    
    “It would be interesting to know how many of the people who drown could actually swim.”
    
    Many can probably swim very poorly but still consider they can swim.
    
    Bottom line is that if you can tread water/float for 15 minutes you are going to survive in the sea in almost all circumstances other than being smashed to a pulp on rocks or such.
    
    The bigger problem is fresh water for three reasons:
    * fresh water is less dense, so there is less buoyancy making it harder to float in fresh water.
    * fresh water gets absorbed easily into blood, increasing drowning risks in fresh water.
    * currents etc in rivers will often cause lots of bubbles in the water – again reducing buoyancy and making it harder to swim.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:36am
- kowtow
  
  ‘Maori were supposed to have some natural affinity with the water.’
  
  Our Elites tell us they own it.
  
  btw if any parent wants their child to be a competent swimmer you have to put in the time and money ( unless you can do it yourself ) .
  
  School swimming lessons are a pointless box ticking exercise.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:24am
- grumpy
  
  If hardly anyone can swim anymore, why all the pearl clutching about “swimmable rivers”?
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:39am
- rjay
  
  My Mum always said “Don’t go in the water until you can swim”. Worked well for me.
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:51am
- G152
  
  Drowning will sadly answer this problem
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:03am
  - Quail
    
    Many school pools were closed because of H&S reasons and the fact teachers were liable and at times lazy,
    Don’t know if that is still the case,
    If so it is a real shame.
    School pools taught many to swim and saved lives in the process,
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:54am
- PurplePen
  
  What happened to the maori concept of whanau, the te ao and tikanga maori of whanau. You would have thought the extended family concept would take care of kids learning to swim in their rivers, sea and lakes just like they must have done for centuries.
  
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  November 24, 2025 11:20am
- Christopher Thomson
  
  I guess it comes down to what the schools prioritise.
  
  My local school (year 1-7) is giving every child an hours swimming a day for the next 2 weeks.
  
  What I do know is that they have a very high attendance.
  
  I thought all schools had swimming.
  
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  November 24, 2025 12:16pm
Simon

What the story National party? Replacing Luxon with Bishop? Luxon the woke out of touch CEO type with the ev driving boosted one?
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November 24, 2025 8:31am
- nathie
  
  Well we could always copy the MSM and create our own stories and continually push them ….
  
  Like for example how about HDPA is going to be rolled by Ryan Bridge for the ZB Drive show slot?
  
  I mean who would you rather have, HDPA who has been continually negative about the National Coalition since they won the election or Ryan Bridge who at least frequently puts the boot into Hipkins and Labour for wrecking the economy then pretending they had nothing to do with it, whilst continuing to advocate for more tax and spend and waste?
  
  How would you rather have, HDPA continually treating ZB’s senior political correspondent Barry Soper with contempt and talking over him (like a wife berating her husband … oh wait!) or Ryan Bridge who gives respect to one of NZ’s most experienced political commentators, who knows the politicians well enough to know when they are spinning porkies (unlike NZME’s gullible youngster reporters)?
  
  Time to “roll” HDPA ! 😉
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:28am
  - R
    
    Take her typewriter off her. Problem solved. Or tape across her mouth.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:55am
  - RoboRob
    
    Funny, thats not how I see HDPA. To me she comes accross as generally very pro this government and quite anti Labour. Sure she points out issues with policy and people, thats her job and not a bad thing in my opinion.
    
    Her job, and Ryans, is to give views and opinion. Not to be always pro National (or any other party).
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:15pm
    - Ghost
      
      She understands her job is to hold the government and politicians to account, and she does that, no matter who is in government. It’s why she is one of the few that is good at that job. Giving softball questions and not holding them to account is something people complained about in the Ardern years.
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:38pm
  - AitchW
    
    HDPA is funny! She and Soper give each other a hard time, but there’s no malice in it.
    She frequently puts the boot into the opposition, as does her husband. Her contempt for TPM is very obvious!
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:55pm
Yvette

Maori Party President John Tamihere has championed that the schism in the Party will be dealt will according to the ancient wisdom of tikanga. However …

Te Pāti Māori’s National Executive declined an invitation to attend the hui citing concerns around potential legal trouble – a move described as “extremely disheartening” and “insulting by hui organisers.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/579781/we-want-it-to-end-hui-on-te-pati-maori-schism
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November 24, 2025 8:38am
- pdm
  
  Is there any truth in the rumour that Ngapuhi are requesting that their Treaty Settlement is paid out immediately so they have enough funds on hand to support the Kapa-Kingi’s in court against the John Tamihere empire.
  
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  November 24, 2025 12:46pm
  - Paulus
    
    Nah ! Ngapuhi will continue to wait for as long as they can because with inflation the expect to get the maximum for the Taxpayers over the other Tribes.
    
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    November 24, 2025 2:43pm
Im Right

Ughhh parents should be teaching their kids water safety and the basics of how not to drown.
I’m pretty sure the % of parents who can’t swim (both) is pretty low in the age group that would have kids aged 4-10), so even one of them could teach at local pool, watering hole, beach.
But as mentioned above….it’s the governments fault for not dolling out more cash for swimming lessons at school.
Did I miss the new law/policy where parents give their responsibilities for their kid(s) safety to the government.
Seems like it
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November 24, 2025 8:50am
Vidar

The proposed Trump peace deal.

Comparing Trump to Chamberlain is beyond stupid and here’s why:

Russia isn’t losing. Ukraine isn’t winning.

Everyone pretending victory is “one more weapons package” away is living in a fantasy.

These morons genuinely think if we just give Ukraine another 12 F-16s, the whole war flips. It won’t.

Russia isn’t 1940s Germany and they’re not about to sweep across Europe. They can barely take a village. The only thing keeping this war going is pride and delusion.

On top of that, Hitler didn’t have 4,000 nuclear weapons. Putin does. Negotiating with a nuclear-armed stalemate isn’t appeasement, it’s harsh reality.

Trump’s trying to end a war everyone else is too scared to admit can’t be won on the battlefield.

The Chamberlain crowd needs to grow up.
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November 24, 2025 8:54am
- Taieri
  
  Comparing Trump to Chamberlain is beyond stupid
  ———
  
  It is indeed. What Trump’s “peace” plan is proposing is an unconditional capitulation of Ukraine. Does Ukraine really need a middleman to do that?
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:42am
  - Vidar
    
    If you think “capitulation” means anything short of Russia actually taking Kyiv, you don’t understand war, maps, or basic English, champ.
    
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    November 24, 2025 9:48am
    - Taieri
      
      Perhaps I don’t understand war, maps and basic English…
      But I understand one thing, an attacked country which, after an unprovoked aggression, resulting in losses of thousands of lives (many of them civilians) and severe damage to its infrastructure is now expected to also agree to the loss of one third of of its territory, some of it currently still under its control, and the loss of ability to make its own sovereign political decisions. In exchange it is offered a “peace” and unspecified security “guarantees”. As valid and effective as other “guarantees” offered to it in the past, no doubt.
      In the meantime, the aggressor is not only unpunished, it is not required to make any concessions at all and is to be rewarded for its acts.
      So, perhaps, there’s something that you don’t understand, champ…
      
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      November 24, 2025 11:02am
      - Vidar
        
        Can’t accept that countries lose war/ land.
        
        Name checks out.
        
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        November 24, 2025 12:21pm
  - kowtow
    
    ‘an unconditional capitulation’
    
    Not.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:08am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Taieri.
    
    You do understand that the 28 piece plan won’t actually happen. Its just the start of another round of Trumpy style negotiations.
    
    So the comparison of it to anything is just a momentous waste of mind and space
    
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    November 24, 2025 3:45pm
- kowtow
  
  Yes the Chamberlain insult is useful shorthand for ‘appeasement’ ( but in reality that’s as far as that goes ) as the war was allegedly fought to defeat Nazi aggression over Poland , but the Soviets took part in that inasion of Poland too and at the end despite being aggressors in Poland were allowed to keep most of their conquered territitories in central and eastern Europe. Accompanied by a genocide against German civilians and decades of the most appalling repression of the colonised and enslaved therein.
  
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  November 24, 2025 11:08am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Yes, Chamberlain and Munich ’38 is a shorthand for “appeasement” but it’s not useful, it’s dangerous.
    We are now living in an age where what should be careful political analysis of current events has been replaced by a bunch of lazy analogies and worn out political clichés about half remember history.
    
    Appeasement ! Appeasement of aggression only emboldens aggression! Appeasement!
    
    It’s stupid and dangerous.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:51am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Go back to yesterday and read the appropriate comments viz Russia invading Poland.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:21pm
  - Mike
    
    The UK declared war to stop Hitler’s Germany dominating Europe. The same reason as the UK had for declaring war, 25 years earlier, to stop Wilhelm’s Germany from dominating Europe.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:58pm
    - MCōs
      
      No quite
      WWII – UK declared war because Germany invaded Poland, which they had a defence treaty with. If not for the treaty Chamberlain may have chosen a different course.
      
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      November 24, 2025 5:47pm
      - Mike
        
        I beg to differ. A casus belli is not the same as a centuries-old policy of opposing French, Spanish, Russian or German domination of Europe.
        
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        November 24, 2025 6:51pm
  - MCōs
    
    Russia were allowed to keep most of their conquered territories because, if nothing else, there was nothing anyone could do to boot them out for the next fifty odd years
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:19pm
I remember when

Modern US politics.
It took 44 days for the politicians to agree federal funding, but viewing the Epstein files was agreed by both Houses in a single afternoon.
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November 24, 2025 9:09am
- MCōs
  
  Eventually
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:35am
- rangitoto
  
  Still no sign of the files.
  
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  November 24, 2025 1:54pm
  - Ghost
    
    Department of Justice has 30 days after trump signed the bill to release them. Any files that are part of ongoing investigations may not be released
    
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    November 24, 2025 2:12pm
    - rangitoto
      
      Bondi has already made sure they are sub judice. They will never be released under this admin
      
      4 2
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      November 24, 2025 2:29pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Why didnt Biden release them?
        Oh wait.
        ‘Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and the former president of Harvard University, said he’s stepping back from public life after his apparent conversations with Jeffrey Epstein were released last week by the House Oversight Committee.’
        https://abcnews.go.com/US/deeply-ashamed-larry-summers-steps-public-eye-after/story?id=127616923
        ‘Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the US Virgin Islands in Congress as a non-voting delegate, exchanged texts with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, the delegate’s office confirmed to CNN.’
        https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/14/politics/epstein-texts-stacey-plaskett
        More to come
        
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        November 24, 2025 3:09pm
    - Paulus
      
      But they need a lot more paper shredding machines first !
      
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      November 24, 2025 2:45pm
lifesgood

The Maorification of NZ continues at pace it seems. I bumped into an old friend on the weekend and he was fizzing at the bit. He works as a volunteer at the Maritime Museum Auckland. He said all volunteers were asked, not once but several times, to attend a Maori language course. He said most refused and good on them. Then he said that one of the most loved parts of the Museum, the colonial migration to NZ, is soon going to be ripped out in order to put in a classroom for school children. Seems the museum, like the War Memorial Museum, is trying to erase the European history of NZ. He was very angry about it all and I don’t blame him. Who are these morons running museums in this country and what is their agenda? Might be time to visit the museum before it’s too late and then don’t bother, I won’t be.
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November 24, 2025 9:31am
- kowtow
  
  There’s a similar stoush in the UK .
  
  The National Trust is woke as heck and is full on about ‘decolonising” pissing off its many volunteers and no doubt visitors .
  
  On that subject some of the Loons there are of the opinion that even the countryside is racist.
  
  The woke mind virus is everywhere.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:15am
  - cmm
    
    Heck, even the RNLI is DEI’d to the max.
    
    You would hope the RNLI would focus on its core business – running lifeboats that can go out in dangerous weather and do dangerous work.
    
    But no, they’re committed to DEI.
    
    Sorry mate, we can’t send a lifeboat out because there are not enough trannies and people in wheelchairs to make everyone feel included.
    
    https://rnli.org/support-us/volunteer/volunteer-zone/learning-wellbeing-and-benefits/equity-diversity-and-inclusion
    
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    November 24, 2025 1:06pm
- nigel2010
  
  just remember we had a woke US director of the Auckland WAR Memorial Museum who for years refused to allow the Bomber command memorial statue as they apparently had no room ,the statue is 1m x 1/2m. in her infinite wisdom she thought the War Memorial Museum was just a museum so yes we have morons running the museums
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:16am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Lets not forget the defacement of the Treaty exhibit at Te Papa that was allowed to be on display for months bas the staff tried to “work out how to fix it”.
    
    That was clearly TePapa taking part in activism.
    
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    November 24, 2025 10:33am
- Burtland
  
  control the narrative and brainwash the kids …
  
  every TV show, every government dept now pushes DEI, even the TV ads – dumb whitey is the target …. and its got worse under woke national
  
  Goldsmith sits through a verbal lashing at the music awards – he should know better and have walked out
  
  https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360869890/you-know-better-boos-and-lectures-culture-minister-music-awards
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:34am
  - Mike
    
    He’s saving his energy for writing more hagiographiea when he leaves the cabinet.
    
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    November 24, 2025 1:02pm
  - R
    
    Imagine the MSM headlines if Goldsmith had walked out! He is much too mature to make such a childish gesture; which it would appear is more than can be said for elements of the audience
    
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    November 24, 2025 1:32pm
  - MCōs
    
    Right wing politicians are always going to be on shaky ground at occasions such as that and PM in waiting Chris Bishop didn’t help much with his behaviour at an earlier music awards show
    If a Labour MP had said something was a load of crap at farmer of the year knees-up they might have soured the atmosphere for future left wing MPs too
    https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360709909/chris-bishop-wont-apologise-calling-stan-walker-performance-crap
    
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    November 24, 2025 2:49pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Goldsmith is ‘right wing’?
      Who knew
      
      MCos using that probably shows why the phrase is meaningless today. Except as a petty smear from the left.
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:04pm
    - NoFax
      
      Where are these right-wing politicians in New Zealand that I keep hearing about? I cannot find them anywhere.
      
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      November 24, 2025 3:35pm
      - MCōs
        
        National is typically described as a centre right political party. I don’t think there’s much argument with that description except from the angry fringes.
        
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        November 24, 2025 5:38pm
I remember when

One in five Kiwis are of Maori descent:
The Maori population count is almost 1 million – an increase of 12.5% to 978,246 up from 869,850 in the 2018 Census.
So 19.6% of population have Maori whakapapa, while those who affiliate with Maori as an ethnic group is 17.8%.
While one in five are Maori, almost one in three under 25 are Maori.

I wonder what percentage of the 19.6% can also whakapapa back to English, Irish or Scottish, for example.
The 2023 Census recorded approx 67.8% of the population as European, being the largest ethnic group.

However, again, what percentage of the New Zealand population can whakapapa back European descent?
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November 24, 2025 9:31am
- grumpy
  
  Good point. With so few full Maori left you could guess that over 90% of Maori whakapapa back to European,
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:07am
- cmm
  
  If it came to those that actually had a reasonably pure ethnicity and a reasonably robust culture (eg. people can actually speak a language), then no doubt the various Chinese and Indian groups would leave Maori in the dust.
  
  Heck, there are probably even more people that can speak Afrikaans fluently than Maori.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:21am
  - slijmbal
    
    There were some attempts made to estimate truly 100% pure Maori blood – no idea how realistic the studies were and too lazy to look them up again – the number was 1,000. These ‘studies’ tend to be festooned with all sorts of assumptions that are educateed guesses so the likelihood of the number being accurate is low – however, the magnitude is probably in the ball park.
    
    By implication ~ 999,000 ‘Maori’ have non-Maori ethnicity.
    
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    November 24, 2025 11:35am
    - AitchW
      
      Apparently Orini Kaipara is 100% Maori, no other DNA at all.
      This was announced on a TV programme some time ago before she was publicly aiming for a seat in the house.
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/native-affairs-newsreader-oriini-kaipara-identified-as-full-blooded-maori-via-dna-test/UPCQGMYP4O37L4W4WRVNZ32PN4/
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:58pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Even with European ancestors she managed to get full maori status.
        
        Go figure.
        
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        November 24, 2025 2:42pm
      - AitchW
        
        CT, I guess the vagaries of DNA’s mixing and melding make it possible, however I’d have thought very, very, very unlikely.
        
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        November 24, 2025 5:42pm
  - cmm
    
    My biggest customer is an international company. The American CEO is the most woke person you could ever hope to meet and loves everything ethnic – no matter what.
    
    When he came to NZ on his first trip they decided to lay on a “genuine Maori welcome” for him where he was greeted with all the nose rubbing etc and was given a wooden Maori artefact to commemorate his visit.
    
    The biggest problem that although the NZ office had some Maori employees, none of them could speak the lingo and none knew Maori protocol. Eventually they found two employees that could do the job: A Pom and a South African who knew more Maori than the rest of the company put together. So the Pom and South African gave the “genuine Maori welcome”.
    
    Oh, the Maori carving? That was made by a Dutch-born employee on his bandsaw in his garage at home.
    
    Still, the CEO went home delighted with his genuine ethnic experience and the Maori carving stands on a pedestal outside his office.
    
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    November 24, 2025 12:58pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “One in five Kiwis are of Maori descent.”
  
  99.99% of Maori are of European descent.
  
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  November 24, 2025 10:36am
- Taieri
  
  The Maori population count is almost 1 million – an increase of 12.5% to 978,246 up from 869,850 in the 2018 Census
  ————
  
  That would require a total fertility rate of 2.7 per woman over 7 years (from 2018 to 2025).
  But in 2024 the total fertility rate for Maori women was only 2.19 per woman.
  
  Something doesn’t match here…
  
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  November 24, 2025 11:09am
  - cmm
    
    They are coming out of the woodwork…
    No doubt many could not be bothered to claim their Maori heritage. Now there are more incentives to do so.
    
    3 2
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    November 24, 2025 12:20pm
    - Fender
      
      Exactly anyone with school age kiddies would be wise to sign on, there may come a time in your child’s life career choice that will tilt the scales of getting into a course or career for starters or some medical attention.
      There is no harm in being covered for all eventualitys
      
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      November 24, 2025 12:28pm
  - Taieri
    
    To downticker(s):
    I quoted official statistics in my comment.
    
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    November 24, 2025 1:16pm
- kowtow
  
  How many ‘Maoris” failed to complete their census return.
  
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  November 24, 2025 12:14pm
  - AitchW
    
    A more pertinent question is how many failed to complete their census return but someone else completed it for them?
    Or edited once they gave it in an unsealed envelope to a representative of the Manurewa Marae.
    Tamihere Inc should have those numbers….
    
    4 1
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    November 24, 2025 1:01pm
  - cmm
    
    The taxpayer failed to hand out enough KFC.
    
    4 2
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    November 24, 2025 1:10pm
    - MCōs
      
      I’ll have one of those, please
      Where are they handed out for future reference?
      
      0 0
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      November 24, 2025 5:23pm
  - MCōs
    
    I expect all those sovereign citizens turn their noses up at such requirements.
    Plus
    I distinctly remember someone on this very forum writing that they would not be completing a census form.
    I expect there are a lot of people very distrustful of any agent of the state demanding personal information.
    
    1 2
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    November 24, 2025 2:20pm
    - kowtow
      
      But that’s not the point of this thread is it.
      We’re talking Maori percentages , not The King and I or Siamese Cats or twins.
      
      2 0
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      November 24, 2025 3:43pm
  - Paulus
    
    Can’t in short time get the figures but somethong in the order od Maori called people was around 79%.
    I may well be wrong, but didn’t the Chief of Stats get the DCM for his many years part in suspect figures.
    But fear not there is no going to be another public Census so Maori numbers will grow very exponentially.
    
    2 0
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    November 24, 2025 2:55pm
- Paulus
  
  But I still have not been told who is a Maori as we are told officially the last one was in 1960.
  Polynesian perhaps along with the others and trhese came from the Cooks Islands recently.
  
  2 0
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  November 24, 2025 2:49pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    One of my aunties was a full blooded Maori – Tuhoe. She died in 1972. My father’s oldest brother (pakeha) married her around 1914.
    
    1 0
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    November 24, 2025 3:25pm
- NoFax
  
  In the future, I suspect Maori will just be a synonym for New Zealander – we’ll all be Maori. While some may say I have no Maori ancestors, my family tikanga says otherwise.
  
  1 1
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  November 24, 2025 3:38pm
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  When writing English, is there a difference between “whakapapa back to A”, and “of A descent” (or similar)? Unless someone happens to be a fluent Maori speaker flailing to express themselves in English, why the need for this?
  
  So far I can tell “whakapapa” expresses absolutely nothing that can’t be expressed perfectly well in English. But maybe I’m wrong?
  
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  November 24, 2025 9:10pm
Burtland

Marxist CTU economist Craig Renny slides into Wellington Bays Electorate contention with Labour
– adviser to Robertson and the wreck he created, will he become the next Finance Minister?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/579750/labour-selects-ctu-economist-craig-renney-as-wellington-bays-candidate
14 1
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November 24, 2025 9:54am
- rouppe
  
  If I were a conspiracy theorist I’d look at the boundary changes and think there’s been some boundary jerrymandering.
  1. Ohariu, which labour won by just 1000 votes, now includes porirua which is as red as red can be.
  2. The blue-voting North Eastern part of the old mana electorate (papakowhai, aotea, whitby, paremata, cambourne) has had half of it carved out and put in the new kapiti electorate, which voted blue by a fair bit anyway.
  
  Just coincidence, I’m sure.
  
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  November 24, 2025 4:59pm
imalwaysright

It turns out that Ardern didn’t do a runner because she had “nuffink left in the tenk”, it was because:

“She added: “It wasn’t the right place to spend my energy. I couldn’t unshackle that.”

So the energy level was fine. Maybe she just got bored…?

Warning, contains images many will find disturbing:

Jacinda Ardern likens experience of politics to Nicola Sturgeon’s – BBC News https://share.google/3HOZP0HlHZAP5Yvoi
11 3
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November 24, 2025 9:56am
- nathie
  
  Thanks for the warning! Don’t want the start the week with “those images” lingering!
  
  Seriously though, and going by what you are saying, is Ardern seriously comparing herself the the lying, manipulative and now discredited Sturgeon?
  
  If so, her delusions seem to be getting worse with time!
  
  13 2
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  November 24, 2025 10:42am
- kowtow
  
  Gosh , drawing parallel’s to that Scottish woman’s political career is dangerous , given Sturgeon’s hubbie’s controversies .
  
  Having said that I see NZME herald had a pointless but hagiographic piece in yesterday’s rag sheet placing Climate Emergency Cindy in London at some fashion event .
  Amazing how much there is in that “tenk” for carbon emissions , jetting around with the jet set.
  
  13 2
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  November 24, 2025 11:01am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Don’t forget Sturgeons request that all primary school children in Scotland be asked about their sexual preferences.
    
    6 2
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    November 24, 2025 11:32am
- cmm
  
  We were always just an inconvenient stepping-stone on her quest for international status and power.
  
  8 2
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  November 24, 2025 12:17pm
  - muzled
    
    100%
    
    Brand Jacinda was, is, and only ever will be about about her brand.
    
    She couldn’t believe her luck when the stars aligned for her to become fearless leader of te commy party.
    
    9 2
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    November 24, 2025 2:10pm
  - artemisia
    
    Important to look ahead before aging out of Socialist Youth.
    
    4 0
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    November 24, 2025 3:17pm
- kowtow
  
  WTF and hard on the heels is another hagiographic from nzme on her today .
  
  It has all the hallmarks of a deliberate heavily promoted PR campaign .
  
  What’s going on ?
  
  6 1
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  November 24, 2025 12:50pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    This is promoting her to the UN Sec Gen job.
    
    3 0
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    November 24, 2025 8:06pm
- AitchW
  
  “I couldn’t unshackle that”?
  That women could word salad for England!
  
  6 0
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  November 24, 2025 1:02pm
imalwaysright

Still waiting to see if Coster gets charged or we get charged.
6 3
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November 24, 2025 11:10am
Philview

She is clearly a narcissist but by her own admission a kind one. She is going to be on Graham Norton in a couple of weeks to talk about her greatness and her humility.
11 4
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November 24, 2025 11:15am
- Don Beckett
  
  Yes, I never realised what a wonderfully humble person Jacinda was, until she told us.
  
  7 1
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  November 24, 2025 3:28pm
Swifty

We talk about AI being indistinguishable from a person, but look at how robotics are going:

https://x.com/ianonpatriot/status/1992586214017499455?s=46

Where’s it going to be in just 25 or 50 years?
4 1
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November 24, 2025 11:44am
Swifty

“Hate the non-believers and do not take them as your friends.”

https://x.com/row_haastrup/status/1992504335528558916?s=46

Just what NZ needs, more of these people.

I wonder to what degree this is being preached in NZ mosques too?
5 3
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November 24, 2025 12:04pm
- Mike
  
  Perhaps you could visit some and report back.
  
  4 10
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  November 24, 2025 1:05pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Mike do educate yourself. Listening to the wishful thinking of other lefties talking sh*t about this subject doesn’t cut it.
    
    BEST EVER PRESENTATION OF THE HISTORY OF ISLAM — In 15 Minutes :
    https://youtu.be/4lAMy1Z88uI?si=MPvgsFbvxs5bcFmh
    
    1 1
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    November 24, 2025 7:56pm
    - MCōs
      
      The history of Islam in 15min for the fast food generation
      
      1 0
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      November 24, 2025 9:57pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Yet accurate.
        
        0 1
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        November 26, 2025 9:40pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Do you want to give an exact source for
  “Hate the non-believers and do not take them as your friends” ?
  
  3 0
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  November 24, 2025 3:08pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Koran?
    
    0 0
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    November 24, 2025 5:55pm
imalwaysright

Are the All Blacks the most expensive Kapa Haka group in the world?
18 4
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November 24, 2025 12:12pm
- MCōs
  
  Seeing as you put it that way – probably not.
  There’s the NZDF and the NZ Police
  
  3 0
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  November 24, 2025 9:51pm
Nikola Donatello

From those who brought you “across the motu” the latest trend….

“Any patai?”
4 3
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November 24, 2025 12:14pm
- AitchW
  
  Another example of a Maori word being inserted into an English sentence where it is an exact translation of an English word.
  Pidgin is closer every day.
  
  5 0
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  November 24, 2025 1:04pm
- lifesgood
  
  What the hell is that?
  
  4 0
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  November 24, 2025 1:19pm
- muzled
  
  Pad Thai?
  
  3 0
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  November 24, 2025 2:14pm
  - Yabster
    
    the best patai is in the kitchen….
    
    1 0
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    November 24, 2025 3:25pm
Ghost

Discharged without conviction so it doesn’t interfere with her desire to join the Aussie army. Little …… couldn’t even say sorry and take responsibility for her actions.

“The word ‘sorry’ would have gone a long way,” a judge has told a woman whose driving on the way home from Rhythm and Vines caused a crash that killed her friend.

On New Year’s Day last year, Jasmine May Donaldson and Jade Nicole Richards were travelling back to Rotorua from Gisborne after spending four days at the music festival.

Article
5 1
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November 24, 2025 12:49pm
- cmm
  
  I can understand this is extremely emotional for everyone involved, but in my opinion all these girls are equally culpable – including the one that died.
  
  They all got into the car together – all tired and all willing to take the risks.
  
  I think the claim that the 20 year old has been working towards an Army career since she was 13 sounds a bit sketchy. If she was really that much into the Army then why didn’t she join at the minimum age of 17?
  
  5 4
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  November 24, 2025 1:20pm
cmm

Oops… another sleazy cop!

Damn, rebuilding public confidence is getting harder and harder…

Sprinkle “alleged” to taste.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360896958/senior-auckland-detective-faces-criminal-investigation-over
5 0
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November 24, 2025 1:24pm
Colville

and in rugby…

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360896828/england-rugby-star-tom-curry-described-bully-after-clash-argentina-coach-tunnel

English flanker (Curry )either pushes or hits (yoiu decide) Pumas coach in the tunnel after a late tackle that forced player from the field and left Pumas a man down for the last minutes of the game and Coach and Curry had words.

Steve Borthwick, legendary meatheaded English coach, defends Curry despite not seeing the incident and describes Curry’s character as “unquestionable”

Yeah its unquestionable. 2 previous redcards in tests and a 2 game ban.
5 0
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November 24, 2025 1:27pm
Ghost

The feud gets a new twist

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s office provided Stuff with a redacted email, which it said showed Parliamentary Service confirming that her office spending came in under budget.

The emails showed her staff asking Parliamentary Service to confirm if she had “underspent” her budget for the second year of the term. The staffer received a reply saying, “Mariameno came in [redacted] underspend in her y2 budget!”.

Stuff understands the underspend was by just $1, meaning her office was on budget for the year.

Article
6 0
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November 24, 2025 2:44pm
- muzled
  
  oooh la la, pop corn please!
  
  If that’s correct, it might just well be the straw that sinks teflon Johnny T.
  
  5 0
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  November 24, 2025 3:51pm
- Ghost
  
  This looks like it is getting more interesting, people are cancelling their membership.
  
  Article
  
  Former co-leaders and presidents of Te Pāti Māori have signed a letter saying they want to salvage the divided party and are not prepared to walk away, according to a letter obtained exclusively by 1News, as supporters cancel memberships.
  
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  November 24, 2025 7:47pm
MCōs

Should have thought of that earlier, but I don’t think it was on this guy’s radar
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQpd644k8gv/?igsh=MWhra2x6ZWJmNjQydQ==
0 0
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November 24, 2025 4:34pm
rouppe

Run It Straight goes to the USA.

But the demographic hasn’t changed.
1 0
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November 24, 2025 4:44pm
- MCōs
  
  Those people look different to the guy who killed in NZ awhile ago.
  The organised competition in NZ had a top prize of $219k which is probably an attraction if you’re a huge Polynesian who could do with the money
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360703223/teen-dies-after-impromptu-runit-style-game
  
  1 0
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  November 24, 2025 5:13pm
cmm

Chris Bishop says Far North is among the biggest winners n the new government housing plan.

I am not surprised. Far North is always the winner from government hand outs.

Far North puts very little into the pot, but they consistently extract the most welfare. They are always benefiting from a socialist tax system.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/far-north-among-biggest-winners-in-new-govt-housing-plan-chris-bishop/BZXMAWJRSRCXFDQEPTQZAV3YGY/
5 2
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November 24, 2025 5:55pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360897441/asbestos-sand-warning-two-more-products-test-positive

Nobody is saying it : this is just typical Chinese shit that they sell in exchange for our quality food, advanced technology and desirable residency.

Why do we put up with $299 ovens, $199 freezers, untold crap plastic “toys”, crap Christmas decorations, indescribable “food” products” ?

Let us be rid of Chinese rubbish.

Time to stop.
6 4
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November 24, 2025 6:37pm
- Ghost
  
  So this is your last post because you will no longer be using any technology that has Chinese parts in them.
  
  Bye then
  
  5 1
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  November 24, 2025 6:46pm
Jack5

Australian Senator Pauline Hanson has shut down the Senate for an hour and a half after wearing a burqua into the Chamber.

This is repeat of what she did in 2017, also causing a ruckus.

In her latest protest, she was kicked out of the Senate for the rest of the day.

She is campaigning for burquas and face coverings to be banned in Australia.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-24/senate-suspended-after-pauline-hansons-burka-stunt/106047124

And:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15320079/pauline-hanson-burqa-senate-parliament.html
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November 24, 2025 10:55pm

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