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March 28, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 28 March 2026

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Cassandra

Headline in The Times this morning: “Brace yourself: history shows that most oil shocks lead to a recession”.

The author is Niall Ferguson, no dummy, and the article substantiates his thesis, quoting example after example. But wryly noting that economists have predicted 8 of the last 5 recessions.

This might get difficult, not least for National which is dealing with a very weird electorate eg voters who are willing to give Labour another go, a party which has demonstrated fully that it’s not fit to govern.
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March 28, 2026 8:01am
- pdm
  
  `voters who are willing to give Labour another go’.
  
  or is it this Cass?
  
  Voters who seem willing at the moment, roughly 6 months before an election, to give Labour another go.
  
  One can but hope it is the latter.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:38am
  - jkt
    
    Yeah, Chippie will sort this out …. He has the record …..
    
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    March 28, 2026 8:49am
    - Jethrod
      
      He’s not on the record for anything!
      
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      March 28, 2026 9:34am
      - R
        
        Hipkins is on record!, but not for anything successful nor complimentary.
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:38am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, he’s on record for lying daily, for treating NZers as lepers, and now he agrees he was told about the jabs for kids but kept it quiet, then evidence comes forward showing they did take the refinery issue to cabinet, now trr we ll ne his wife was lying
      
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      March 28, 2026 11:52am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      The pied piper of the young and dumb together with the cashed up posers (aka The Chardonnay Socialists).
      
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      March 28, 2026 5:06pm
  - Boy Geoff
    
    Why did the Herald break ranks with the rest of the media coalition to write an article less than complimentary on Hipkins yesterday?
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:13am
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      They smell the blood in the water.
      
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      March 28, 2026 9:31am
    - pdm
      
      I either read or heard somewhere that a lot of pressure had to be applied on Herald Editors to get them to publish that story.
      
      May have been someone with Kerre Woodham saying that but, not sure now.
      
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      March 28, 2026 9:37am
      - R
        
        Clearly some junior/middle status journalists can sense the demise of the Herald, and their employment, unless the editorial stance changes which will hopefully lead to the reinstatement of the TAXPAYER FUNDED economic liferaft called the PIJF
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:44am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Just perhaps there was kids of the corrupt media harmed by the Hipkins lies
      
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      March 28, 2026 11:53am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Have you considered the changes on the board and their substantial shareholders committment to getting the herald back to producing balanced reporting.
      AND
      Please dont give me the tosh that the editor has total editorial freedom.
      
      Consider if he/she/it/they dont abide bythe boards desires, then they are out of a job.
      
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      March 28, 2026 5:39pm
- Philview
  
  New Zealand has been barely out of recession since Covid. It hasn’t been helped by the media having such a continual negative pitch against the current government. There is an ideological battle going on around Marxist/Maori rights which is consuming the country.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:41am
- surfing
  
  Not willing to give labour another go but National under Luxon is a woke left leaning party that wouldn’t really be differentiated from the labour of 20 years ago.
  
  We need something like the UK reform party — Act isn’t it.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:47am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    You might like an alt right party, but 90% will not vote for that, Britain does not have MMP lunacy, Nats have to court the centre or even straddle it, that’s thanks to the idiotic MMP we are saddled with
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:56am
  - pdm
    
    I think you are wrong about ACT. They just need to get to 15/20% of Party Vote to have enough influence to get things done.
    
    They have the ideas – not the votes.
    
    The most articulate Party leader of the current Parliament is David Seymour and neither Luxon, Peters or Hipkins knows more about what is happening re legislation etc than he does.
    
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    March 28, 2026 3:07pm
    - R
      
      ACT has no broad resume of policies. Seymour is very much the north American style. He comes across as an arrogantly superior ego, not the qualities of a potential MP to lead us out of the present stagnation
      
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      March 28, 2026 7:01pm
Souvlaki

At a time when we are essentially bankrupt…Peters vote buying atttempts plumb new depths!
This, and taunting the populace that he WOULD consider Labour if Hipkins weren’t leader, suggests he’s gone off the rails!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/590827/nz-first-commits-to-15-million-towards-christ-church-cathedral-rebuild-if-elected
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March 28, 2026 8:05am
- Cassandra
  
  Actually I think Peters makes a good case for this. He’s offering a third of the total needed to finish the job. A completed cathedral would be good for Canterbury and therefore for the country.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:07am
  - RoboRob
    
    Some info from memory….
    
    The church didn’t want to rebuild, the cathedral wasn’t fit for purpose before the quakes.
    
    Jim Anderson and the medow mushroom guy ran a campaign to force the church to rebuild. Eventually using lawyers.
    
    The rebuild cost was to be 90 aish million. Jim and co promised that if it went over budget then there were plenty of donors willing to cover the cost.
    
    The ccc gave 10m., without community consent and tacked an extra levy on rates to pay for it. People were pissed off and the council promised no more money.
    
    The rebuild went over budget, about 140m spent so far from memory. Now the rebuild is expected to need another 90m. The council is once again being chased for money and there are apparently plenty of donors again if only the council and government would come to the party.
    
    If it is completed it will have cost about 250m. Now consider that the new 30000 stadium cost 600m ish. The cathedral is small, people have bigger houses!
    
    Re the community. Yes some older people might dream of it being rebuilt but I would guess that 80+ percent dont give a fuck and would love it to be bulldozed so that the square can be finished.
    
    No more tax payer money, central or local. Winston is right politically, his older voters might like his bribe BUT it’s the wrong thing to do.
    
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    March 28, 2026 8:33am
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      Yup, I tend to agree,
      
      While the Chch catedral was somewhat iconic (“world famous in New Zealand”), let us not kid ourselves.
      
      Sure, people might stop for a quick selfie as they walk past, but nobody is traveling half way around the world to see the Christchurch cathedral. It is not an actual tourist attraction.
      
      If people wanted to see historic buildings they would go to Europe, They come here for the scenery.
      
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      March 28, 2026 9:04am
      - David Garrett
        
        cmm: George Bernard Shaw came to NZ in the 1930’s and toured the country. In Christchurch he was asked what he thought of “the Cathedral”. He said it was lovely, but what was it doing down by the gas works?
        
        He was referring to the now demolished Catholic cathedral on Barbadoes street. Old George didn’t think much of “the other one” in the square, saying:
        
        It was not a mere copy as he regretted to say the Church of England Cathedral was. There was nothing in that. It was absolutely academic.
        
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        March 28, 2026 9:13am
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        DG: It is rather a Temu copy too.
        
        In fact the only thing that is (or now more correctly, was) at all noteworthy was the fake spire that was constructed of lightweight materials to resist earthquakes which it did admirably until the 6.3 said “hold my beer”.
        
        Yes, the Basillica was impressive – even if kept round the back for the working class people.
        
        I think God has spoken. He doesn’t want His House on the square. Who are us mere mortals to decide to build another?
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:51am
      - Jack5
        
        DG, in his 9.13 post, touched on famous comments about Christchurch’s two cathedrals (the Catholic Cathedral was destroyed in the earthquake).
        
        Here’s what George Bernard Shaw said about the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals in Christchurch, as reported in the Press of 10 April, 1934.
        
        When Mr Shaw saw the Catholic Cathedral he suddenly thought of Brunelleschi, and he went in and looked at it. He saw they had already produced a New Zealand Brunelleschi. They had the classical style with all its merits and, nevertheless, the arrangement was very original. It was not a mere copy as he regretted to say, the Church of England Cathedral was. There was absolutely nothing in that. It was absolutely academic. The other cathedral was original and beautifully treated.
        
        Shaw also said of Christchurch’s Catholic Cathedral:
        
        There should be cathedrals like that in every town in New Zealand. It should be an attraction just as the church or cathedral is a great attraction in almost all the towns of Europe, the first thing you go to see …
        
        New Zealand should build half a dozen other churches, said Mr Shaw, simply to encourage that gentleman [the architect] and keep him alive. He supposed this architect was building little villas and wasting his time.
        
        Filippo Brunelleschi was a renown architect, sculptor and engineer in 15th century Florence.
        
        The architect who designed the Christchurch Catholic Cathedral was Francis Petre.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:33pm
    - Paulus
      
      Remember that Jim Anderton and his cohorts in this regard were Roman Catholics and therefore had no truck with the restoration of the Anglican Cathedral.
      He remained a staunch Labourite who would do anything to both embarrass the Anglican Church and the Governbment.
      Nasty little man !
      
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      March 28, 2026 9:22am
      - David Garrett
        
        Paulus: According to Roger Douglas, Anderton also cheated at cricket!
        
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        March 28, 2026 9:23am
      - pdm
        
        DG you would not want to have played Golf with Anderton then.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:09pm
      - peterwn
        
        And an activist judge who thought the Courts could tell the Anglican Church how to run its affair.
        
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        March 28, 2026 5:42pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      The bricks and mortar are (should be) irrelevant to a congregation as this act of God should remind us.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:42am
  - jkt
    
    Escalation trap.
    Should have let the church deal with this.
    
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    March 28, 2026 8:52am
    - Scott
      
      jkt – as detailed in a comment above the Anglican church tried to deal with it. The insurance money would have paid for the demolition of the old building and the construction of a new cathedral. It was Anderton and one other that took them to court and the court decided they needed to rebuild the old cathedral.
      
      If the church had its way the new cathedral would have been built by now at no cost to the taxpayers and ratepayers. The insurance money would have paid for it.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:11am
      - jkt
        
        The church was drawn into the escalation trap.
        
        There was a sensible regime, then there was regime change and the new regime folded to pressure.
        
        The first regime took advice from god, as did the second regime ….. I wonder why god changed his advice ….
        
        🫣
        
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        March 28, 2026 11:15am
      - peterwn
        
        There was no way that the insurance payout would have covered the restoration of the cathedral. It was most probably an ‘indemnity’ payout which may have have covered building the ‘cardboard’ cathedral (which is on the site of former church which was totalled in the earthquakes.
        
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        March 28, 2026 5:47pm
      - Scott
        
        Peterwn – the insurance was to demolish the wrecked cathedral and build a new one. That would have been very achievable and if left to their own devices the Anglicans would have built the new cathedral by now.
        
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        March 28, 2026 6:42pm
    - wisteria
      
      Communities built churches eons ago for their communities to meet in. The Frauenkirche in Dresden was bombed during WW2.
      “The Frauenkirche was not rebuilt by a single government or sponsor—it was a global effort, driven largely by grassroots donations and supported by governments and organizations as a symbol of peace and reconciliation after World War II.”
      This Church was finally finished several years ago , many years after it was destroyed by a UK bomb. The Christchurch cathedral will be rebuilt when the time is right and the will to do it is there. Since its demise was an earthquake why would the Government rebuild it.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:39am
      - Jack5
        
        Or, Christchurch’s cathedral could be a tourist draw and memorial as an earthquake ruin, like Berlin’s famous Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, a ruin of war:
        
        https://www.dreamstime.com/kaiser-wilhelm-ged%C3%A4chtniskirche-protestant-church-berlin-ruin-imperial-not-rebuilt-as-reminder-world-war-ii-known-image259910021
        
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        March 28, 2026 11:56am
  - AitchW
    
    Let the staggeringly wealthy Anglican Church pay for it!
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:09am
    - peterwn
      
      OK, modern accounting standards (which have to be followed by charitable organisations) may well show a ‘staggering’ amount. But it would be the value of a multitude of churches, halls, vicarages etc. Also there would be a multitude of trusts within the accounts and the money held on behalf of the trusts need to be utilised for the stated purposes and not diverted for other purposes. There is no Money Bin containing heaps of cash at the general disposal of the Church. Following the earthquakes the Bishop’s main objective was to meet the welfare and religious of its members (and anyone else wanting support) in the Canterbury region. Rebuilding the Cathedral was well down on the Bishop’s priorities.
      
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      March 28, 2026 5:57pm
  - Chris R
    
    What about the other Cathedral in Christchurch? Would not the completion of its re-build not be “good for Canterbury and therefore the country?” I detect palpable bias in your pondering or do you expect the Vatican to stump up for the costs?
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:47am
    - Don Beckett
      
      The Catholic cathedral is being re-built close to the old site, but I don’t think it is a replica of the old Byzantine style cathedral – but I could be wrong.
      The new Catholic bishop Michael Geilen is an old friend of mine – a really good guy. He used to be the parish priest of Mt. Maunganui, and in my building days did a lot of work for him.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:40am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    So what ever happened to the half a billion dollars that was required
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:57am
  - sungsamning
    
    Maybe, but its not a legitimate line item for government funding. The Anglican church is just the Labour party at prayer. Government shouldn’t be spending any money on religious organizations.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:22pm
- The Goblin
  
  Thought I read recently the church had abandoned the idea of rebuilding it?
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:37am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, because they’ve run out of other peoples money.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:22pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Time to put a line in the sand over the Cathedral. No more money spent, stabilise it and leave it as a monument to the power of nature, poor 19th century building practices and modern poor decision making. Either that or put a bulldozer through it and create more open space in the Square.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:57am
  - Burtland
    
    modern poor decision making …
    
    – accept massively discounted insurance payouts
    – prioritize the use the insurance unwisely – townhall rebuild, lancaster park
    – gold plated new-build facilities – library, townhall, court theater, piano room
    – leave the repair of the expensive stuff til last to let inflation destroy them
    
    Christchurch was lucky to build the stadium – it will be the last major project built locally – modern construction is now unaffordable.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:32am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    A line in the sand had already been drawn
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:00pm
- Dougal10
  
  Its a given that he will hold the balance of power , so the committee should get cracking and try to get within 15 million of the target.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:58am
- igm
  
  The “Great Charlatan” will do anything to reap a few baubles.
  Remember, he gave us Ardern!
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:09am
  - David Garrett
    
    igm: I take credit for naming Peters “The Great Charlatan”… you don’t see it used anywhere but here.
    
    Whenever I see he word “baubles” I smile – Peters himself popularized that word, claiming that he wasn’t interested in the “baubles of office”, when of course they are his primary motivation.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:46am
    - igm
      
      I must agree, I referred to him as “Toxic Gnome”, but “The Great Charlatan” is definitely more appropriate, especially of late.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:41am
  - artemisia
    
    Mr Peters has a significant constituency across the nation. Like any politician he is keeping that constituency well in mind. Though have to say he is doing it way better than some. And he and his supporters are well aware that the more clout he and NZF have the more likely they will see what will be on the table.
    
    Am not a NZF voter but credit where it is due to looking out for their constituents.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:19am
    - sungsamning
      
      At NZF meetings I’ve attended; there has been no talk of restoring the Anglican Cathederal. I don’t support this brainfart.
      
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      March 28, 2026 1:26pm
  - R
    
    But Ardern didn’t give him the ultimate bauble – a knighthood-. Obviously Winston is not too bright, you would think that he would be wary of socialist promises. A slow learner?
    
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    March 28, 2026 2:36pm
    - pdm
      
      R I disagree.
      
      The ultimate BAUBLE for Peters is a stint as Prime Minister.
      
      There is a chance he could get it from whomever is leading Labour even if they have to dump Hipkins to have Peters go with them.
      
      ACT will stop it dead from happening with current Coalition members. I reckon they would go to the cross benches rather than give consent.
      
      ACT would then give Confidence and Supply to keep the left out but, scrutinise legislation on a case by case basis.
      
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      March 28, 2026 3:18pm
      - R
        
        So you support another three year term of ideologically derived stagnation!
        
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        March 28, 2026 7:16pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Skanky politics from Peters. NZ has a growing number of serious problems, and this announcement doesn’t address any of them. The Chch cathedral was an architectural mediocrity – if the Anglicans really want to restore it, let them pass the hat around in church. And no this is not a “sectarian” position – despite what my username might suggest to some, I’m not a Catholic.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:16am
  - Don Beckett
    
    We won’t hold that against you. 😆
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:43am
  - jkt
    
    To be fair … the church was pressured into the rebuild.
    
    God speaks, man chooses to listen or ignore his messages.
    
    Even god did not like that cathedral.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:21am
    - sungsamning
      
      The then Dean used the insurance payout to build the Cardboard Cathederal. Then along came Jim Anderton, and Philip Burdon as wannabe fairy godmothers. That effort stalled. And the second effort has too.
      
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      March 28, 2026 1:31pm
    - Paulus
      
      I remember a group of us teenagers visiting the ruins left of Coventry Cathedral, and how wonderfully it had been left as a profound memory.
      Let us forget !
      
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      March 28, 2026 1:44pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Surely that should be: Lest we forget.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:13pm
  - Burtland
    
    the anglicans dont want to restore it – but are happy for someone else to restore it
    
    all their other historical stone churches have largely been demolished
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:44am
  - sungsamning
    
    Going by the attendance at Anglican services I’ve been to; you’d be lucky to collect enough money for a new altar cloth.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:27pm
- G152
  
  Isnt there some religious being who ‘dwells’ within those walls rent free?
  Get it to pay
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:18am
  - sungsamning
    
    I think he left the Anglican church some time ago. They’re on their own.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:28pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  We all know the only good pork barrel spends are roads and rail links in Auckland and bike lanes in Auckland and Wellington of course.
  Woe betide we spend money finishing the Chch rebuild.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:29am
- R
  
  The only rails Winston has been on, for some year’s, are the ones leading to Winston self-grandisment station-status
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:48am
- sungsamning
  
  I hope that gets shot down during the coalition negotiations next time.
  
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  March 28, 2026 1:19pm
Cassandra

The Australian Institute of Foreign Affairs: “The debate over whether recent military actions were “justified” is, to a large extent, misframed. Iran was not targeted for a singular action, but for what might be described as the totality of its strategic posture. Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has combined ideological hostility, regional activism, and military innovation into a durable model of influence projection. Its ballistic missile development, its extensive use of non-state proxies across the Levant and the Gulf, and its sustained rhetorical hostility toward Israel have not emerged episodically, but constitute core features of the regime’s identity.”

It’s a long article but the gist is that the US action is justifiable. “The invocation of legal norms in this case sits uneasily alongside the nature of the regime it seeks to protect.”

I think it’s a pity that Trump didn’t (or was unable to) get support from allies. This has been coming a long time. It should have happened years ago.

All that’s necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

The article concludes: “Restoring nuance to this debate is not an exercise in equivocation. It is a prerequisite for any serious effort to navigate the complexities of contemporary geopolitics.”

Not bad advice!
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March 28, 2026 8:05am
- Simon
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Iran rejects gay marriage and neoliberalism. That’s why they are being attacked.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:37am
  - Jethrod
    
    I think it is slightly deeper than that.
    Deduct one.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:42am
    - Wandering Star
      
      Yes, if “neoliberalism” means “raped at will by globalists centred in Wall Street and the City of London, with dual citizenship of Israel” then yes, Iran is being attacked for rejecting neoliberalism.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:12am
  - David Garrett
    
    Simon: Utter rubbish. You need to do some reading. Iran is an authoritarian theocratic state, which tolerates nothing – not just “gay marriage and neo-liberalism” – that is not consistent with the teachings and writings of a poorly educated paedophile in the sixth century.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:49am
    - Wandering Star
      
      Then why aren’t we attacking Saudi Arabia, David, which is even more hardcore Islamic than Iran?
      
      If you think about the “they’re horrible backwards Muslim theocrats” anti-Iran pretext for five seconds, it collapses under the weight of “our” alliances with places like the Gulf states and Egypt.
      
      Iran is “our enemy” simply because they don’t supplicate to and acquiesce to Israel, and the hostility towards Iran is solely due to this non-compliance – any other reason people talk about is just a smokescreen to distract from reality.
      
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      March 28, 2026 10:16am
      - David Garrett
        
        WS: Tell me -I am genuinely curious: why are you so fervently anti-semitic? Although you claim otherwise, you are clearly poorly read – mainly Irving and Mein Kampf I suspect. You certainly dismiss all the mainstream experts as “pop historians”.
        
        Did a Jewish girl jilt you at the altar? Did some Jewish lad give you a hiding? Or perhaps some obscure relative lost his land during the depression which you blame on the Jews…What is it?
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:34am
      - David Garrett
        
        But to answer your question about Saudi, Yes, the Yanks have always been somewhat hypocritical about turning a blind eye to their Islamic excesses.
        
        But then they have always had cordial relations with the Saudis going right back to the 1930’s when oil was discovered in huge quantities there, and Aramco was formed; essentially a partnership between western technical expertise and huge oil reserves. The Brits had a similar arrangement in Iran, then Persia.
        
        But fast forward to today, Saudi is moving – albeit very slowly – in a western direction, for example allowing women to drive, and IIRC relaxing the “rule” that no woman can leave her home without male chaperone. Iran is, if anything, going in the opposite direction, killing women for – to give just one example – “improperly wearing the hijab”
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:48am
      - Wandering Star
        
        So, David Garrett calls me “antisemitic” – but so what? So does everyone else without an argument on this and related topics, and in every case, it’s just a label.
        
        I may ask you why are you so “anti-Islamic”? Did a Muslim girl reject your clumsy advances? Likely, but probably not an influence on your anti-Islamism. Your view is likely just based on observation.
        
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        March 28, 2026 11:51am
      - jkt
        
        Wandering star:
        A bit sensitive!
        
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        March 28, 2026 2:15pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “Wandering star:
        A bit sensitive!”
        
        Nah, as long as I’m called names rather than being demonstrated to be wrong, then I’m fine with that.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:44pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      To be fair DG marrying per-pubescent kids was pretty widespread in the region and the era. The reason was probably incredibly short life-spans due to widespread malnutrition, disease and war. I think for the general pleb most people were lucky to make it to age 35.
      
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      March 28, 2026 5:13pm
- Drone
  
  The reality is that Israel and the West didn’t like their tame puppet government being replaced in 1979, and have long sought to punish Iran with sanctions and threats. If anyone believes that stability will rise out of the current chaos just look at Iraq and Afghanistan.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:41am
  - Wandering Star
    
    Iran is a huge nation with significant human and natural resources which, quite clearly, makes Iran a potential challenger to Israel. The years-long project to neutralise Iran is the last jewel of the crown in terms of the “mosaic theory” of ensuring Israeli regional dominance, which means breaking up larger coherent political units (e.g. Iraq, Syria, Libya and so on) into ineffectual smaller units with no ability to assert sovereignty.
    
    All of the chaos of the last 20 or 30 years has been, more or less, about the imperative of “keeping Israel safe” (which, like “Israel has a right to exist/defend itself” is just Orwellian propaganda language) – the obvious irony is that nobody in the region is safe from the hegemonic designs of the Israelis. These people are now even talking openly of taking out Turkey, such is the sense of entitlement that nobody should ever have the ability stand in their way.
    
    The delusional (or more likely, completely dishonest) people who come onto this blog and seriously claim that the reason Iran is being bombed now, and has been in the cross hairs for the preceding 50 years, is because girls can’t wear miniskirts (which is not true anyway), because the Iranian regime are a bunch of meanies, and because they hate Jews for no reason at all should be mocked for their gullibility and stark lack of intelligence.
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:32am
    - David Garrett
      
      WS: you frequently refer to the supposed “stark lack of intelligence” of your fellow commenters; clearly the implication is that you have greatly superior intelligence – and knowledge – compared to the rest of us.
      
      But despite being asked several times, you always evade questions regarding your education. So I challenge you again to “put up or shut up”. I’ll go first: I have a BA in history and politics, and an LL.B (Hons), both from Canterbury.
      
      Where did you go to school? Did you graduate, and if so with what?
      
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      March 28, 2026 11:03am
      - Wandering Star
        
        [Mod – take it elsewhere]
        
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        March 28, 2026 11:15am
      - David Garrett
        
        …and now wait for the evasive responses:
        
        “I am not getting into petty debates about qualifications”; “My education is none of your business”; “I am widely read enough not to take much notice of the ‘pop historians’ you obviously put so much store in” … anything but a straight answer.
        
        BTW for those readers who know little of WS’s hero Irving, among the latters many outrageous claims is that the holocaust never happened, that disease killed the vast majority of those who died in the concentration camps (even Irving doesn’t deny they existed) and the cherry on top:
        
        “Adolf Hitler was the best friend the Jews ever had”.
        
        Google is your friend for anyone who doubts anyone could have said something so utterly ridiculous
        
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        March 28, 2026 11:25am
      - David Garrett
        
        LOL I didn’t see his responce before it was deleted by Mod …but I can guess … and I’m sure it was anything but a straight answer to my questions.
        
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        March 28, 2026 12:45pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “Adolf Hitler was the best friend the Jews ever had”.
        
        In the sense that antisemitism in Europe was a large factor in driving Jews to Israel and the formation of Israel, then this is quite a sensible observation, even if it requires deeper thinking to see the point Irving was making.
        
        The broader point is that the more “antisemtism” that exists (or is claimed to exist), the more Jews are united as a defensive reaction. Nothing is better for group cohesion than some perceived outside threat, and a the feeling of a common cause to fight it. Being a tiny group, lack of Jewish cohesion would be fatal for the perpetuation of the group, so an “us versus them” mentality is crucial.
        
        In fact, radical Zionist terror groups like the Haganah, Lehi et al pre-1948 did in fact themselves enact a campaign of terror against Jews elsewhere in the Middle East (Iraq, Egypt etc.) aimed at scaring Jews into coming to Israel in service of the Zionist project. Quite rational, really, even if Machiavellian.
        
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        March 28, 2026 1:52pm
      - David Garrett
        
        [Mod – ENOUGH!!!!!. This little pissing match between the two of you stops now]
        
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        March 28, 2026 2:00pm
      - grumpy
        
        Great qualificatiions to have David. My grandaughter has just finished something similar, LLB and BA in Politics and I am amazed at the high level of critical thinking and academic rigour required. If I had my time again I think those qualifications are what I would go for.
        FWIW, mine are BE(Electrical) and NZCE (Mechanical). Very boring by comparison.
        
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        March 28, 2026 2:53pm
      - David Garrett
        
        grumpy: You are being unessesarily modest my boy…at Canterbury, “the engineers” were the ones we knew were smarter than us…way smarter. David Lange once said the only thing you needed to become a lawyer was an IQ comfortably north of 100, and a good memory. There is much in that.
        
        I am very glad I had the luxury of doing a BA as well as the law degree – back when fees were a few hundred a year. Although I have a double major politics and history, the paper I remember as contributing more than any other to my general knowledge was Psych 101; much of what I learned doing that paper remains with me today. (I couldn’t do Psych as a major because you need to be able to do stats, and I am crap at maths).
        
        I think it’s a great shame that todays students – including my very bright daughter – just can’t afford to do an extra year just for knowledge’s sake.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:35pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Yes I have noticed it is a feature of WS’s anti Israel/Jew propaganda that he/she/it evades pertinent questions.
        
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        March 28, 2026 5:16pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        David, who cares what so called education people like Wandering have??
        Many university Dropouts have very good rational and exceptional thinking skills (Steve Jobs, Elon Musk to mention a few)
        
        We can assume by his posts he has a rational, thinking mind that takes on a challenge to address popular(in his/hers/them) misconceptions.
        
        So(like many University wonks) you have a degree in what your Lecturers taught you…Remembering the attitude to current University professors as marxist lefties… What were you getting told????
        
        Think you might be the first to agree. You learnt way more about law by practicing law than what you learnt at university.
        
        The arrogance of people with University degrees always astounds me, especially when said graduates are often pig ignorant about the real world.
        
        So stop issuing personal insults(which are against Kiwiblog policy) and debate the issues.
        
        You accuse Wandering og being an anti Semite for expressing opinions about Israeli and American Jewish lobbies aims and actions.
        
        If anything he may qualify as an anti Zionist.
        
        But antisemite is a common insult thrown around in todays society when anybody critiques Israel politics and policies and lazy commenters who dont want to address the subject under discussion.
        
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        March 28, 2026 6:01pm
      - grumpy
        
        Yes, we thought we were wonderful and our drinking was legendary. However my grandaughter’s BA was a major in politics and a minor in psychology. She didn’t take psych as a major because of the statistics – hah!
        I read all her psych lectures and most of the politics. I still believe if I was younger, I would do the same subjects she did.
        
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        March 28, 2026 6:08pm
    - Notsofast
      
      WS, It is a given that Israel wants an ally not an enemy in Iran, so your post is nonsense.
      Iranians and jews have strong education systems, they will be a formidable civilizing block among the barbarians like the Palestinians.
      
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      March 28, 2026 12:38pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Notso: Pretty much everything he posts on the ME is nonsense. Note his latest, in which he confirms that Irving says “Hitler was the best friend the Jews ever had”, and then tries to justify that absurd comment by some tortured reasoning…of course my intellect is nothing like his, but if I understand the argument correctly, that statement is correct because it gave the Jews an incentive to fuck off to Palestine and create a homeland…or something.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:41pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        It’s not “tortured reasoning” at all, just sophisticated reasoning that goes beyond simple black and white oppositions.
        
        If, as was the case, the Zionists were struggling the convince European Jews to emigrate to a strip of land in the Levant in the middle of nowhere (and why would they want to leave Europe to live there?) then it’s quite reasonable to suggest that the antisemitic (aka pro-Germanic) policies of the Nazis would provide good encouragement to go to the Land of the Jews. This is a completely rational line of argument.
        
        Not only that, but the Nazis and Zionists entered into the Haavara Agreement as a mutually beneficial means to facilitate the population transfer from Germany to Palestine:
        
        https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/haavara
        
        “[A]n agreement with the German government in August 1933, to facilitate the emigration of Jews to Palestine by allowing the transfer of their capital in the form of German export goods. The Haavara Agreement is an instance where the question of Jewish rights, Zionist needs and individual rescue were in deep tension. Jewish organizations outside of Germany had declared a boycott against German goods and hoped to delegitimate the Nazi regime. The Zionists saw this agreement as a way of attracting Jews to Palestine and thus rescuing them from the Nazi universe even if that meant cooperation with Hitler.”
        
        If someone is not aware of facts like this, they’ll be surprised when someone else makes a case on basis of the facts.
        
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        March 28, 2026 5:18pm
- David George
  
  Thanks Cassandra,
  can you please put up a link to that article.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:46am
  - All_on_Red
    
    https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/beyond-simplistic-narratives-iran-nuclear-risk-and-the-politics-of-escalation/
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:14am
  - Cassandra
    
    I wish! Just go to the website. I think it’s an open one.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:42am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Stumbled across this link yesterday.
    A quite different take on the current war in Iran and its challenges. A Turkish Retired General
    
    Its not as black and white as western media show it.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kPOsZpEJ4E
    
    Also watched
    An Indian General talking about results of wargaming
    The boots on the ground in Iran scenario
    (spoiler invaders lost)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3m6fni4XOM
    
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    March 28, 2026 6:13pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  The US is exposing that the traditional allies can no longer be relied upon.
  
  Most of Europe has broken its military to pay for burgeoning welfare. Those populations are soft and dissolute like spoiled children.
  
  The politicians have sold out to the muslim invaders.
  
  The only ally is Israel who have lived under the attacks of the Iranians and its proxy military. They truely understand the nature of the beast.
  
  The US and Israel are cutting the head off the Gorgon. Wish them every success for the world will be a better place when they finally decapitate this monster.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:47am
  - Jethrod
    
    They are going to make Iran more attractive so they can return all the illegal immigrants.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:45am
- Agricola
  
  Thanks Cass. Great item
  Here’s the link
  https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/beyond-simplistic-narratives-iran-nuclear-risk-and-the-politics-of-escalation/
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:51am
- MCōs
  
  We’ve heard similar talk before as a justification from America to invade places.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:15am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Problem is Iran publicly reported they were 2 weeks away from Nuclear bombs and once again they would use them on Big Satan and the little Satan, but here we are again at the edge of a world war because they hate Jews
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:08pm
    - Ghost
      
      Iran have never announced that they were two weeks away from being able to build a nuclear weapon
      
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      March 28, 2026 12:25pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Ghost: Well, to borrow from Mandy Rice Davies, they wouldn’t would they.
        
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        March 28, 2026 1:37pm
      - Ghost
        
        Nope, neither would any other nation building a nuclear weapon, but to claim they actually said it is just rubbish
        
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        March 28, 2026 1:44pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        Correct Ghost. The only person who has ever consistently claimed that Iran is two weeks away from being able to build a nuclear weapon is Netanyahu – and he’s been saying it for 20 or 30 years, which means he’s either been lying or he’s been wrong for three decades, so either way he has no credibility on this.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:12pm
artemisia

Jobseekers and advocates disturbed as companies screen applications with AI

One parent interviewed said her son was given some feedback but didn’t say if it was accurate. She also said using AI instead of a real person felt cheap.

Perhaps these disturbed applicants, parents and advocates have not looked on when real person staffers very quickly turn dozens or hundreds of job applications into a very small ‘Maybe’ pile and the other pile. Based on? Probably just as well they will never know.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/590746/jobseekers-and-advocates-disturbed-as-companies-screen-applications-with-ai
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March 28, 2026 8:07am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Hundreds? Try thousands.
  
  Job applicants use AI to apply for roles; that’s a key reason why the number of applicants has exploded. AI is the only way of providing any form of fair assessment, let alone any feedback.
  
  Picture the alternative: a small army of people whose role is to read CVs and applications, make the two piles, meet with fellow assessors to compare piles, apply intersectional rules, argue about whose candidates better deserve short listing, etc etc. A company would go bust; a govt dept would grow and grow. A new subject for Kafka.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:29am
- wsk12345
  
  I used to have a need to employ staff with a very good attention to detail. This was clear in the job ad which also required that they could write.
  
  Often i would get 50+ applications for one job. Screening was reading down the application to the first spelling mistake, at which point I filed it in the bin. Usually I was only left with a dozen from which I would choose 2 or 3 to interview.
  
  This is some years ago but well within the age of spell checking.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:48am
  - artemisia
    
    Logical and reasonable approach wsk. Not necessarily the tests applied to the the first ‘piles’. Actually since many ‘pile’ decisions are made in seconds … well, not hard to assume.
    
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    March 28, 2026 9:50am
  - David Garrett
    
    wsk: Speaking of spell check, it continues to amaze me that “journalists” today – at least the young ones – have so little pride in their work that they can’t even be bothered to turn on spellcheck. It now picks up grammatical errors as well, with a blue line under the mistake rather than a red one for a spelling mistake.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:15am
    - AitchW
      
      A lot of them were taught at school that grammar and spelling don’t matter so long as you get your message across. Sounds a lot like Old Mother Hipkins might have had a hand in that curriculum.
      
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      March 28, 2026 2:52pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        “Old Mother Hipkins” – heh!
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:33pm
    - pdm
      
      DG I find the biggest problem to be the predictive type spell changer that turns my correct spelling into incomprehensible jibberish at times.
      
      Usually in texts or emails where I find the change just after I have it send.
      
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      March 28, 2026 3:24pm
  - Burtland
    
    We used to run applicants through a 20min online personality profiler – it could provide a list of jobs they would be good at. This was 15 years ago.
    
    It was surprisingly accurate and helped people identify their skills.
    
    You could also do it in reverse – put your good staff through the profiler and then hunt for people that matched in profile.
    
    Would be good for kids leaving school who have no idea what to do.
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:20pm
    - PurplePen
      
      I still don’t know what I actually want to do, for a living, and I’m near the traditional age of retirement. Oh well.
      
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      March 28, 2026 3:06pm
      - pdm
        
        I know how you feel PP or close to it.
        
        I have just either completed a 3 month work contract 9 and a half years after it started or been made redundant when that contract was ended by the client due to his death.
        
        Wifey won’t let me look for another job.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:31pm
- Dougal10
  
  NZ hasn’t been well served by people sitting around a table looking at a persons CV and then how they interview . If Ai can data mine the world and produce a true snapshot of the interviewee we may not end up with dodgy employees that we cant get rid of in a timely manner.
  
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  March 28, 2026 8:56am
  - Burtland
    
    HR used to be great at producing short lists of unsuitable people.
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:23pm
    - Paulus
      
      HR only like people, and put them forward to Management, in their like (and friends- often Friday night in the wine bar).
      
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      March 28, 2026 1:50pm
- Colville
  
  Have AI search social media for the applicants profiles.. Anyone with face tats, a nose ring or gang photos straight in the bin.?
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:19am
  - David Garrett
    
    Colville: with face tats, a nose ring or gang photos straight in the bin.?
    
    Spot on mate. Sadly even up in Tonga, women with face – or at least neck – tattoos are not unknown. Nose rings aren’t common. My wonderful secretary – the best I have ever had in 33 years as a lawyer – and that is saying something, since she is Tongan – has no such things
    
    I was half in love with her in the beginning, but fortunately my big head not the small head was calling the shots. I would be lost without her.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:41pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Let’s hope she doesn’t read this blog, eh?
      
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      March 28, 2026 6:16pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Pope: I’m pretty sure she knows mate !
        
        She’s one smart cookie
        :
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:00pm
- David Garrett
  
  I’m worried about his confidence, he’s dyslexic and he does have the barriers and he’s also colourblind,” Hinton explained
  
  FFS! it now seems almost compulsory to have a disorder of some kind. I read recently about some hard left breakaway Labour party in the UK…speakers at their conference apparently had to first list their pronouns, and then their disabilities.
  
  The sub-text was obviously that an “ordinary” cis-gender person with no disabilities was of no interest to them. What a strange world we live in.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:22am
- Yvette
  
  artemisia – Jobseekers and advocates disturbed as companies screen applications with AI
  
  A little time will tell
  It will tell if employers, like Woolworths, through using AI get the staff they want. If, seemingly suddenly, they get staff who don’t fit the work, or the work does not fit them, and they pin-point it to using AI in recruitment, they will stop doing that.
  “Rubbish in, rubbish out” still applies to anything related to computers, and teaching school children – you may get better written rubbish, with a more friendly tone, but it will still be rubbish.
  
  At the moment, many may not get work while this system is tried, just as bedding in a new curiculumn must mess up school students. It is not that AI use is necessarily wrong, it may be introducing it that is difficult.
  
  That I have a hip replacement is a decision made by a computer, after being fed the data, although that would have been a part blind: you may remonstrate a human doctor if you are rejected, but what can you do to a computer?
  
  ”We sort of ended up in a slightly perverse situation where we have people who write lots of applications with AI and then we have employers who are using AI to screen applications,” he said. “So you kind of end up with AI screening AI, which is a little bit dystopian, right?”
  
  While being a bit of syntax from the speaker, this does touch on the point of would an applicant not concern themself morally in using AI to write their CV, but be upset when they become aware the employer uses AI to detect that AI contribution compared to anything else they wrote, as well as advise on the applicant’s tone of writing, or compare the applicant to the values and attributes of all other applicant CVs or interviews and grade the person in order of suitability?
  
  (this may have enough mistakes in it to confirm it was not written using AI)
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:53am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    The definition of a lecture used to be a process by which the notes of the lecturer were transferred to the notes of the student without passing through the brains of either party.
    
    Now, AI cuts out the middleman. Hard to say whether it’s an improvement or not.
    
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    March 28, 2026 3:38pm
Ipanema69

Standard story in stuff this morning. Just skimmed through it. Family of 8 children struggling to make ends meet. Dad cant work due to bad knees. Rented house too small. Need more money from government. No mention of how much they already get. Also no mention of the hardworking people who will provide the funding.

I despair for this country.
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March 28, 2026 8:19am
- MCōs
  
  I sold my last car to a Tongan woman with a large number of kids whose husband couldn’t work any longer. He was dead.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:47am
  - David Garrett
    
    MCos: God knows why you got downticked for that simple statement of fact,,,but then downtickers generally are something of a mystery to me.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:44pm
    - marleybob
      
      You mean people that have a different view to you.
      
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      March 28, 2026 5:18pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Marley: Not at all sir … I love a good debate…mindless down ticking of totally innocuous comments not so much…
        .
        
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        March 28, 2026 10:04pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    That sounds like a truly sad story that’s begging for kindness and compassion from a caring Left Winger.
    
    So why didn’t you just give them your car?
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:44pm
- artemisia
  
  Some of the 8 offspring look old enough to be working even if just after school, and paying towards their keep. But have to say, even with parent/s working, and taxpayer subsidies, a household of 10 would have been aware they’d be living very very carefully.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:30am
  - MCōs
    
    I once read the reason why the Chinese did so well as apposed to the Irish was because they made their kids study after school while the Irish parents made their kids get jobs.
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:50am
  - R
    
    Family of 10! Would seem that they should have been more aware a long time ago…
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:03am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Honestly some don’t think. Catholics are told god will provide. In Western nations, around 90 per percent of catholic women use birth control.
    
    In developing countries not so much.
    
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    March 28, 2026 2:33pm
- Yvette
  
  Ipanema69 – Standard story in stuff this morning. Just skimmed through it. Family of 8 children struggling to make ends meet [meat?]
  
  What is the expression: ‘jumped the shark’ – has the “journalist” responsible for this STORY done that already, because have the effects of the fossil fuel fiasco flashed through yet to the price of cubed-beef in the supermarket, or is the $90 to feed the family a meat meal roughly the same as it was a couple of weeks ago?
  
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  March 28, 2026 11:05am
  - wsk12345
    
    Gosh $90’for a meat meal. Given we are funding that, how about swapping that out for a kg of meat and a couple cans of beans. Or he’ll, just the beans – meat ist an essential.
    
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    March 28, 2026 2:26pm
AndyW

I see the activitists-masquerading-as-journalists at Stuff have an article about a family struggling to feed the kids because of fuel prices…..eight kids! (and Dad has bad knees so assuming he’s not working…hence the number of kids) C’mon people, where’s the basic intelligence and awareness around finances and families?
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March 28, 2026 8:20am
- Paulus
  
  Suggest we assume both Mum and Dad, and children, products of our super Education system !
  
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  March 28, 2026 1:54pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

The number of overstayers grows to 14, as their visas expire.

Clearly, they are being sheltered in the community; you can be sure plenty of people know where they are.

When found, anyone who sheltered them need to face the law, with consequences not excluding kicking the shelterers out of NZ. That might sound harsh, but the right to be in NZ is the only currency these people understand.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360956285/im-shock-pop-star-furious-overstayers-used-her-name-enter-nz-number-grows
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March 28, 2026 8:21am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Yup, supporting an overstayer in any way (sheltering them, giving them employment,…) should be treated as the crime it is and such criminal activity should be enough to terminate a residence visa.
  
  We don’t need more laws. We already have them. We just don’t apply them.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:39am
Yvette

Winston and Labour
While Winston is not so keen apparently on Hipkins would he work well with the likes of Willie Jackson?

Labour MP Willie Jackson says his party didn’t intentionally withhold the contentious He Puapua report from Winston Peters, but he’s glad NZ First never saw it.

Peters on Monday claimed that Labour ministers had withheld the report, which sets out how the Government could plan to achieve the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, from him while he was deputy prime minister.

“In retrospect it was probably good he didn’t see it. For goodness’ sake, look at how he’s acting now. And let’s not be cute here … if they had got it they would have utilised it and said ‘there we go, that’s why you have to vote for NZ First’.
“I’m not saying [Peters] would have been back, but you’ve got to remember they were trying to use anything to get the vote up, and it would’ve been gold for them.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125521049/labour-mp-willie-jackson-glad-winston-peters-never-saw-he-puapua-report.

(Winston should have in fact kept track of what Mahuta was doing because Winston and Shane Jones were present when the Cabinet Paper was signed to precipitate He Puapua)

Willie Jackson, when Labour is re-elected, will revive He Puapua perhaps using what lever under Ardern allowed him to carry it as far as it already exists. I myself believe Willie may have blackmailed Ardern for what his Maori Caucus sought, by threatening cession of the that Caucus from Labour to join Te Pati Maori or form a new party, and I am entitled to believe that in face of no specific denial of it.

So after declining coalition with Hipkins, who else would make Winston a rat-swallowing hypocrite for joining Labour and doing whatever he pleases with the votes Winston gets to place after all other votes have been officially counted and that result declared?

Sorry, rats
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March 28, 2026 8:29am
- pdm
  
  This may be Peters aim:
  
  Willie Jackson Labour Leader.
  either
  Willow Jean Prime or Virginia Anderson Labour Deputy Leader.
  
  What push overs they would be for him – would be Prime Minister for the whole term.
  
  THE ULTIMATE BAUBLE ACHIEVED.
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:42am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Pdm
    You could imagine that scenario being a wet dream for Labour who would, within a few months, make Winston’s position untenable through union strife, public service disobedience, and unrelenting media attacks.
    
    By next March it would be Prime Minister Jackson.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:51am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hipkins has now changed his stance the Māori did not cede sovereignty, that’s the question that should be asked of the Labour Party, because he has changed his mind, so when Labour get back in they will give Māori sovereignty, be very careful what we vote for , because diluting Nats will simply see Peter’s go with Labour, you can see right now that Peter’s is going all out to get Hipkins out, this old bastard can never be trusted.
  
  Look at his 2017 policy of getting rid of Maori seats, simply kicked yo the curb to get rid of English, and here he is promising referendum on Maori seats, that will be simply dumped and used as a tool to negotiate with a Hipkins free Labour Party
  
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  March 28, 2026 12:16pm
- Burtland
  
  Labour need to bring back Cindy and Winstone will be theirs
  – he cant resist her smile
  
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  March 28, 2026 12:30pm
Jethrod

I commend a post by Matt Horncastle on X, about Chris Luxon , a very positive post for Luxon!
https://x.com/matt_horncastle/status/2037046549696463070

The talk out there is that Christopher Hipkins is under great pressure and could see a real challenge on Monday.

NZ Election Saturday, 7 November 2026
7 and a bit months, 225 days

With only less than 8 months to the General Election, the polls in the last 6 months show Labour in the lead 12 of 20 polls, while National is 8/20 polls.
Labour tends to be the more stable in the polls with a difference of 10 points , while National is 8 point range. Yes, I know there is a difference of 2, but Labour tends to have a better lead most of the time.
The Greens have a range of 6 points, ACT and NZF both have a range of 4 points, whilst TPM have a range of 2.5 points, way off the pace.
I guess the only positive is that National is getting positive support, but so are the Reds.
The party leaders on the last poll are Hipkins 20.7% and Luxon 17.5%, Seymour and Swarbrick on 6.8 each , and W Peter’s 13.1
This is a nightmare situation. We really need the “right” to be returned.
Stuff, the Herald, TV3 NEWS and TVNZ NEWS are all nearly crowing and sensing blood in the water as the various polls was released.
There is a lot of people who reckon that C Luxon is not doing enough ,not doing what your selfish wishes are, and causing a nightmare economic situation. They continue to slate his efforts and saying they will not be voting for him or his party.
There seems to be a lot of the great and good on this blog who express dissatisfaction with the National led coalition saying “I voted for National last time but never again”. So the great and the good will just say these things, not thinking where their vote is going. Do they really think that NZ First and Act are their saviours on their own?
The country had 6 years of a group that completely, totally and utterly shafted this country. I know, I read all your remarks about it and upticked most of the disparaging remarks about the leaders and others of the left government.
Some who attend on this site need to suck it up a bit. Realise that you need to support the right, or in November or December 2026 you will be really whining when you have Labour, the Greens and TPM undoing all that has been achieved by Chris, Winston and David.
This means you, the great and the good, those who have strong opinions but don’t support anyone but yourselves.
So what are you going to do. You’ve been called out, so get your shit together and give support to the right without undermining it.
I’ll standby for all the negative feedback now…
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March 28, 2026 9:06am
- RoboRob
  
  No downvotes from me. A well written post.
  
  Your argument is essentially, vote National to keep Labour out. The Dems tried that in the US and how did it work out for them? Vote Kamala because she is not Trump.
  
  I, and many others obviously, refuse to vote for National simply on the basis that they are not Labour. Voters only have one way to signal their pleasure / displeasure and that arrives on election day (and in polls). Voting National tells them you are happy with their performance. If you are not you shouldn’t vote for them. Doing so sends them the message you are happy with them and you will get more of the same.
  
  Yes I know that politics is often choosing the least worse option but in this case there are other options that keep Labour out. For me voting Act is one of those. If National gets back with much fewer seats because people voted Act, maybe they will learn that if you make promises you need to follow them through.
  
  NZF is also a, somewhat risky, way of doing the same. This is why the vote has drifted from National. I don’t think National should be running a vote for us because the other guys suck election campaign. But I guess they have few options left.
  
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  March 28, 2026 11:43am
- Pongo
  
  I think Nationals timidity will cost them, we elected a CEO not an MP and we expected our country to be run with a bit more ruthlessness.
  Seymour is past his use by date, engaging chap but no cut through.
  
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  March 28, 2026 11:46am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Agreed, and watering down Nats as I have always said will only see Peters go with Labour, watch to see what happens if Labour and NZF can get to 61 seats.
  
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  March 28, 2026 12:21pm
- Burtland
  
  Matt Horncastle – Williams Corporation
  
  “The co-founder of home building giant Williams Corporation says he’s offloading luxury assets partly because his flashy personal brand sends the wrong message at a time when Kiwis are doing it tough.”
  
  https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/nz-news/350236487/williams-corp-boss-explains-major-asset-sell-down
  
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  March 28, 2026 12:43pm
Ian

The online newspapers – two articles on Hipkins and covid vaccines for teenagers in NewstalkZB/Herald, one in the independent ODT, nothing in Stuff – and assume also their myriad mastheads.
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March 28, 2026 9:16am
- Ghost
  
  Stuff ran a story a while ago but not on Hipkins
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360949342/heres-who-knew-what-and-when-about-risk-two-covid-vaccines-posed-teenagers
  
  Then ran this one yesterday, which gives his side I guess
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360957046/chris-hipkins-says-advice-about-covid-vaccine-risk-teens-arrived-too-late
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:35am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, Hipkins moved from lying, to be caught with evidence lying to oh it was too late, it was never too bloody late to tell us even if all 12-17 year old had all been double jabbed, how can he not see where they is so wrong
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:23pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  What does he mean that it arrived too late? The data was clear at the time. The optimum vaccine dose for teenagers, especially teenage males, is one. If the advice arrived “late” the government should have announced an urgent change to the recommendations.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:48am
  - Ghost
    
    It means the mp is trying to spin to save his butt
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:50am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I think he means everyone was jabbed by December 21 (not March 22 like he said) but it was never too late to tell parents and the public
    
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    March 28, 2026 12:24pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

This family of 8 children that whinge about the hand outs really irk me.

Yes, I know God said to go forth and multiply. Yes, God sent you Cindy and Chris to use force to extract money from the taxpayers to give you resources, but 8 kids is starting to take the piss. My Catholic neighours managed to keep it down to 4.

They complain that petrol costs $150 a week and most of that is because they need to take two trips to run the kids to school from Mangere to Papatoetoe.

Google maps tells me that’s approximately 10km one way, so two trips twice a day would end up being 80km of driving each day just to go to school, 400km a week. Yup, that’s going to stack up.

So since they really depend so much on the taxpayer, maybe this taxpayer can make a few suggestions:
* Find closer schools. God, through the taxpayer, has provided numerous schools in Mangere. Many of these would be in easy walking distance.
* Use bikes. OK, maybe the little kids can’t, but the older kids certainly can and that could halve the number of trips you make. It’s only an 8km bike ride on safe cycle paths. The kids could probably use some exercise anyway. Second hand bikes are extremely low cost (even sometimes free) through community bike hubs.
* Use the bus. There are numerous buses laid on by God, again through his tool – the taxpayer. Use them.
* Maybe some of the older kids could start living independently. They are now adults.

Oh, PS, the taxpayer also provides free contraceptive. If you have chosen not to use them then accept the consequences of your choices.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360955773/its-mostly-no-breakfast-rising-fuel-costs-mean-feeding-children-now-daily-struggle
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March 28, 2026 9:29am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Yes it really was a shockingly stupid article. It just adds to the contempt that I hold for these journalists. Even on a household income of $200,000 a year, eight children would be a struggle. To be blunt, having eight children is stupid and irresponsible. And I am catholic.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:52am
  - Taieri
    
    To be blunt, having eight children is stupid and irresponsible
    ————-
    
    One of my great-grand mothers had 10 children. Perhaps she was stupid and irresponsible, she’s just an ordinary housewife after all, but all her children grew up to be successful people, living productive, good and happy lives. And there’s no welfare in her days.
    
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    March 28, 2026 11:11am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      You are missing the point. That was presumably the best part of a century ago.
      
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      March 28, 2026 2:14pm
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      “And there’s no welfare in her days.”
      
      And there’s the difference. Personal responsibility. I don’t think anyone objects to someone having 8 kids if they do it on their own dime.
      
      In the past those multiple kids were seen as assets and would have likely been working in some way or another by the age of 14.
      
      I’ll wager 50 cents and a servo pie your granny wasn’t driving 80 km a day to take the kids to school then whining about it.
      
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      March 28, 2026 6:05pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        So – put up or shut up. If you were God or Minister in charge of the MSD or whatever – tomorrow – what would you do in this case? If it’s any help I don’t pretend to know ….
        
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        March 28, 2026 6:29pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  To show I am not a heartless bastard, I would like to give the family one thumbs-up they do deserve:
  
  It is impressive to see the kids staying in school even though the oldest is 19. If you’re 19 and still at school then it’s clearly a challenge. But stick in there – better than dropping out!
  
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  March 28, 2026 11:01am
- Ian Boag
  
  Generally speaking the cost of a bus ride is on a par with or higher than the petrol used for the journey. Particularly if more than one go to the same school. Depends on a few things of course.
  
  This particular family was “analysed” on KB a while back. The main thing from the analysis was she could almost cope and there were some very odd incentives built into the benefit structure. Which she did not invent. Note the kids did not ask to be born and we would all rather see them as productive members of society one day. Jim Bolger came from a family of something like 10 (?).
  
  The “consequences” of all this will end up on the children. We could just tell them how they should not have been born into a large family and how irresponsible it all was … stop paying the welfare and see how long it takes for the older ones to drift into crime – assuming it pays better than whatever job they can find in the heavily oversubscribed job market for under 20’s.
  
  All the helpful “accept the consequences” ideas – along with statements about how irresponsible is it to breed to this extent – are “horse gone, let’s check the stable door” sort of stuff.
  
  Just in case anyone wants to call me a Marxist – I don’t presume to have an answer. The situation is undoubtedly weird and shows some of the oddities in the benefit system that has sort of been built – by all governments over time – like Topsy.
  
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  March 28, 2026 11:57am
  - Taieri
    
    Generally speaking the cost of a bus ride is on a par with or higher than the petrol used for the journey
    ————
    
    Down here the concession fare for children between 5 and 18 is $1.50 (for a single trip with BeeCard). So, for 8 children it comes to $24 for daily return journeys. Depending on how far their schools are and how close they are to each other it could be cheaper to take them by car (van), even with the current petrol prices.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:25pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  There is a thing called a ‘BUS” Not many know
  
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  March 28, 2026 5:37pm
O C Smith

Voting NZ First is akin to buying the winning ticket in a lottery and not knowing what the 1st prize is!
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March 28, 2026 9:42am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  It’s certainly not a viable fishery.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:39am
sungsamning

DECEMBER 3rd – Covid Vaccine Pass and Traffic light system locked anyone over 12 out of society.
DECEMBER 9th – CVTAG said NOT to double jab u18’s.
DECEMBER 21st – Chris asked about Rory’s death, deflected and told people the jab was safe. @chrishipkinsmp #labour
Read the document released on HEALTH NZ [Our beloved former PM telling porkies about Covid? Color me surprised.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ss7y85Btgw
EX-PRIME MINISTER OF NZ LIED ABOUT MYOCARDITIS.
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March 28, 2026 9:51am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  I bet Hipkins even lies about liking sausage rolls.
  
  For some of these people, telling the truth is extremely uncomfortable and is to be avoided at all costs. Even when telling the truth would be easier.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:54am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yep, I’d bet the farm, swanny, dogs, sheep, cattle, spuds, implements, and cat on that.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:46pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      The swanny? Now, that’s a serious stake!
      
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      March 28, 2026 3:45pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Roll back many months before then, and Bloomfield already knew about the high rate of Myocarditis in vaccinated people.
  
  Serious side effects were being reported from the very outset of the vaccine rollout. By April 2021 the ministry were getting an ever increasing flood of reported side effects.
  
  And reports of death were mounting as well. Some within 24 hours of being vaccinated.
  
  Most politicians are too scared to talk about. And medical professionals are still being blackmailed to keep their mouths shut.
  
  Excess deaths keep mounting. Accumulated excess deaths since the vaccine rollout are now well in excess of the number of New Zealanders who died while serving in the armed forces during World War II.
  
  Excess deaths since the day the vaccines were rolled out, are around 60 per week.
  
  And the bought and paid for media still say nothing, despite all the information being hidden in plain sight.
  
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  March 28, 2026 12:23pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    What is your data source? The rates of myocarditis in vaccined people are tiny.
    
    You know what causes serious myocarditis? Covid disease.
    
    5 years on and the conspiracy theories flourish.
    
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    March 28, 2026 2:27pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      JackRabbit can’t resist a conspiracy theory.
      
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      March 28, 2026 6:21pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      That’s not true, the rates of vaccine induced myocarditis were high – as evidenced by a few studies looking at (heart damage indicating) troponin levels immediately after vaccination – 3% in one swiss study, but they went generally unnoticed because they only showed up at a clinical immediately life-threatening level in a small number of people. But hearts don’t heal like other tissue (a mechanism that prevents heart from getting cancer), damage (scarring) accumulates over a lifetime with a long term impact on lifespan, even subclinical myocarditis comes with a knock down in life expectancy.
      
      John Campbell discusses the vaccine=> heart damage mechanism https://youtu.be/VRq_o5tvBsQ?t=576
      
      The medical industry was studiously trying not to find problems, and vaccine companies were using all the nefarious tools in their kit to suppress research (control of research funding, journal gatekeeping, ‘owning’ grant-deciding and research approving high level bureaucrats financially). A really dark indictment of the subversion of science by corporate interests in medical research.
      
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      March 29, 2026 11:35am
  - NothingLeft
    
    The disease of wokeness is, at it’s core, about silencing dissent towards tribal shibboliths – like vaccine, mask, trans open borders all good, white person, man, capitialist bad etc through an escalating toolkit of sanctions up to and including firing and other forms of economic assassination.
    
    Secular fundamentalist religion in action.
    
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    March 29, 2026 11:12am
sungsamning

27 days into the U.S.-Iran conflict, America has deployed the GARC — an autonomous unmanned surface vessel — to patrol the Strait of Hormuz. We cover what the GARC is, how it works, why it changes the strategic calculus in the Strait, and what comes next as the U.S. eyes Abu Musa Island and Trump’s deadline expires. [They’re building one of these $250,000 unmanned boats a day. They’re faster than their Iranian equivalent. They’re an aid for keeping the straights open. Marines on Abu Musa and the other two islands should be able to shut down the bases for Iranian attack boats.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfZdsfpTjlg
U.S. Opens The Straights Of Hormuz Without Risking A Single Life.
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March 28, 2026 9:52am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  It is not the US-Iran conflict. It is Iran vs everyone else conflict (well everyone except maybe other than one or two Iranian sympathizers).
  
  If it was just US vs Iran then everyone else’s oil would be traveling through the SoH unmolested.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:57am
  - sungsamning
    
    Good point. The situation is as you say.
    
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    March 28, 2026 1:47pm
amospicton

There was a story yesterday that the then government, and in particular the man who stands to be Prime Minister later this year, ignored official advice that the 2nd covid vaccine was a bigger risk to teenagers than covid itself. This could have injured or killed hundreds of New Zealanders. This is a serious, newsworthy story. And yet…….no coverage at all on Stuff. Extraordinary.
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March 28, 2026 9:59am
- Ghost
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360957046/chris-hipkins-says-advice-about-covid-vaccine-risk-teens-arrived-too-late
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:11am
- sungsamning
  
  I take a lot of comfort in the fact that most leftists are athiests. So, no Heaven/Paradise for them. Just desserts in the case of the previous cabinet.
  
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  March 28, 2026 1:49pm
- R
  
  Not extraordinary at all for ideological STUFF
  
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  March 28, 2026 3:03pm
Ghost

Not sure, but something just doesn’t look right with how Mr Woods parks his car

https://x.com/WPTV/status/2037611998268019118?
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March 28, 2026 10:16am
mandk

I was at a conference in Parliament on Monday, at which both Phil Goff and Chris Finlayson opined that right wing populism was the greatest threat to freedom and democracy.

Presumably, neither of them has given any thought to radical Islam.

And I also doubt if either of them has tried to understand why right wing populism is gaining ground in Europe.

They are both fools, who are incapable of comprehending that complacent centrist politicians like them have left many decent ordinary people feeling they have been crapped on and betrayed.
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March 28, 2026 10:20am
- MCōs
  
  Did you speak up?
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:39am
  - mandk
    
    I did. But I was shut down by Helmut Modlik, who was chairing a panel discussion.
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:42am
    - Jack5
      
      If you’d started with a “kia-ora!” they might have listened.
      
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      March 28, 2026 2:41pm
      - mandk
        
        Thanks.
        
        I can see now where I went wrong.
        
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        March 28, 2026 3:17pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Chris Finlayson gave away a national park, that belonged to all of us. Now trashed.
  
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  March 28, 2026 2:20pm
  - Jack5
    
    A national park!
    
    Finlayson, then acting for Ngai Tahu, negotiated for the tribe a big chunk of the South Island.
    
    He also negotiated for it first rights to buy assets in the South Island held by the State at the time of the deal. This first-right of purchase lasts for ever.
    
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    March 28, 2026 2:46pm
    - Mod88
      
      Watch them get Molesworth Station and it will be locked up in 3, 2, 1…
      
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      March 28, 2026 3:41pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Finlayson [ Mod – generally – despite your strong views – you don’t do vitriol. Let’s keep it like that]
    
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    March 28, 2026 10:12pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Finlayson is indeed one of the most damaging MP’s NZ has every had the misfortune to elect. Up there with Winston.
      
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      March 29, 2026 2:20pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The clue is in the word “popularism”, which is politician-speak for popular, but for the other side.
  
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  March 28, 2026 3:48pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  mandk, your biggest problem is not understanding what they mean by democracy.
  
  To them, democracy is not the rule of the people by the people (one man, one vote etc). Those are now considered radica and dangerous right wing ideas.
  
  To these grifters, democracy means having an access to a wonderful trough to exploit. This is a trough that is deepened through identity politics, victimhood and all the other bullshit associated with leftism. “Right wing popularism” is eroding that and is directly threatening their grifting lifestyle.
  
  So yes, from that mindset, “right wing popularism” is a huge threat – to them.
  
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  March 28, 2026 5:59pm
keepcalmcarryon

Bryce Edwards has a pessimistic piece on his Facebook feed from yesterday on the fuel situation and response.
Sorry can’t seem to link without massive cut and paste but I’ve some criticisms of the piece:

It’s basically just taking Hootens opinion as fact (not a reliable purveyor of facts), it does not go deeply in to the oil and gas ban by Labour and situation leading to marsden closure and it mentions Norway as the shining example of subsidizing electric with out mentioning the simple fact that it’s only been affordable for them via their sovereign wealth fund derived from … oil.
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March 28, 2026 11:02am
- Taieri
  
  Edwards’ post can be read here:
  
  https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2026/03/28/sleepwalking-into-the-worst-crisis-since-covid/#more-48051
  
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  March 28, 2026 1:12pm
Maggy Wassilieff

James Kierstead tells of some of the reasoning as to why his job as a Classics lecturer at Victoria Uni was disestablished:

It seems he had failed to incorporate Māori and Polynesian perspectives into his lectures.

https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/james-kierstead-another-academic-freedom-case

Surely the man was being kind and pragmatic.

How many semesters would it take to cover all the inventions/advances/ discoveries of the Ancient Greeks that were unknown to pre-European contact Maori?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_inventions_and_discoveries
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March 28, 2026 11:03am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  I’d say fuckem. If they want to play that game then give a one hour presentation on Classical attitudes to cannibalism.
  
  Your days are numbered – may as well go out with a bang!
  
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  March 28, 2026 6:02pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    You’d say fuckem? He lost his job ffs. And an academic who’s fired from one NZ university for being politically incorrect stands no chance of being hired by another local tertiary institution, as they’re all playing “mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the wokest of them all?”.
    
    I declined my boss’s request to include maatauranga in one of the papers I teach at another NZ university. Thus far there has been no punishment, so I can only assume my boss isn’t quite as despotic as Kierstead’s. It’s a shame James is lost to NZ, as he’s a very bright and courageous guy.
    
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    March 28, 2026 6:31pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Not easy to walk away from a highly specialized academic career paying $100’s of k to nothing – as you lack any commercially useful skills.
    
    Woke cancellation is proximal to being murderous in intent (and that is the level of harm desired by a lot of the sociopathic left as we so often see in their unhinged exhortations towards heretics and unbelievers). Destroying lives so thoroughly that often suicide follows.
    
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    March 29, 2026 5:17pm
Jethrod

Here is a thought provoking tweet from X that probably the majority on this blog will find some relevance. From a “Mr Husky” on X.
https://x.com/mr_husky1/status/2037518039105855577?s=58
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March 28, 2026 11:50am
pb

The Greens and Labour should be ecstatic with the zero fuel scenario’s. They dreamed about achieving this for years: de Marsden Pointed, no oil, carbon trading, no drilling,no mining, Paris signings. All just fluffing about. We’ve jumped to the de-energised end game for all to enjoy.
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March 28, 2026 3:23pm
Don Beckett

Yes, that’s my story too.
But my grandparents went through something different but the same.
– migrating from the UK (or elswhere) by sailing ship.
– seeing the first automobile instead of horse & buggy.
– first electric street lamps radio & other handy things.
– The first aircraft, the first international travel by air & the jet engine.
– television & watching the first man on th moon in B & W., then colour.
– wars that spread across the globe.
-the first atomic bomb.
And many more firsts.
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March 28, 2026 3:28pm
NothingLeft

How to mentally model the average left winger (less so their smarter+sociopathic leaders):

Just imagine you really want to be seen as a good person but lack the courage to acknowledge bad 2nd or 3rd order consequences of your preferred policies if doing so might make you look like a bad person.
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March 28, 2026 3:32pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Now we’re just taking the piss…

India is probably one of the most challenging countries to deal with on a diplomatic basis and there Labour are proposing a young, inexperienced, Sri Lankan-born Hindu woman as a potential foreign Minister.

Hoo boy! To think they have a solid chance of getting in.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/audrey-young-interviews-vanushi-walters-the-mp-who-wants-to-be-our-next-foreign-minister/premium/FVKEYUGXNJAPDFSQIQ5KFGMXZE/
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March 28, 2026 5:47pm
Simonda

Need to rant….. [ Mod – feel free – but if it isn’t debate do it someplace else ]
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March 28, 2026 6:13pm
Ghost

I’m going to take a guess 1news made a mistake about the price

This week at Invercargill PAK’nSAVE, two options for two litres of French Vanilla icecream: Marvels $4.49. Tip Top $47.49..

Article
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March 28, 2026 6:40pm
- Prince
  
  Actually $7.49 but the facts get in the way of the outrage.
  
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  March 28, 2026 10:07pm
voltaire

Oh Dear, I saw Thomas Coughlin’s article in the NZ Herald today it maybe behind a paywall, in any event the maint thrust of the article was that it was very inconvenient for the Government not to use the Beehive’s media centre, so the poor so called journalists had to lug their gear around various ministerial offices. All I can say to that is Diddums.
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March 28, 2026 7:39pm

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