About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

January 23, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 23 January 2026

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment172

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (172)

Login to comment or vote

NeverMindTheBollocks

Subsidised Wegovy for people who can’t control their eating? Or Trikafta, for infants born with cystic fibrosis?

I know which I prefer my tax dollars to fund.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/23/its-a-good-day-pharmac-moves-to-fund-cf-drug-for-toddlers/
19 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:01am
- 2ic
  
  There’s a lot more to it than “people who can’t control their eating” though.
  
  These people to a great extent have been the victim of disastrous public health messaging starting with the original food pyramid back in the 1970’s, where grains were heavily promoted and saturated fats demonised. Since then we’ve seen an explosion in obesity and diabetes levels.
  
  Hopefully we are starting to see that messaging being wind back now, with recent moves in the USA updating their dietary guidelines under RKF. But not after a lot of carnage caused by the old guidelines.
  
  12 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:42am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I’m a bit Old Testament on this one. Short of being held down and force fed, people are responsible for what goes into their mouths.
    
    Sure, plenty of families have bad eating habits, but kids let alone adults are smart enough to work out why they pack on the pounds. There’s a mountain of research and advice out there regarding healthy eating and getting exercise & a decent night’s sleep.
    
    I’m buggered if I know why I should be subsidising other people’s bad choices.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 3:11pm
    - NeonTeepee
      
      Not to mention getting up off the couch occasionally.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 9:30pm
- Skottowe
  
  “Subsidised Wegovy for people who can’t control their eating?”
  
  There is the issue of type 2 diabetes, which afflicts many of the obese. I guess one has to balance the cost of subsidising, eg, Wegovy, against the public money saved when those taking it lose large amounts of weight and no longer need expensive treatment because their type 2 symptoms have disappeared.
  
  I know somebody in just this situation. I also have a relative with type 2, and who’s struggled to lose the accumulated weight of many years. It’s easier said than done for many people.
  
  Moreover, not everyone can tolerate the likes of Wegovy: the side effects can be pretty punishing. I’ve seen that as well.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 2:30pm
Scott

Minnesota agitators arrested in wake of church invasion, Bondi says:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-agitator-arrested-wake-church-invasion-bondi-says

It’s good to see consequences for the agitators. Local attorney general Keith Ellison, former Nation of Islam leader, told journalist/agitator Don Lemon that no action would be taken against them. Keith Ellison in the past felt very differently about people protesting outside mosques, he would arrest them, but invading churches is all good.

Fortunately Attorney General for the USA, Pam Bondi, is on the case and two arrests have been announced with more to follow.

Pam Bondi has posted – “we do not tolerate attacks on places of worship.”

Excellent! 👍
27 5
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:03am
- Raphael
  
  I think it is hilarious that Don Lemon could face serious charges under the anti-KKK laws.
  
  18 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:34am
  - Scott
    
    😃
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:37am
Simon

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
The goal of many New Zealanders is to escape the consequences of the National party. Either make enough money or simply move to Australia. The goal to remove yourself from National.
1 39
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:10am
- Paulus
  
  Bollocks !~
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:10am
cmm

DPF’s polling predictions post from yesterday misses the most obvious coalition. This is the one where two parties can easily form a huge majority over the other parties.

National + Labour.

It makes sense.
Think about it:
* Two large parties are more stable than 3 smaller one.
* Ideologically National and Labour are closer to each other than any other potential coalition partners.

This is what they did in South Africa with the ANC and DA (the two largest parties) joining forces. Similar things have happened in Europe too. So why not here?

Now I personally wouldn’t want such a beast in power, but when we’re just looking at political structures it is the one that makes the most sense.
9 21
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:14am
- Colville
  
  In 2017 the Greens could have formed a coalition with National and had anything and everything they wanted for the conservation budget, the Greens would have actually achieved something for once. But they wouldnt even pick up the phone because they knew their members would revolt if Greens leadership every proposed doing a deal with the Satan Party.
  
  Same as Labour, no way on earth will dyed in the wool commie Labour voters stomach doing a deal with the Nats.
  
  and to be honest while National looks like a bit like a better organised (and dressed) Labour Party there is one massive difference…and its OPM. Labour loves to throw it around and bribe voters and National just hasnt succumbed to that temptation. Yet!
  
  26 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:35am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Haven’t succumbed as much would be the better phrase.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 4:02pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  I understand your rationale.
  
  However there is a gulf between the two parties in important respects. Look at the RMA replacement that Chris Bishop developed versus David Parker.
  
  There is also a gulf in the intelligence and work ethic of plausible Cabinet candidates. Yes a gulf. Harsh but true.
  
  Another way of seeing it..
  
  Last government was wrecking New Zealand and happy with it.
  
  Current government is, overall, on the right track. They are doing too little too slowly. AND they are on the wrong track on some things.
  
  It may seem that they are alike but they are not.
  
  40 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:48am
  - Scott
    
    Nikola – I agree with you. Labour lowered speed limits. National brought them back up.
    Labour brought in He Puapua by stealth, brought in Maori health and 3 waters. National repealed them ASAP.
    
    National has got lots to do but most of the time their legislation is on the right track. And they are stiffened up by Act and NZ First.
    
    To go with labour would be anathema to most national voters. Never going to happen.
    
    27 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:56am
  - artemisia
    
    Labour has a strong driver in the unions. Wonder if they have noticed reports of liquidations in retail and construction recently, and considered if their (Labour and unions) actions have contributed to closures, loss of jobs and loss of union fees.
    
    21 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:08am
  - Paulus
    
    Except for historical reasons from early Dunedin days I would not trust Parker with anything – there are a number still of others with problems from his days there.
    
    10 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:13am
    - Graeme Hall
      
      I would not trust Parker with anything…
      
      Both you and Chris Knox.
      
      6 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 1:48pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Sounds a bit like communism by stealth to me.
  Who would be the boss in such an arrangement?
  Would be good for the cities, the non productive and the taxpayer funded sector though.
  No questions would be asked of them or by them. Just hands out for more money as that is where the votes are.
  Small towns and rural on the outer even more than now.
  
  17 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:51am
- kowtow
  
  Germany and Ireland too . Both with PR type elections.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:07am
- 76_special
  
  “Ideologically National and Labour are closer to each other than any other potential coalition partners.”
  That’s what worries me, their overlapping co-governance, globlist ideology would be the worst of all worlds, coupled with nats competency. The Nats have no backbone are blind/ignorant to the importance of the constitutional underpinnings that maintain a free society & Lab fundamentally don’t want a free society because the plebs are all gammon. Lab would let the Nats run the economy while they dismantle us. We’d have every aspect of our lives sold-out to international corps & the UN.
  
  12 9
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:08am
- MCōs
  
  Never happen
  
  13 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:25am
- Mike
  
  NZ is well overdue for a sensible alignment. None of the minor parties bring much to a coalition.
  
  3 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 12:44pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Evolutionarily the most vicious threat any organism faces is from others of it’s species fighting for exactly the same set of essential resources with almost identical capabilities.
  
  The closer you are in politics to a competing party the more you will hate them. Peoples front of Judea vs Judean peoples front.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 2:33pm
CJames

The article in Spiked about Australia has this quote”Mining royalties contributed more than $20 billion to the state’s coffers in 2024. Mining may be carbon-intensive, but without it, there is no Australian welfare state (one of the world’s most generous), nor public healthcare. It employs close to 250,000 people in well-paying, meaningful work. Something so fundamental to the welfare and prosperity of Australia should never have been put at such risk in the first place.”
Maybe the NZ version of this ought to be thrown back in the face of every BANANA who wants to stop mining or infrastructure building here, or demands their bribe to agree to remove their opposition.
35 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:14am
- cmm
  
  That’s just the royalties.
  There’s probably the same again, or likely more, in tax take – especially if you consider all the downstream industries (repairing equipment, fly-in fly out services, serving beer down at the pub…).
  
  As has been said here many times we’re choosing to be poor.
  
  35 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:25am
  - AitchW
    
    “We” aren’t choosing to be poor, poverty is being thrust upon us by green idealogues, nimbys, and curtain twitchers.
    We need to sell a shit load of extraction licences then jail the smelly hippies who get in the way when they climb into conveyor buckets or glue themselves to motorways.
    
    25 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:22am
- Im Right
  
  @ CJames…
  It’s easy for MPs to complain and protest against mining when you are earning $180k a year.
  When your voters (MP/GP) are basically young and dumb idealistic activists, and for the greens who also have already well off middle to upper class middle aged bored women who for some unknown reason vote green, they must have some of the most dumbest voters in NZ.
  Maori party have huge support in young maori, but they don’t vote (lazy)
  Greens have the brainwashed student marxist group.
  If the left do get into government this year, New Zealand will take at least a decade to get back on track from the damage they will do….and they will do it at frightening speed.
  
  20 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:25am
  - R
    
    If the Left elements are voted in to power, NZ once destroyed, will be beyond recovery
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:00am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The Leftys have a heart attack if someone wants to dig a hole to make some money, but they don’t mind planting thousands of acres of grape vines on the same land.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:13am
- pdm
  
  There are a lot of New Zealanders who `commute’ to the mines for work.
  
  Son in his mid 40’s has an old school friend who was at Kalgoorlie (I think) either 4 or 6 weeks on and the same times off with return air fares paid.
  
  When he was home he successfully ran a firewood business.
  
  Win win.
  
  22 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:25am
- MCōs
  
  Mining’s fine as long as there’s customers to buy the stuff as I found out when China got their nose out of joint and brought the hammer down at one point.
  
  8 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:36am
  - nz_aj
    
    And now that they’ve started getting iron ore out of the Simandou mine in Guinea in West Africa, the proportion from Australia will only decrease.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 1:10pm
Chuck Bird

Oz mining shares are a good investment.
11 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:20am
artemisia

ACC to focus on getting claimants rehabilitated quicker, to avoid $26 billion deficit by 2030 Herald yesterday, not paywalled.

So if ACC does what it always did it will be $26billion in the hole tomorrow. Well not quite tomorrow but 2030 is coming at ACC fast.

Who knew ACC processes 2 million new claims a year? And that – Over the last decade, the number of claimants accessing weekly income compensation for more than one year has grown significantly, from around 12,300 to 24,500.

Why? According to the ACC Chair Jan Dawson seems one important reason is rules being changed by courts.

Minister for ACC Scott Simpson – come on down.
18 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:23am
- pdm
  
  arty that woman Hosking interviewed earlier, I did not catch her name, did not inspire any confidence in turning the ACC black hole around.
  
  There was a time (around late 90’s early 2000’s) when I recall ACC having substantial funds invested as a hedge against future claims.
  
  Obviously that is not the case now.
  
  Where did those funds disappear to?
  
  18 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:30am
  - R
    
    Ask Comeade Clark, she mismanaged the country for 9 years. We are yet to recover from that ers, let alone the Arder/Hipkins debacle. This is election year, think carefully folks; your grandchildren future depends upon the wisdom of your political and economic judgement.
    
    15 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:06am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I’m no financial wiz, so perhaps am not interpreting the info correctly, but looks to me that ACC investments just plodded along doing same as- same as, year after year during the Ardern years.
    
    https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2025-07/wtw-independent-acc-assurance-review-jul2025.pdf
    
    18 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:10am
  - RoboRob
    
    I see Maggy’s post which seems to say different to what I am about to post, but I think some clever accounting may be involved here.
    
    I recall that under JA and Grant that instead of even more government borrowing and debt (that would show in the government books), Grant came up with a solution and had government agencies with large balance sheets (ACC and Housing NZ) take on additional debt that was then funnelled into government projects. Not 100% sure but whilst ACC might still have its investments, it may also have a pile of debt where the interest balances out any returns it might be making on those investments.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:34am
  - Paulus
    
    Am told from Wellington that ACC is run on a DEI senior Management basis and has been for quite a while.
    
    8 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:17am
- kowtow
  
  ACC has been , over the years ,opened up to all manner of claims , including faith healing.
  
  Is it any wonder there’s huge holes in the financing .
  
  Perhaps the head honchos there should pray for a miracle .
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 8:51am
- Im Right
  
  Trouble for ACC Artemisia is it’s far too easy to get $$$ from them!
  Worked with a guy (in his late 30s) had to get some expensive dental work done, both his and his wife worked, dentist asked him if he played contact sport, he didn’t.
  Dentist explained if he played rugby, it looks like a rugby injury and ACC would cover it….as any normal human being would do, he said yes…it’s a rugby injury.
  Filled out the forms, dentist signed off….fixed his teeth for free (would have been in the 4-5k range cost – this was 8-9yrs ago now).
  Dentist would have charged, I’m surmising, 5-6k to ACC?
  BASICALLY, ACC HAS BEEN BROKEN/RORTED FOR DECADES
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:51am
Scooter

Not only are we being inundated with Maori words but listening to a RNZ news item, pronunciation of NZ towns is also being corrupted. Papamoa, is now Paapaamao. It started years ago with Taupo, I hate to hear what that has morphed into. Even Tauranga has a different sound. Maybe the wokesters know while they can’t change the Maori name but can virtue signal with the pronunciation.
26 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:33am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And I hadn’t caught up with Mt Maunganui now being called Mauao….. very confusing having News media referring to landslide on Mauao.
  
  20 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:36am
  - Paulus
    
    But now the local tangata will lead sad prayers for those in time, when the bodies are recovered and do what they always wanted when a few years ago they were ‘given” Mauao by the Council with rate payer upkeep.
    It will be closed to the public, like say Mt Eden.
    Primative wailing, body and face painting will be available for the cruise Liners at a price of course.
    They will close all of it as sacred mountain – paid for now by taxpayers, and or toll booths.
    
    12 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:26am
    - Sir Henry Morgan
      
      Is Mt. Eden now closed to the public? Seriously?
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 7:10pm
  - Albie
    
    Maggy, you know there are people in this country now who have completely gone off the reservation when even an existing Maori place name is no longer en vogue and must be updated!
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 12:27pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Taupo, Torr porr, Tippu, Daupor, Toopo…
  
  16 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:36am
  - NothingLeft
    
    The key to this behaviour is that Maori wonderfulness grifters always need to be shifting the goal posts to force compliance to their dictat. They gain power by making the population jump through their newly invented hoops. Like teenage vegetarians who’s real (narcissistic) motivation is to get attention and make parents do their bidding.
    
    And it is of course bollocks. Torturous modern Maori reinventions of pronunciation are for the most part just playing silly games, like the mythic f sounds for wh. C19 missionaries could obviously have used f instead of wh in their closest approximation written form, but didn’t, plus of course pronunciations shift quite rapidly over time in all languages anyway. Antique owns no special privilige over modern in language – whatever is in common use is the real pronunciation.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 2:45pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Well said.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 5:50pm
- ISeeRed
  
  It’s working. I hear more and more “Pakeha” pronouncing place names the Mouldy 2.0 way.
  
  2 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:39pm
kowtow

Headline from UK Daily Telegraph business news .

“Boeing is back on top- thanks to ‘king of sales’ Trump.”
8 6
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:42am
Cassandra

Important announcement: on hearing that the PM will not be at Ratana, church leaders sent “their aroha to the whanau”. Every time I read Manglish I think about effective communication (plus a surge of irritation).
37 5
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 8:59am
- R
  
  Is that phrase a moari version of ‘kicked into touch’?
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:07am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  I think people using a mix of English and Te Reo think they are being very cool and helping to integrate Māori into everyday use in New Zealand. It’s all the rage in Wellington amongst the civil servants but little used in mainstream New Zealand where people have far more important things to worry about but then they don’t have secure public service jobs.
  
  In fact when a lot of people hear the Manglish announcements and news I think they just tune out or wonder how in some important cases, tourists and non New Zealanders are meant to understand or comprehend what should be important messaging.
  
  25 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:07am
  - kowtow
    
    Media and other govt depts do it all the time.
    
    20 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:29am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Must be bluddy confusing for some folks at Airports or on flights discovering that they’re about to land at Tamaki Makaura, etc.
      
      15 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:39am
      - RalphT
        
        Ah Maggy, it’s not just our airports. A couple of weeks ago I was watching one of those programmes about the Aussie Customs folk and at one point there was a shot of a flight information board showing an arrival from Tamaki Mataura. At least they had the sense to alternate it with Auckland. I wonder if all those fleeing NZ realise that all this nonsense is following them.
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 23, 2026 1:36pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yes, Especially boarding in Oz airports.
        
        3 0
        Report
        January 23, 2026 1:41pm
  - Ian
    
    Every time I go to say something, I have to think – do I use motu or country (and myriads of other Manglish). So I stutter while trying to decide – it’s all too much, enough to make my head explode…
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 12:12pm
  - Skottowe
    
    “….people using a mix of English and Te Reo think they are being very cool and helping to integrate Māori into everyday use in New Zealand.”
    
    Yup. They also seem to believe that this will help save the language. It won’t. The ineluctable rules of language apply as much to the Maori language as to any other language: unless there a critical mass of native speakers (people whose first and only language it is, for the first four or five years of their lives), the language won’t survive. Second-language speakers can’t help.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 2:38pm
- Yvette
  
  And, Cassandra, the “surge of irritation” can repeat at every instance of something that is known to you to not be reality: that governance should be shared with an élite group when their supposed “whanua” are at the bottom end of every social measurement, have phrases so glibly presented on television to break the rules of pronunciation, are the religion which figures in so many national events while other religions don’t, that Maori are recorded by the courts to have a greater affinity for water, although you too will die without it, and suddenly you may realise you are a racist, and don’t feel it was your fault.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:11am
  - Paulus
    
    I have an affinity for water but I pass mine through my kidneys first, to add to the quantity !
    
    5 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:28am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  PM has made the correct decision.
  
  Ratana and Waitangi are now political sideshows.
  
  When part of the country is in emergency /recovery mode, we don’t need to indulge the loud-mouths and wanna-bes.
  
  40 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:14am
  - RoboRob
    
    100%, Ratana especially should have been dropped off the political radar years ago.
    
    Luxon would gain more support / voters if he, for example, started attending Warriers games or was spotted at the basketball / rugby / netball / football. I think some perception of him as an ‘everyday man’ might help his public perception.
    
    National attending Ratana gets zero extra votes for them and probably loses some.
    
    22 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:26am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “…help his public perception.”
      
      I don’t want a perception, I would like to see what he is really like by him being himself.
      He seems programmed to smile and nod at as many people as possible, perhaps he should lose that veneer and wear the criticism or accept the praise.
      
      Who is the real Christopher Luxon….?
      
      7 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:44am
      - RoboRob
        
        I think he is a fairly boring business man. But who knows.
        
        However National needs votes, they could get some if people thought he was more then a boring suit (even if thats the truth). Remember Helen clark when she got a huge make over and some retouched billboards?
        
        2 0
        Report
        January 23, 2026 11:12am
    - Isobar
      
      He’s just not that guy. When he goes its straight to the corporate box maybe get some photos for the socials with the players at the end. He’s not gaining any extra votes hobnobbing with business people that vote national anyway.
      
      He’s just not a guy that has any sort of personality to connect with everyday kiwis. Your dreaming if you think thats going to change. He wouldn’t know the first thing of how to even hold a genuine conversation. It’ll just be fake and false.
      
      Also whilst obviously he has no actual impact on the result, he does seem to have the unlucky situation of having the home team lose at most major sporting events he has gone to so far!
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 12:02pm
  - Jethrod
    
    I think we should be all praying for a significant event to happen on the 4th or 5th of February.
    
    5 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:48am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No need to wish/pray for a disaster…
      
      All we need is for our PM and other MPs to have the guts to tell folks to enjoy/celebrate Waitangi Day as they wish, perhaps with family, friends and neighbours.
      
      13 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 11:41am
Yvette

Manage My Health mis-managed
Now that reports say ‘clients’ are being approached by the hackers, in a scenario where an abused partner may have seen a doctor, there may be a fear of the hacker threatening action which could further harm the patient – a threat to divulge a refuge address or whatever – but would the hacker require contextual information not available to them?

As with scammer threats to release footage they claim to have obtained from your computer of you supposedly indulging in actions they think you may not wish sent to people in the email address list they also claim to have, unlees you pay bitcoin, the answer would be “convince me by sending a clip”, why is Manage My Health not better informing their list of persons who’s files were hacked, as to what they can do to challenge the criminals?
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:01am
- Yvette
  
  There had been no further mention of the Manage My Health data from the hackers since the last reported deadline passed (January 9).
  
  What is not clear from the RNZ article, in reporting “the hacked online patient portal Manage My Health says fraudsters could now be attempting to contact its customers”, whether those are the original hacking criminals or “third party” offenders trying to cash in, in some way.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:31am
lastmanstanding

Its amusing to watch the panic merchants and TDS suffers thrashing about and getting their balls in a twist. As I and others have said many times Trump isnt a political or diplomat he is a deal maker. Like all deal makers he asks for more than he expects to get and then works back to where he wants to be. Simple really. And you know what. He gets the deal done.
30 10
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:02am
- kowtow
  
  The other thing is too may focus on his personality and undoubted many nasty traits ( he’s not deranged though) .
  
  There is a context , a big picture . It’s the new world order , brought about by the deliberate decline of the west , deindustrialisation etc brought about by weak, woke leaders and the rise of a new aspirant and imperialist super power.
  
  The Great Game , just with new players.
  
  17 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:11am
  - Paulus
    
    I never thought that I could like Trump, but I am totally wrong – wish we had some of him here !
    
    10 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 2:20pm
- RoboRob
  
  Agreed. The problem is that works great in business but when you are dealing with other countries and peoples feelings you can cause long term damage to your countries relationships. A number of US allies are now looking at building relationships outside of the US, sometimes with US enemies. Look at Canada who are now boycotting US products (Bourbon) and cozying up to China.
  
  As most here will know I am generally a supporter of Trump, but while his tactics might get results fast, I am concerned about the long term effects they may have.
  
  11 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:22am
  - artemisia
    
    The US has a lot of consumers. And consumption. They may lose some exports because reasons, but bringing more manufacturing onshore and a bit of rah-rah patriotism could easily bridge any gap.
    
    9 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:24am
    - kowtow
      
      The whole reshoring of manufacturing thing is about the very real possibility of future wars .
      
      Big picture thinking by the MAGA types.
      
      And despite the rampant TDS of the left and the dinner party set , they are right.
      
      12 6
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:32am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        And why is there a very real possibility of future wars?
        
        3 3
        Report
        January 23, 2026 11:57am
      - Taieri
        
        Big picture thinking by the MAGA types
        ———–
        
        Inspired by the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 perhaps?
        That one didn’t quite work out, did it?
        
        I’m not sure where all this excitement about Trump’s recent policies etc is coming from. Perhaps (and it’s a very big perhaps) the US will benefit , but will our little piece of paradise also share any benefits? I very much doubt it.
        
        2 4
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:04pm
- MCōs
  
  There’s no need to apologize, everyone knows he loves playing the part of the bully
  
  8 16
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:49am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Mmm……….Mark Rutte doesn’t seem to think so.
    Feelings – crap. Thy just need to put on their big boy pants instead of letting the ladies tell them what to do.
    
    9 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:53am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Greenland Premier now wants to do a deal
      
      ‘Greenland’s prime minister says he’s willing to go further in increasing the defense of the Arctic island coveted by President Donald Trump, including agreeing on the establishment of a permanent NATO mission.
      
      “We are ready to discuss more, we are also ready to do more and do it more permanently,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Thursday, ‘
      ‘According to a European official briefed on the talks, the pact entails the stationing of US missiles, mining rights aimed at keeping Chinese interests out and a bolstered NATO presence.’
      ‘Nielson…also said he was open to cooperate more on mineral resources.’
      https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/01/22/greenland-pm-we-will-never-yield-to-trumhey-so-far-that-deal-looks-pretty-good-n3811128
      
      8 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 11:55am
      - rouppe
        
        including agreeing on the establishment of a permanent NATO mission.
        
        Pfft.
        
        Honestly, what will they do? They currently allow Russian aircraft to fly into NATO airspace and do nothing.
        
        Seems to me to be the perfect place to do beta testing of laser weapons. Stick a few holes in the offending aircraft, that should change some behavior.
        
        2 5
        Report
        January 23, 2026 12:55pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        And is there any reason to think Denmark wasn’t ready to do any of that in the first place?
        
        5 5
        Report
        January 23, 2026 12:55pm
      - Mike
        
        Denmark and Greenland have always been open to an increased US military presence. Trumpistas like to forget that, and praise invasion threats as some kind of genius negotiating tactic.
        Whatever the outcome, on any matter, Trump will always declare himself to be the wwinner and the cult leaders will believe it.
        
        5 4
        Report
        January 23, 2026 1:24pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Mark Rutte is the Security General of NATO. He is not the King or Prime Minister of Denmark. He has no statutory role in Denmark or in Greenland.
      
      So how can Mark Rutte negotiate the “framework” of a deal with Trump about Greenland’s sovereignty, or mineral rights, or any other right? That is not Rutte’s gift to give.
      
      Reality is that Trump is backing down and Rutte is providing a diplomatic way for Trump to TACO.
      
      4 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 5:24pm
      - virtualmark
        
        My personal favourite guess at the “framework” is that Rutte just offered the things that are already in the existing 1951 US-Denmark agreement on Greenland (US has unrestricted access for military bases etc etc) and Trump thought “what a great deal!”
        
        4 1
        Report
        January 23, 2026 5:41pm
- sirknz
  
  Yup. If they could just control their emotions long enough, and not go overboard with their catastrophist reckons, then the true goal will reveal itself and it is never as bad or as extreme as the MSM leads them to think it will be.
  
  10 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:13am
  - RichardX
    
    Do you really believe Trump would have settled for the current agreement on Greenland if he hadn’t received pushback on his more ambitious plans?
    
    If the Danes had said “help yourself Donnie, take all of Greenland for the US”, would Trump have said “no thanks….my true goal is only an agreement”?
    
    2 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 1:16pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  And what exactly has he got? In exchange for losing any possibility of reaching any more trade deals (why sign, when he doesn’t consider the US bound by its own commitments), and hugely reducing the goodwill of countries that have previously been willing to sacrifice lives and resources in support of the US – what has he got?
  
  4 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:05am
- Vory v zakone
  
  Yes lastman and here’s another deal done. The US withdrawal from the WHO takes effect Thursday US time! 📢
  
  The signing of the executive order by President Trump to initiate the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization—occurred on January 20, 2025.
  
  The withdrawal itself became effective exactly one year later, on January 22, 2026, following the required one-year notice period to the United Nations.
  
  The U.S. exit from the WHO ends 77 years of subsidizing a captured bureaucracy that prioritized China’s interests over American sovereignty. H.R. 54, the WHO Withdrawal Act, codifies this overdue correction by repealing our 1948 membership and blocking taxpayer funds from flowing to Geneva’s failed pandemic managers.
  
  RFK Jr. redirected $500M to bilateral health partnerships allies that deliver results without globalist mandates.
  
  Global health cooperation shouldn’t mean global health submission.
  
  So many accomplishments, this being one of the most important!
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 2:41pm
  - Vory v zakone
    
    And the Right Honourable Winston Peters agrees…
    
    “The US has just officially withdrawn from the WHO.
    
    This is what happens when a bunch of unelected globalist bureaucrats are not accountable or responsible with worldwide taxpayers money.
    
    With the US withdrawing its
    membership it puts into question the current state of the WHO, its effectiveness, and if our taxpayers money is being responsibly spent overseas instead of here at home.”
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 5:18pm
imalwaysright

It seems the Police signed a relatively watertight contract with the documentary makers embedded in the Tom Philips case.

The question is why did they allow a group of civilians, and the companies they work for, access to a live investigation?

‘Ill-advised’: Documentary crew told about Tom Phillips shootout by police before family | RNZ News https://share.google/LievubnXeNSC08kmb
6 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:05am
- Yvette
  
  If, as reported, there were calls for highly specialised crack army trackers to find Phillips, when already that option has been tried but not publicised, is that not one incident that (unexplained) doesn’t reflect well on trackers’ ability, will police require that excerpted when that is a documentary producer’s decision? – so how reliable is such a production, rather than police do their job and film-makers do theirs’?
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Agree.
    The Police should not be in the entertainment business, for that is what this ‘documentary’ is.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 5:55pm
Southern Raider

Has H&S literally killed NZ

At White Island we had many people saved purely because private helicopter and boat operated ignored the authorities telling them to stand down. Pike River was similar.

We now have the tragedy unfolding in Mt Maunganui. At the beginning we had campers and tradies on the roof of the toilet block trying to rip off the roof cladding to access trapped people. Fire Commander turns up and despite being signs of live tells everyone to stand down and civilians to be removed from the site while an hour or more was spent evaluating the scene.

That Fire Commander was more concerned with H&S paper work and blow back from FENZ HQ than attempting to save trapped kids.
28 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:09am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Sadly if true that the Fire Commander ordered civilians to stop trying the save people who were trapped this will be yet another reflection of the basket case H&S bullshit. As a 74yo I can recall instances where everyone pitched in during an emergency and didnt stop to do a H&S audit before saving lives. We now live in a society thats over regulated where peoples lives are placed at risk in order to satisfy the RULES. How the hell did we get here.
  
  16 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:47am
  - AitchW
    
    Worksafe prosecutions. Worksafe prosecuted anyone remotely involved in White Island, destroyed livelihoods and caused god knows how much mental anguish.
    Worksafe has a culture of collecting scalps.
    Once they decide to hunt you down you need good lawyers and deep pockets even if you are innocent of the charges they later.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 1:00pm
  - Taieri
    
    How the hell did we get here
    ———-
    
    The current safety thinking is: do not place the rescuers at such a risk that they would have to be rescued themselves.
    There can be delays when the risk assessment has to be done and documented according to the formal approved procedures and this of course takes time. I’m not sure what are the formal requirements applicable to FENZ activities, but calling them a “basket case” is probably going a bit too far.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 2:16pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Yes indeed.
  NZ needs a practical law change , Much the same as International Salvage at sea.
  Best Endeavor which allows you to basically
  Do anything without fear from prosecution.
  Unfortunately NZ Police have a myopic view and consider NZ citizens as having no common sense which couldn’t be further from the truth.
  I’ve posted numerous times about this.
  More so because of NZ natural environment.
  White Island is testament to this as well as numerous other accounts.
  H&S in NZ needs gutted.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:54pm
- NothingLeft
  
  remove ruinously expensive feminine ‘safety uber alles’ mantra from all Govt Bureaucracies, replace with more masculine ‘balance risks against costs’. It’s faster, more efficient and eliminates a substantial fraction of wasteful bureaucracy.
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 2:54pm
Mr Nobody NZ

While there has been a lot of reporting about the tragedy at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Campground there are two points that have stood out:
1) The hillside started collapsing around 9.30am
2) One woman who is missing went around the camp at 0500 trying to wake people up to move out.

Its clear from community posts on Facebook that there was no urgent dispatch of emergency services until after the collapse had occurred when there is a number of posts discussing large numbers of vehicles heading toward the scene but nothing about the period between 0500 and 0930.

What happened?

Remember this is a council owned and operated campground.

https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/377222-camper-praises—-hero—-woman-in-shower-block.html
18 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:13am
- MCōs
  
  I don’t understand
  The woman is said to be waking people up at 5am, but the slip didn’t occur for another four and a half hours, apparently while she was in the shower block?
  These people, including her, didn’t seem to show much sense of urgency if that was the case.
  Reminds me of a doco I saw the other day. A plane skidded down a runway, lost a wing, flipped on its roof. Some survivors held everyone up getting out by retrieving their cabin luggage.
  I also read someone was getting a massage when there was a huge noise, but the massage carried on.
  What’s wrong with these people if all this is correct?
  
  8 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:55am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘What’s wrong with these people if all this is correct?’
    
    ‘These people, including her, didn’t……’
    
    Well on the face of it , that woman’s a hero who saved lives and sadly may have lost hers .
    
    Tragic .
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:14am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There were numerous slips happening (and are still occurring) yesterday.
    
    Clearly the woman recognised that part of the camp ground was in a vulnerable position after heavy rain and evidence of other slips.
    
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15486351/Mount-Maunganui-landslide-nz.html
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 12:29pm
- Paulus
  
  And Maori controlled !
  Iwi have talked already about banning everybody ( except themselves, of course) from their mountain for a year to start with – just what they always wanted.
  And paid for by Ratepayers still.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 2:25pm
RoboRob

On the Duncan Gardener podcast Ani O’Brien stated that people around Stuff say that they are gunning for Chris Luxons scalp this year. Highly inappropriate and poor form in an election year. Expect plenty of leadership rumour stories.

More concerning is that Duncan admits that he and Paddy Gower used to compete for how many scalps they could get. Having powerful players in the media gaming reporting for personal game is probably a large reason for the lack of trust and perceived bias in the media.

Aside from the above the podcast was well worth a listen. I thought the criticism of National by National supporter Ashley Church fairly on point. Not trying to take down National but pointing out mistakes in they are making. I think Ani O’Brien is a bit of a start and probably has a bright future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_DGOcmuXo
11 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:18am
- Isobar
  
  The thing about Stuff is that they are a private business. They can do what they like really.
  
  We simply have the choice not to engage with their content. Its that simple. People like Ani and others keep banging on about the evils of the msm. But they and everyone have a choice not to pay attention. Honestly, its way easier than getting grumpy and complaining about it all the time.
  
  6 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 12:06pm
- rouppe
  
  I heard Ani O’Brien on The Huddle yesterday (ZB afternoons) screeching on about Trump being just like the Nazis.
  
  Had nothing to say about Lefties storming a church. Our Lefties intimidating Jews on campus. Or Lefties burning shops and property. Not a Mensa candidate, that one
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:00pm
Cassandra

The ongoing search at The Mount still has no results. Awful news for the families. In the news reports there’s not been a mention of our Mayor. He still lives in Cambridge but stays with his mother at The Mount during the week. You’d have thought that he’d be front and centre. Not a glimpse.
16 4
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:23am
- imalwaysright
  
  Drysdale was quoted on the news as saying he didn’t get much sleep last night.
  Saw him on the news last night. He looked like someone who should go home and leave it to the experts.
  
  10 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:36am
  - Jethrod
    
    I do note that he seems to have put on a lot of the beef since leaving the scull.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:59am
- Chuck Bird
  
  He has been on the TV news and on ZB early this morning.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:41am
  - Cassandra
    
    Thanks for that. I watch/listen to neither.
    
    5 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 9:55am
  - greybeard
    
    I heard his interview with Hosking this morning, and asked myself “How, and why, did he become Mayor of Tauranga?”.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:01am
    - RoboRob
      
      Sadly becoming mayor of any city is about fame and name recognition. Thats how you get Drysdales and Bob Parkers as Mayor. Its also why ex politicians do well, they have the name recognition.
      
      16 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:14am
      - kowtow
        
        The fact that they scramble candidates names on the ballot papers , due to the first ones listed doing well , says it all .About local elections anyway.
        
        But that level of thickoism among voters has to leak into national level politics too.
        
        9 1
        Report
        January 23, 2026 10:39am
    - Paulus
      
      By Name familiarity and advertising only !
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 3:14pm
- Notsofast
  
  He was standing at the scene as the
  minister spoke.
  However he looks captured by maori, and this is a tragedy where iwi had cleared bush for the camp site, and this allowed the land slide. These facts need checking, but it looks serious.
  
  16 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 9:58am
  - BeaB
    
    I hope he’s better in the town hall than he appears on radio and TV. Dressed badly in an ill-fitting polo shirt stretched over his big belly, unable to speak clearly or coherently, looks like a local yokel alongside Mark Mitchell who isn’t the greatest orator but knows exactly what he wants to say and makes himself crystal clear. Mitchell also makes sure his hair is tidy and he is dressed in a shirt and jacket. All these things matter for credibility and confidence.
    
    19 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:13am
    - Ghost
      
      I’m pretty sure, right now, the families don’t give a stuff about how the mayor is dressed, or the childish anti Maori racist crap on this blog. Perhaps people could understand the situation and hand in their weetbix qualifications and think about the families and loved ones, instead of this bullshit you idiots are going on about
      
      10 22
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:31am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        I gave you am uptick.
        
        5 4
        Report
        January 23, 2026 11:30am
      - Skottowe
        
        “….the childish anti Maori racist crap on this blog.”
        
        What people think and say (and write on blogsites) isn’t racist. Society cannot stop people from expressing opinions, and nor should there be any attempt to do so.
        
        Racism is what governments do, by way of instituting societal systems or passing laws which discriminate against – or in favour of – distinct groups in society. The Maori electoral system is a priori racist.
        
        8 4
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:48pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Well spoken Ghost.
        But racism runs rife on this blog from time to time even tho one would expect it to be “controlled””
        
        3 6
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:51pm
      - Sir Henry Morgan
        
        Ghost, it seems people are dead in part because of Maori exceptionalism. Specifically, I mean Maori refusal to allow the taking of soil samples for ‘reasons’, removal of foreign trees to satisfy some kind of arboreal xenophobia. Yet somehow this gets twisted into the usual “white man racist”. It’s pathetic.
        
        I’m so tired of the endless banging on about “racism”. That horse, or perhaps rather that one-trick pony, was flogged to death years ago. Time to move on. No need to keep desecrating a corpse.
        
        3 3
        Report
        January 23, 2026 7:32pm
      - Ghost
        
        time people actually pull their heads in and comprehend what has happened, and what families are going through instead of beating their racist little crap on this blog about it. And yes, even though some of you want to pretend otherwise, these comments are racist, but some of you are so blinded by your own racism you sit here pretending the racism is from the Māori side and pretend making pathetic comments isn’t. Sad that so few of you actually want to stand up against racism on this blog and want to just bang on about Māori and pretend the comments aren’t racist and are acceptable. Thankfully, the younger generations are showing you are a dying breed
        
        3 5
        Report
        January 23, 2026 8:00pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Will the mountain be charged, it is after all a person?
    
    18 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 10:15am
    - Mr Nobody NZ
      
      Will the Iwi be held responsible for the costs?
      
      13 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 10:47am
      - Don Beckett
        
        I seem to recall that back in the 1950’s before the new camp ground was set up, they levelled the area where the pool etc. are now. In doing so, did they remove the toe of the sloping bank ? Because if they did, they took away the base of the slope.
        I can’t be sure, but I think if my assumption is correct, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Remember the landslide in Dunedin where they did similarly with the motorway.
        I think a similar slip happened on the sea side several decades ago when they had machinery widening the base track around the Mount.
        
        9 3
        Report
        January 23, 2026 11:03am
      - Mr Nobody NZ
        
        @Don Beckett
        I can’t seem to reply directly to you however if you look at historic photos ot the site such as (https://bitl.to/5a6w) it doesn’t appear that “significant” earthworks took place.
        
        1 2
        Report
        January 23, 2026 12:36pm
      - Notsofast
        
        They own the mountain I think.
        
        2 3
        Report
        January 23, 2026 12:49pm
      - Colville
        
        Don.
        I think its more likely that lack of stormwater control , in the paddock above ,of any type (cutoff swale drain) allowed runoff into historical slip debris , that turned to a few 100M3 of runny porridge and when the root systems holding it snapped away it went.
        
        Wettest day on record for Tauranga. 200mm of rain in 12 hours and 275 mm in 24 hours. That isnt going to soak in!
        
        6 0
        Report
        January 23, 2026 1:51pm
      - Taieri
        
        Remember the landslide in Dunedin where they did similarly with the motorway.
        ————-
        
        There’re historical land slips in that area and it was not suitable for housing. Still, the area was chosen for a subdivision. Sometimes the council planners know the best…
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:24pm
      - Notsofast
        
        Iwi demanded removal of large non native trees.
        Huge macrocarpas were removed from the slip site a few years ago.
        Let us see where this goes when ideology replaces science.
        Cam Slater:
        
        https://x.com/i/status/2014440643070988651
        
        5 2
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:26pm
      - Paulus
        
        No, the agreement I believe when local Maori were given the mountain a few years ago was that Council would pay all the costs – ie the reatepayers.
        
        4 2
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:29pm
    - Ghost
      
      An elderly lady and a 10 year old child, and you are making pathetic comments like this. some on this blog need to grow the hell up
      
      6 12
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 12:18pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Agree
        
        2 6
        Report
        January 23, 2026 1:13pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        ??? What sparked that outrage ????
        
        5 4
        Report
        January 23, 2026 2:51pm
      - Ghost
        
        Do you actually think don that these comments are appropriate when there have been people killed, people buried under the mudslide. If you do then that is pathetic and disgusting.
        
        A tragic event has happened and people want to vomit their usual racist crap about about it, have very little respect for what the families of those people are going through. Really some of you need to grow the hell up and stop acting like you are
        
        3 11
        Report
        January 23, 2026 3:43pm
Colville

To those who don’t believe Trump makes a positive difference to the world.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360928520/frances-navy-intercepts-shadow-fleet-oil-tanker-mediterranean-sailing-russia

Could anyone imagine the cheese eating surrender monkeys doing something like this a year ago before the USA started taking tankers and showing them to be fair game?

The tanker holds around one million barrels of crude… so $60mil US$ plus the boat (another $40Mil) for a afternoons training run for the lads… not a bad deal!!
11 9
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:29am
- NothingLeft
  
  While I am happy to see Russia get knobbled, It could easily go bad. Russians have far more submarines than USA, mostly unserviceable small diesel attack subs like kilo class, but when Putin gets more desperate he could sink a few neutral ships and really fuck up global shipping in order to force his tankers to be left alone.
  
  We all operate with assumption that the oceans of the world are free and safe for all to use, but that could change very quickly, and would particularly hurt NZ
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 3:01pm
- Christopher Thomson
  
  Particularly after that tanker was chased down and captured while being protected, apparently, by a Russian sub.
  
  It showed that Russia is weak.
  
  Italy nabbed one too.
  
  5 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 4:25pm
Rusty

I wonder how many people have had to buy new phones with the change to the 4G network?
7 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 9:29am
- sirknz
  
  If you’re still running a purely 3G phone today, you have definitely got your money’s worth out of it and are probably long overdue an upgrade.
  
  16 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:19am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, I had to purchase a new phone.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 11:06am
  - nova
    
    The problem is VoLTE, there are a lot of 4g phones that will stop working for calls and texts, even though they will work fine for data. This will be the majority of the problem, and not 3g only phones.
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 1:25pm
- greybeard
  
  Come on Rusty: this has been signalled for at least 2 years.
  
  1 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 6:21pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

It’s gone quiet on the date of the young Indian fellow who’s been an overstayer pretty much since birth. We’re told that there a tsunami of people younger than him, following in his wake.

An election issue, perhaps?
10 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 10:07am
Scooter

This is the same judge, Maria Pecotic who granted permanent name suppression to the member of a wealthy family who imported child sex abuse material.

Judge Maria Pecotic revealed McAuley had 45 convictions – of which 38 involve offending of a similar kind.

He will serve only 21 months in jail for his latest offence. When will Judges be held to account for their weak sentences?

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/serial-scammer-dean-mcauley-jailed-again-after-cleaning-out-91-year-old-s-bank-account/
16 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 10:17am
- kowtow
  
  ‘name suppression’
  
  They say “justice must be seen to be done”.
  Surely that must also include the name of the guilty party , if only to protect other vulnerable potential victims .
  
  Or aren’t the courts interested in protecting particularly vulnerable and/or society in general.
  
  10 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 10:43am
Maggy Wassilieff

Debbie is confused….

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360928057/tpm-co-leader-debbie-ngarewa-packer-i-could-work-winston-and-nz-first

Has she noticed that the Name of Winston’s Party is
NZ First – New Zealand First
i.e. NOT Aotearoa First or Māori First.?

Is she aware that Winston and NZ First don’t support Co-governance (aka “Bro-Governance”)?

https://www.nzfirst.nz/winston-peters-democracy-speech

You really have to wonder as to what goes on inside her head.
23 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 10:57am
- Philview
  
  Labour have always been firmly of the view that Winston was in the room when they discussed He Puapua. He was also in the room when they formulated the Oil and Gas exploration ban. I am not sure if he was asleep at those meetings but does raise a lot of concerns.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:10am
- R
  
  Inside her head?……NOT MUCH!
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:18am
- Swifty
  
  She has consistently and repeatedly attacked and criticised Peters in the recent past.
  
  https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMw_14434198-c90d-4e09-8cb5-8735db02995f
  
  This is pre-election lovey-dovey make-up talk from her.
  
  Backpedaling – to save her skin.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:26am
- Colville
  
  Ms Packer said she could work with Winston as long as he gave up on the policy of seabed mining… So I am assuming she means the Fast Tracking of the mining.
  That same Fast Track that is all that Shane Jones ever talks about and loves like a first born son?
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 11:35am
- Ian
  
  Not only that, but she’s saying the left, if they get in, should be a a four party coalition – Labour, Greens, NZ First, TPM. I want to be a Minister, she says. If it goes Labour, Greens and NZ First with enough to take the benches, why would they need TPM – she’s begging, I think…
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 12:24pm
- AitchW
  
  Crickets most of the time. With the odd waiata for good measure.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:04pm
Don Beckett

Wasn’t it Winston who criticised her for having a moko, because she is more Irish than she is Maori ?
17 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 11:09am
- Notsofast
  
  The moko is the greatest unforced error in aesthetics, complete disaster.
  Mind you any tattoo or metal is an unforced error.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:11pm
Maggy Wassilieff

For those wanting a historical view on our latest disaster:

1. Landslide inventory for Mt Maunganui (1943-2011)

https://cgs.ca/docs/geohazards/kingston2014/Geo2014/pdfs/geoHaz6Paper104.pdf

2. Decades ago hubby was involved in a research project on the acoustics of heavy rainfall on classrooms with different roof materials.

He remembers some of the data they were using (from the Met Office) about high intensity rainfalls across NZ talked of “Tauranga Torrentials”.
(Clearly not a recent problem)
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 12:54pm
- imalwaysright
  
  The Mount is located in an exposed area and is composed of materials that are relatively weak and unstable.
  Building anything at the base of such a geological feature is risky.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:23pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  and it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out from Fig. 4. that the site of yesterday’s tragic slip was the site of land instability in 1977.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 1:27pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, I noticed that also.
    So the engineers/architects who rebuilt the amenities failed to consult the record.
    Big Fail.
    It would appear that the toe of the slope was removed.
    
    9 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 3:00pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      This is reinforced by a commenter who posted an old photo of the area concerned. That would suggest that earthworks were done to make the site more level.
      
      7 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 23, 2026 6:00pm
- Southern Raider
  
  Cameron Slater is posting that large trees at the top of the slip site at Mt Maunganui were removed by Council at request of Iwi as they only wanted native trees on the mountain.
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 3:21pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Iwi wouldn’t let the researchers in the paper referenced above take soil samples from old slip sites
    
    Samples could not be collected from Mount Maunganui for laboratory testing because of the heritage and cultural significance of this site to the local people.
    
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263090746_Spatio-temporal_distribution_of_mass_movements_on_Mount_Maunganui_New_Zealand
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 23, 2026 5:54pm
Jack5

The Herald socks it to the Centre-Right — again.

Main headline on Herald web site at 1.25pm:

First victims of
landslides identified;
anxious relatives await
details; PM heckled
touring flood-hit region

No apparent explanation follows of why or where PM’s been heckled, nor who heckled him.
10 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 1:30pm
- Albie
  
  Heard it on ZB at 4:00pm. Screeching protesters blaming the PM for the weather, with the obligatory unchallenged comments from Chippy.
  I thought ZB news was better than that. Obviously not.
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 5:15pm
- Southern Raider
  
  Was at a Coromandel town while Luxon was talking to business owners.
  
  Half a dozen old climate activists blaming the Coalition for the floods
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 23, 2026 6:48pm
Southern Raider

Iwi leaders already using the tragedy to claim more control.

They want the Mount closed to everyone (but Iwi) permanently.
14 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 3:22pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360928729/kaumatua-calls-permanent-closure-mauao-after-landslide
More maori language rubbish.
6 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 23, 2026 6:16pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« My polling predictions at Newsroom

Hipkins making it up »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

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

Links

"The principal view of human laws is, or ought always to be, to explain, protect, and enforce such rights as are absolute, which in themselves are few and simple."
Not PC
When is a Free Speech Union not a Free Speech Union?
The Standard
We Are a Country That Decided Housing Was The Economy
No Minister
My Opening Statement for the UATX Caplan-Jones Immigration Rematch
Utopia
Woman of the day
Hompaddock
Playing with numbers.
Kiwipolitico
A lot of fuss about a simple Bill – its purpose (to make English an official language) is spelled out in 22 words
Point of Order
A crime
No Right Turn
Another non-tariff barrier
Offsetting Behaviour
Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 18
Stats Chat
Budget 2026
NZCPR
UK Conversion Therapy Ban, Digital ID, Rallies, Elections
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: