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January 1, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 01 January 2026

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General Debate

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Scott

Bill Maher rips on liberals for basing their whole personality on opposition to Trump –

https://youtu.be/-iklZqqLoeI?si=SskezJQLZKx_99_q

I agree with this. For my part I hope that one day people on the right here will give Trump credit for his policies and his courage to take on issues. Here in NZ we have a very partisan press, we have mass immigration, we have had soft on crime policies, we have a vociferous minority wanting bi culturalism and cogovernance. We have an anemic economy and high unemployment and a loss of confidence in ourselves.

In America Trump is trying to do something about those issues in his own country. The border is closed. Two million people have self deported or been deported by the authorities. The media has been confronted, investment has come into the country in the billions of dollars.

Those policies are good. I don’t care about Trump’s personality. I care about the policies of the West and the free world. And America is leading the way again. We could learn a lot from the example of the USA.
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January 1, 2026 8:10am
- NothingLeft
  
  Give credit for the good stuff, but also criticize him for the bad. Of which there is a growing pile, most worryingly that his family appears to be massively on the take from Russia and other bad actors – via purchase of Truth Social by a Russian controlled fusion research firm Tri Alpha Energy and their crypto currency ventures.
  
  Ask why Trump admin has been quietly cancelling sanctions on various Russian ventures and individuals.
  
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  January 1, 2026 6:31pm
  - Scott
    
    Nothing – surely we are not reviving Russia, Russia, Russia? Please tell me we’re not going down that rabbit hole? Again!!?? 😵
    
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    January 1, 2026 8:32pm
Cassandra

IKEA has its signs in English and Maori. Whoever did the Maori can’t spell but that’s not the point. The real point is the extent to which woke has invested this country. Not a single person shopping at IKEA reads Maori only. Most of its customers read English. Some of its customers can’t read either English or Maori. This mania for bilingual signage, carried to an extreme by city councils. It is totally performative.
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January 1, 2026 8:11am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  IKEA misspelled coffee as kāfe, instead of kawhe.
  
  It’s unclear to me why the missionaries did not include the letter ‘f’ in their creation of the written Maori language, when clearly the way Northern Maoris spoke ‘wh’ sounded like ‘f’, which would have been much simpler to incorporate into the language.
  
  Unless of course the way Northern Maori speak has changed. ‘Wh’ as ‘f’ only makes sense if the ‘wh’ in Whangarei was pronounced in the way ‘wh’ in ‘whale’ is pronounced. But, I’d suggest that a pakeha suggesting this would not be well regarded.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:29am
- Nukuleka
  
  Such organisations, be they commercial or governmental, see it as their role to educate us, the unwashed masses. They have hitched their star to some sort of divine cult that believes that by instructing the plebs in the sacred language of te reo, Aotearoa will magically return to the pre- colonial world wherein the lion lay down with the lamb, where crime was unknown, where educational achievement and scientific knowledge were of the highest order and tikanga governed this peaceful and idyllic South Seas paradise.
  
  Pass me the sick bucket.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:30am
  - Cassandra
    
    I don’t think it’s anything like that at all. IKEA doesn’t want to rock any boats. There’s no belief or principle here, just fear of getting offside. A bit like the National Party.
    
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    January 1, 2026 8:36am
    - Philview
      
      I recall some discussion last year that Ikea had complex cultural negotiations with multiple Iwi to get their store here. I wonder what the obligations are and the costs involved.
      
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      January 1, 2026 8:54am
    - I remember when
      
      RMA consultation requirement?
      
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      January 1, 2026 10:40am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    If they had said “Yes sorry we spelt the sign wrong. We will fix it.”, that would have been the correct response.
    
    But no they announced a commitment to “strengthening our understanding of the Maori world view.”
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360919925/ikea-says-it-will-correct-errors-te-reo-maori-signs
    
    It is beyond absurd. Why does Ikea need to understand the Maori world view? Well they don’t. It is all performative.
    
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    January 1, 2026 8:47am
    - Mike
      
      They do it to appeal to their customers. If customers disapprove, no one will force them to buy Ikea’s products.
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:16am
      - Cassandra
        
        No they don’t. It’s to avoid criticism by the commentators and Maori zealots. IKEA customers aren’t there for woke BS.
        
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        January 1, 2026 12:39pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Nonsense. It has nothing to do with the customers.
        
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        January 1, 2026 12:56pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        In Aus they don’t annoy customers with needless woke BS. Even in woke, broke and corrupt Victoria.
        
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        January 2, 2026 5:49pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      Because they know they’ll be punished by a bunch of virtue signallers and a compliant media if they don’t kowtow to the woke point of view. They’re simply protecting their investment from a hailstorm of manufactured outrage.
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:23am
    - yobi
      
      Most likely it is to do with council consent. It is my understanding that quite a bit of koha has been paid for the building to be built and I’m sure that the consultancy fee for the maori scribbles would have been eyewatering.
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:30am
    - Ian
      
      If they were committed to understanding the Maori world view, then all their staff would have to be on board as well. Bet if you ask any of the shop floor staff, they wouldn’t have a clue. I also wonder if Ikea at home in Sweden are also committed to the Sami world view? In Australia, are Ikea committed to the Aboriginal world view?
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:31am
      - leoj
        
        Excellent observation.
        
        Our maori are experts at grifting.
        
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        January 1, 2026 1:06pm
    - pdm
      
      Two impertinent questions:
      
      1. Why didn’t they do their signage in English and Swedish?
      2. Is it possible that there are more New Zealanders able to read Swedish than Maori in New Zealand?
      
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      January 1, 2026 10:14am
      - RoboRob
        
        Unlikely.
        
        However I must say signs in Swedish would be appropriate and kinda cool. Like going to Akoroa and having all the street names in French, it’s location appropriate. IKEA missed a step here.
        
        Oh and yeah, the Maori is about not ruffling feathers as is the PR departments apology for the mis spelling. Nothing more. IKEA couldn’t give a shit about Maori culture or NZ culture, they just want to sell us stuff.
        
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        January 1, 2026 10:30am
    - KH
      
      Ikea has just learned the golden rule. If you do anything maori, you will find you are doing it wrong. You will need to apologise. And you will be reminded of your place.
      Especially if you have not paid enough.
      
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      January 1, 2026 12:04pm
- kowtow
  
  Their advertising refers to NZ as the “A” place.
  
  Woke tossers.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:45am
- G152
  
  Cant understand dont buy.
  Should sort that one out
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:51am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  I saw that report, talk about a screw up! I wonder if the text was “gifted” to them. If so it was by someone very unaware of the language.
  Regarding the ubiquity of signs with both languages, and other similar incursions into our society. I have observed that, in general, recent immigrants are fervent believers because they have arrived into a country that has, apparently, always been operating with bilingual signs, and workplace karakia, etc etc so that for them it is normal. Unlike we silvertops, they haven’t seen the rise and rise of the adoption of a new religion.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:56am
- Inandout
  
  Cass, want a job at Ikea?
  
  ‘Be part of the IKEA whānau – where belonging, growth, and great design come together.
  
  Now it’s your turn to help assemble our story in Aotearoa’.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:57am
- Yvette
  
  Cassandra, is it similar to the Maori language now so glibly presented on State television that it now is in some examples being mispronounced, while the body of important information, the actual new item is in English.
  So, likewise, are the IKEA assembly instructions of any of their items in Maori language?
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:06am
- Paulus
  
  All the more reason not to bother with them as am sure I can find whatever I wan’t elsewhere not in perspicacious Maori, of which I and many million others are tiring.
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:06am
  - Debsta
    
    Agreed Paulus, I shall not cross their threshold now I know that.
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:15am
- Simon
  
  Just wait until you work out how much Maori pay into the system and take out of the system.
  
  Poverty and addiction affect Maori disproportionately. Support govt efforts to reduce this in the Maori community but hiding the problem isn’t good. Bringing in hundreds of thousands of low wage third world to address the massive imbalance is failure of the system.
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:13am
- Jimbo666
  
  Bunnings had maori words on their shelves but they have quietly disappeared over time.
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:21am
  - Paulus
    
    Was I wrong in noting that St John yesterday somewhere in the media had dropped the Maori name – so I may re subscribe if that is correct if not no way until it does.
    
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    January 2, 2026 3:33pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  If the English had a spelling mistake, no-one would give a crap. Someone would let them know, the sign would be fixed, and life would go on – but just because it’s a spelling mistake in Maori some people have to get their panties in a bunch and make it a front page news story. Of course if they had to translate hundreds of signs from English into Swedish their results would be perfect /s
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:34am
- artemisia
  
  Wellington has a strategy to be a bilingual city by 2040. So far it seems to be the main lot with any sort of strategy – if it can be called that, see physical signage and the website – and IM(NS)HO it is not working apart from wasting ratepayer money on the shakedown.
  
  ‘Not So Humble’ because I have Maori heritage, learned the language enough to get by, worked for years in the Maori sector and seen plenty of grift.
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:47am
  - cmm
    
    I really don’t mind if Wellingtonians spend all their surplus cash on pro-Maori activities.
    
    Just leave the taxpayers’ wallets out of it.
    
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    January 1, 2026 10:01am
  - pdm
    
    Former Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazelhurst had an agenda to change the name of Hastings by stealth.
    
    Heretaunga Hastings is now splattered on internal City Signage and Council vehicles.
    
    I am in no doubt that new Mayor Wendy Schollum is tarred with the same brush.
    
    Mayor Schollum this can only be done by referendum.
    
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    January 1, 2026 10:18am
    - RoboRob
      
      Same with every other city in the country. The weather presenters on TV refer to places by their Maori name first and metservice.com lists only in Maori until you actually click a city. Many of these cities never even had a Maori settlement. Would Ngai Tahu like us to come and invent and English name for their IWI?
      
      The same strategy is also in play with …
      Aoteroa NZ
      Aoraki / Mount Cook *
      Whakaari / White Island *
      
      * Even Wikipedia lists them like this.
      
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      January 1, 2026 10:37am
      - MCōs
        
        Aoraki/Mount Cook & Whakaari/White Island are their official names dating back almost thirty years
        
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        January 1, 2026 12:28pm
      - pdm
        
        mcos dating back 30 years hardly makes a name official.
        
        White Island has been White Island and Mount Cook, Mount Cook all of my 79 plus years.
        
        Longevity counts.
        
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        January 1, 2026 2:10pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        I knew the Maori names for Mt. Cook and White Island when I was at Te Puke Primary School in the late 1940’s – early 1950’s.
        Obviously they weren’t controversial then, and not well known outside of the regions where they were – it’s only since everything Maori has started to be shoved down our throats.
        
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        January 1, 2026 3:13pm
      - Jack5
        
        Ideally, there could be dual use of place names in NZ: Maori names when speaking or writing Maori, but English versions of names when speaking or writing English.
        
        However, the international power of the English language will carry the day completely. About 1.53 billion people in the world speak English.
        
        About 225,000 to 250,000 people can hold an everyday conversation in Maori language. That’s less than 5 per cent of NZ’s people.
        
        Switzerland, with four official languages, seems to use the place names accepted by locals in the area.
        
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        January 1, 2026 4:00pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @jack5
        
        About 225,000 to 250,000 people can hold an everyday conversation in Maori language.
        
        Those figure needs to have 3 zeros removed.
        
        An “everyday conversation” is very conditional on who and what. Everyday also includes business and employment, for those that actually work.
        
        99.999% of businesses and technology cannot use Maori as everyday encompassing conversations.
        
        The one exception is all those Tamihere trusts.
        
        🙂
        
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        January 1, 2026 5:40pm
    - Paulus
      
      Why is it that it is the women who particulaly favour everything Maori when they have no real idea of the language, like most so called Maori, or think they know the Kulture.
      
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      January 1, 2026 12:45pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Although one has to wonder why HB places – Hastings, Napier, Clive are named after Poms who were parties to the subjugation of India 300 years ago. Not really part of “our history” ….
      
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      January 1, 2026 7:28pm
- NeonTeepee
  
  I wonder how many of the so-called misspelt maori words would mean anything to an 1840s era Maori. Cafe?
  
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  January 1, 2026 10:22am
- leoj
  
  Thanks Cass.
  You saved me a trip to IKEA.
  My 2026 resolution is pass on doing business with woke retailers.
  National has done f#*k all to stop the maori wave.
  
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  January 1, 2026 12:58pm
  - artemisia
    
    There was a good deal of ‘consultation’ required of IKEA. It is easy to imagine they were asked for a lot and decided it was cheaper to agree than enter into confrontation.
    
    Suspect the signage will look different, quietly, over time.
    
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    January 1, 2026 4:40pm
- Ra Henare
  
  A truly bilingual Country (Canada) addresses the problem IMHO in a sensible way.
  
  In predominately Englisg speaking Provinces Like BC and Albert. Signs in Commercial premises are in English. In French aligned Canada like Quebec signs are in French.
  
  Federal buildings of course have bilingual signage.
  
  On that basis. Northland and the East Coast and BOP could host bilingual signs, the rest of the Country could stick with English only.
  
  But, sigh, wokeism and virtue signalling are still rampant in the land of the long white cloud (and Xmas storms)
  
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  January 1, 2026 1:22pm
  - cmm
    
    Canada is not really “truly Bilingual”.
    
    To get a government job requires good French. Your English can suck.
    
    It is a bit broken to compare Canada with NZ. The vast majority of people with Canadian French ethnicity speak French as their preferred language. The vast majority of Maori people can’t communicate in Maori.
    
    I lived in a multi-lingual society in South Africa. There they use English and Afrikaans as the main languages for signs etc. That even holds for places like Kwa-Zulu Natal where the vast majority of people speak Zulu.
    
    https://www.seniorservice.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KZN-image.jpg
    
    Regardless, language choice on signs etc should be about communication – not virtue signaling.
    
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    January 1, 2026 4:16pm
    - Paulus
      
      To a real French person the French as used in Canada is of a very poor if not ignorant standard generally.
      It’s Canadian French !
      
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      January 2, 2026 3:38pm
- ISeeRed
  
  I knew I’d never be a customer after I heard their pretentious Maorified ads on the radio before their opening.
  
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  January 1, 2026 1:36pm
Chuck Bird

I am unsure who is in the right. I tend to think the organiations should supply names.

Israel warns it will suspend several aid groups operating in Gaza

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/israel-warns-it-will-suspend-several-aid-groups-operating-in-gaza/M2QL4PRTGNDVRG75ZU4OMUDQ2I/
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January 1, 2026 8:26am
- CJames
  
  Google finds out quickly
  https://apnews.com/article/gaza-humanitarian-aid-suspension-israel-ec535cea548ddc75080f1e6bffe53801
  The big ones I think is Doctors without Borders (MSF), Caritas and World Vision. I believe MSF ran some hospitals that had Hamas embedded in them so that could explain Israels antipathy to them.
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:43am
  - CJames
    
    There was this supporting my memory
    https://www.lawandisrael.org/wp-content/uploads/Topics/Gaza/2023-Conflict/Evidence/Doctors-Without-Borders-NGO-Monitor.pdf
    The hospitals might not have been run by MSF but their staff worked in them, apparently without noticing Hamas were there.
    
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    January 1, 2026 8:47am
    - Paulus
      
      Doctors are not stupid, but MSF do a great job ingnoring much crap around them.
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:08am
    - MCōs
      
      NGO Monitor are far from unbiased. They were once blacklisted by Associated Press, who you also reference
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:18am
      - RoboRob
        
        You think AP is unbiased?
        
        https://www.allsides.com/news-source/associated-press-media-bias
        
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        January 1, 2026 10:38am
      - CJames
        
        They might be biased as you claim, but are their facts wrong? And what news media isn’t biased?Who do you believe are absolutely correct in their facts and they deliver them imparially?
        
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        January 1, 2026 10:39am
  - Ra Henare
    
    MSF refute the Israeli accusation.
    
    But looking slightly beneath the surface, one can see the Machiavellian hand of a Mr Netanyahu. IMHO.
    
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    January 1, 2026 1:25pm
- MCōs
  
  This article has a list of the suspended aid groups; the inference being they are a cover for terrorist activity, I suppose
  https://aje.io/49m52j
  
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  January 1, 2026 8:49am
  - Cassandra
    
    There’s good evidence that many aid organisations were/are infiltrated. I imagine Shin Bet has agents in there too. Providing the names of staff seems to be sensible. I’m surprised MSF isn’t doing so. Perhaps something to hide?
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:02am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      If Shin Bet had infiltrated these aid organisations then they’d hardly need to ask said organisation for a staff list.
      
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      January 1, 2026 9:16am
  - rouppe
    
    You just need to look at some of the names…
    
    Action Against Hunger
    ActionAid
    Alianza por la Solidaridad
    Campaign for the Children of Palestine
    Handicap International: Humanity & Inclusion
    Palestine Solidarity Association
    
    They just scream left wing activist.
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:21am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Laughably Al Jazeera mentioned the International Court of Justice: in October 25, found that Israel’s allegations against UNRWA were unsubstantiated.
    It just goes to show that as well as UNRWA, the ICJ is a waste of space.
    After all, Hamas personnel records were cross referenced against UNRWA records. And lo, around 12% were found to match, but not compelling enough for the ICJ. A Hamas headquarters and data centre was found in a tunnel directly under the UNRWA Gaza Headquarters. Not compelling ICJ? Not even when evidence was shown that the Hamas Headquarters and data centre was connected to UNRWA Headquarters power? Of course no one in the UNRWA Headquarters noticed the significant power usage of a data centre. Doh. Hamas commanders, Fateh Sharif and Suhail Al-Hindi were also high ranking UNRWA staff, but hey, there’s nothing to see here ICJ. Weapons, explosives and missiles stored in multiple UNRWA facilities? Nope, not compelling evidence.
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:24am
- artemisia
  
  “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket” – Eric Hoffer
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:56am
  - Mike
    
    Zionism?
    
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    January 1, 2026 10:22am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Unions
      
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      January 1, 2026 2:39pm
      - MCōs
        
        Taxpayers Union
        
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        January 1, 2026 5:14pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Hmm, I’d say socialism Mike, but then socialism has never been a business (maybe Unions? but members are mostly coerced into membership and receive no value for their fees), and it was a racket from day 1.
      
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      January 1, 2026 2:40pm
      - Mike
        
        How is anyone coerced to join a union?
        
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        January 1, 2026 5:24pm
Maggy Wassilieff

$1 Million of publicly funded supermarket vouchers gone missing?

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/01/matua-kahurangi-hungry-families-wait.html
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January 1, 2026 9:02am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  I guess PAK’nSAVE is happy. They received $1 million from Stats NZ for the vouchers.
  
  Why was Stats NZ ever allowed to give out these absurd incentives? Even worse they did not work. The last two censuses were so hideously expensive and disastrous that the census has now been abandoned.
  
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  January 1, 2026 9:11am
  - Mike
    
    I sometimes wonder why, after nearly 40 years of ‘reforms’ state sector organizations are still less competent and capable than they were in the mid-1980s.
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:19am
  - Jimbo666
    
    The census didn’t give them the answers they wanted so abandoned them in the future
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:25am
  - pdm
    
    ND if my memory is correct the Statistics Minister at the time was James Shaw.
    
    Given he was seen as the sanest Green MP in recent years (maybe even the last 15/20 years) it shows quite clearly why the Greens should never be trusted with Cabinet positions or even positions outside Cabinet.
    
    As an aside wasn’t Winston Peters going to be the handbrake for this sort of crap or was he a goneburgher by the time it happened. If he was there it does not reflect well on him or NZFirst either
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:52am
  - mandk
    
    Giving people money to do something they are legally obliged to do – i.e. participate in the Census – is objectionable.
    
    Mind you, I shouldn’t really be surprised.
    
    It happened during the last government’s reign, during which time the Mongrel Mob were given money to treat people for drug addictions that the Mob had encouraged them to develop.
    
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    January 1, 2026 9:54am
  - artemisia
    
    Do supermarkets (and others) keep some sort of track of redeemed / thus not redeemed vouchers? Expect they can, based on vouchers I have bought or used. Stats must know id of those purchased and might be a little bit interested in redemption stats.
    
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    January 1, 2026 10:28am
    - Gussy Fink-Nottle
      
      Yes. Any competent business will track such contingent liabilities. And these vouchers will each have had an expiry date.
      
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      January 1, 2026 11:01am
  - Paulus
    
    Stats NZ spend much of their time obfuscating many statistics they are told to produce.
    Been at it, like inaccurate Census results, for many years.
    
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    January 1, 2026 12:50pm
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Can you give any specific examples of corrupted official statistics that are a result of deliberate actions by staff there?
      
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      January 1, 2026 1:28pm
      - Paulus
        
        I was told a while ago from a person connected with the Stats Dept that the figures re so called part Maori are not derived from the Census as not enough Maori took part in the recent Cencuses.
        
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        January 2, 2026 3:46pm
- AitchW
  
  John Tamihere had a quite lovely Christmas dinner…
  
  10 1
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  January 1, 2026 9:14am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Surely that would be “John Tamihere had quite a lovely Kirihimete Hapa .”
    After all, Christmas was a big thing back in the days when the tribes came here, wasn’t it?
    
    7 1
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    January 1, 2026 4:12pm
- Simon
  
  Tip of the “charities” ice berg. Huge waste, corruption and ineffective outcomes. Feel good for National party to blow billions. As bad as Labour
  
  5 4
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  January 1, 2026 9:16am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Looks like Stats NZ did not ask for any form of accountability in terms of when, where and to whom the vouchers were issued.
  
  Heads should roll.
  
  11 1
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  January 1, 2026 9:20am
- MCōs
  
  Allegedly, don’t forget
  In other words it’s just gossip
  
  5 17
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  January 1, 2026 9:32am
- imalwaysright
  
  I don’t think the cops investigate corruption under a million any more.
  They just don’t have the man power…
  
  6 1
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  January 1, 2026 10:30am
- Paulus
  
  Eh – why are we the taxpayer funding Supermarket vouchers ?
  
  9 2
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  January 1, 2026 12:47pm
waikatosinger

Having discovered Nick Shirley I have been browsing his back catalogue. He has some great stuff in there apart from his recent work on Somali daycare and the “Quality Learing Center” . Here is something he did on prisons in El Salvador which shows just what you can do with a prison if you get the gangs out. Food for thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrK9nVLAqwk
9 1
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January 1, 2026 9:20am
- artemisia
  
  One daycare centre in Minneapolis had a break in, cheque books and children’s enrolment records stolen. So the 20 year old manager reported.
  
  11 1
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  January 1, 2026 1:31pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    How unlucky for the owners. /s
    
    4 2
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    January 1, 2026 6:33pm
- pb
  
  Bukele is the king you want.
  
  We instead get PC non-racist weak bureaucrats.
  
  He showed that crime can be solved. Spare the rod, spoil the criminal.
  
  1 1
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  January 1, 2026 9:25pm
rouppe

San Francisco is contemplating paying every black resident $5M usd in reparations.

Well, “eligible”, anyway which includes being a descendant of a slave, and “suffered harm”. How would you prove, or disprove, that?

If they do this, it will be an unmitigated disaster. MUMA on steroids.
12 1
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January 1, 2026 9:41am
- artemisia
  
  Actually San Fran is contemplating not doing it as there is no money anyway.
  
  And watch the continuing and increasing exodus of the productive and the wealthy to Florida and Texas. Those hoping for a big payout will no doubt stay on. Good luck with that San Fran.
  
  11 1
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  January 1, 2026 1:04pm
- cmm
  
  Insane.
  California never had black slaves – maybe other slaves when it was a Spanish/Mexican territory.
  
  3 3
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  January 1, 2026 4:22pm
  - Mike
    
    You could read the article before commenting 🙄
    
    2 6
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    January 1, 2026 4:31pm
  - waikatosinger
    
    People who were not slaves will be paid compensation by people who never owned slaves in a place that never had slavery.
    
    7 2
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    January 1, 2026 5:39pm
Hollyfield

Tousi TV has been reporting for the last 4 days of an uprising across Iran. This is the latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDSdh1HJMk

Tousi is reporting/translating protestor chants
Anti [supreme leader] Khamenei / death to the dictator / Khamenei is [“a very bad word” that Tousi said he couldn’t translate on Youtube]
Pro Crown Prince / long live the king etc
Pro Iran / anti Gaza / anti Lebanon

Protestors have taken over major cities and Governor’s offices. Small towns, villages, plus “random islands” also have protests. Security forces are responding very weakly instead of as they usually would, some have abandoned their posts and are fleeing. Khamenei hasn’t been heard from for 4 days.

All I’ve seen in print media is shopkeepers closing in protest of rising cost of living. It will be interesting to see what happens in Iran over the next few days.
7 1
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January 1, 2026 9:42am
- sungsamning
  
  Yes, he is an excellent journalist. All his stuff is worth watching.
  
  0 2
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  January 1, 2026 5:22pm
- pb
  
  Not real. Media beat up. Protests are local.
  
  0 1
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  January 1, 2026 9:26pm
Chuck Bird

Just over a minute.

2025 CO2 Coalition Christmas Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpa5hZwnAMA
7 6
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January 1, 2026 10:08am
- Don Beckett
  
  Looks like you’ve got a few unbelievers there, Chuck. 🙂
  Happy New Year to all.
  
  5 2
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  January 1, 2026 10:50am
Rusty

My spell check gives me New Year’s day not New Year day. What’s correct?
3 0
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January 1, 2026 10:09am
- David Garrett
  
  The first…and “New Years” as a noun is just another Americanism
  
  6 4
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  January 1, 2026 2:30pm
sungsamning

https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/12/29/tim-walz-faces-pressure-from-hill-republicans-in-fraud-probe/
Minnesota Fraud Controversy Shakes Capitol Hill.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, one of Washington’s top-ranking Republicans, says he is open to legal action against Minnesota’s Democrat leaders following the viral release of a video alleging fraud in state-funded day care centers.

Appearing on Fox News’ “Fox Report Weekend” on Sunday, Emmer praised YouTube content creator Nick Shirley’s recent report, which alleges that several state-funded day care and learning centers, largely operated by immigrants from Somalia, do not provide legitimate services.
6 2
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January 1, 2026 10:38am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85ByTsDeKsU
Why Denmark is Suddenly Declaring WAR on Immigration!
Corrupt governments led by liberal oligarchs are opening the doors of your countries, selling out your home and your people to dangerous foreign interests who have no desire to assimilate but instead conquer. Why you ask? Because pandering to the immigrants gives the oligarchs the means to stay in power through flooding voter polls with loyalists. If the country won’t vote them back into power, they will find people who will and pander to their every want and need to secure that vote.
6 2
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January 1, 2026 10:39am
- pb
  
  The Danish have been en-guard for a while [Beowulf]
  
  “What kind of men are you who arrive
  rigged out for combat in coats of mail,
  sailing here over the sea-lanes
  in your steep-hulled boat? I have been stationed
  as lookout on this coast for a long time.
  My job is to watch the waves for raiders,
  and danger to the Danish shore.
  Never before has a force under arms
  disembarked so openly—not bothering to hide
  their arrival or to ask for passage.
  …
  Now, strangers from across the sea,
  far-dwellers, hear my frank thought:
  it is best to tell forth quickly
  whence you are come.”
  
  3 1
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  January 1, 2026 9:29pm
Notsofast

A Venezuelan emigrant who is an economist in USA fully supports Trump taking out the cocaine runners.
Minute 38 on Triggernometry

https://youtu.be/1swPGLfi2_8?si=jcbK6b_yJVVXaoAT

A bit like denuking Iran, TDS patients will hate this.
8 5
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January 1, 2026 11:23am
Philview

I see a young nurse in the UK was savagely beaten with a crowbar in a random attack. The perpetrator is described as a 20 year Afghani. That is a shock!
17 2
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January 1, 2026 11:33am
- cmm
  
  She was clearly provoking the situation by violating Sharia law.
  
  6 5
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  January 1, 2026 4:23pm
MCōs

Happy New Year
https://x.com/prettycitiesx/status/2006445499252093179?s=61
3 2
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January 1, 2026 12:00pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Some Asian countries do some pretty amazing stuff.
  
  2 0
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  January 1, 2026 12:36pm
David George

Things are kicking off in Iran with millions out protesting the hated Islamist regime.
Our media are giving it scant coverage, not even a comment from Golriz*.
Best wishes to them I say.

*She was interviewed about this in the middle of the year, she is supportive of regime change in Iran, a new revolution.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360737299/golriz-ghahraman-its-time-another-iranian-revolution
11 3
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January 1, 2026 12:09pm
- kowtow
  
  I wonder how many of the millions currently protesting were also out on the streets against the Shah.
  
  5 2
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  January 1, 2026 12:32pm
  - AitchW
    
    The shah was over 40 years ago was he not? So probably not many.
    
    7 0
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    January 1, 2026 3:00pm
    - Mike
      
      The Americans haven’t forgotten their lovely and glamorous Shah and the extreme rudeness with which the Iranian people ejected him.
      
      2 4
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      January 1, 2026 5:30pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        All I’ve spoken to would prefer to live under the Shah than the current leadership.
        
        0 1
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        January 4, 2026 9:17pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Forty odd years ago. You could probably find old Kiwis who miss Muldoon 🙂
        
        2 1
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        January 4, 2026 9:34pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        The young Iranians (and their parents) know all about the Shah and the conditions under his rule. They would prefer that to the Mullahs.
        
        1 1
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        January 5, 2026 8:29pm
- AitchW
  
  She’s irrelevant now. Just another thief.
  
  10 1
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  January 1, 2026 12:38pm
- MCōs
  
  Here’s an article
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/iran-government-building-attacked-as-top-prosecutor-responds-to-protests/B2EXMYRXMZEPRAJZ3ZSKUVLCIU/
  
  2 3
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  January 1, 2026 12:40pm
I remember when

Counter Terrorism Assessing Extremist: GB News.
“The Foreign Chair has slammed Labour for ’embarassing failures’ over ‘serious shortcomings’ in the case of an Egyptain extremist.”
“In a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Dame Emily said:”Thank you for your letter and updating me on the troubling failures in due diligence and information sharing in relation to the case of Alaa Abd El Fattah.
“Your recognition of the distress caused to Jewish communities, particularly in the context of rising antisemitism in the UK and internationally, is necessary and welcome.
” Had an envoy been established following the then-foreign secretary’s commitment in 2024, with access the necessary FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) resources including staffing, it is clear to me that such embarassing failures of due diligence and information sharing would have been avoided.”
7 1
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January 1, 2026 12:14pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360920061/otago-cricket-drops-otago-mens-and-womens-super-smash-team-names
What’s the bet that next year they will have some maori name instead.
5 2
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January 1, 2026 1:39pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Southern?
  
  1 1
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  January 1, 2026 3:40pm
Yvette

• A junior member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government Wednesday criticised Clooney getting his passport despite speaking poor French, saying the move suggested a “double standard”.
• Trump, whose administration has backed anti-immigration parties in Europe, said key ally France had a “horrendous” problem with crime and immigration.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/583020/trump-bashes-clooney-after-actor-becomes-french

Is it “jeu de la taupe”? – whack a mole?

“Crime and immigration” seem mentioned here together, and how many of those mass immigrants can speak French to the level the “junior member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government” would desire?
3 3
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January 1, 2026 1:41pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Probably quite a few, ie those emanating from Francophone Africa
  
  2 1
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  January 1, 2026 3:41pm
  - cmm
    
    Most of the people from Francophone Africa speak French fluently. Same with Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique.
    
    It is mainly the Brits that allowed their colonies to speak their native languages and where we have situations like Zulus, Ndebele and Shona who can barely scratch together a sentence in English.
    
    3 3
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    January 1, 2026 6:09pm
Martonman

https://youtu.be/jFGM2-oL5GU?si=SNrtYBCLX_kg2h0M

Interesting New Year Speech from Zelensky
2 2
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January 1, 2026 6:31pm

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