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May 16, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 16 May 2026

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General Debate

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Cassandra

School Strike for Climate Wellington wants the government to:
* reinstate the ban on oil and gas exploration;
* introduce free public transport fares for under 25-year-olds;
* lower the voting age to 16;
* recognise Palestine as a state;
* scrap the fast-track approvals regime.

Its 200 members took time off from school to March through Wellington. Apparently Palestinians can affect the climate but Ukrainians and Sudanese cannot.

At least they marched through Wellington although precisely how they or other members of their families get about the city at other times was not mentioned. None of them have ever flown in an aeroplane? None of them has ever consumed anything transported in a truck or by ship?
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May 16, 2026 8:03am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The young have been brainwashed by our education sector and by the media. Their parents should know better.
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:09am
  - H. Upmann
    
    It starts with the parents.
    
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    May 16, 2026 8:36am
  - R
    
    Unfortunately for these children, their parents and many grandparents, were similarly brainwashed by ideologically activist teachers back in the 1980’s.
    These unfortunate children don’t have a stable family background to their future.
    
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    May 16, 2026 9:23am
  - sungsamning
    
    Reason #958 to dump the Department of Education, and introduce vouchers. And get rid of the student loan scam too.
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:53am
  - Paulus
    
    Parents do know better, but are not able to influence them like they would have done in days past.
    All forms of electronic media have captured them along with Teachers..
    
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    May 16, 2026 3:43pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  It is good news. There were only 200 children involved. Go back to 2019 there were several thousand.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/111298009/tens-of-thousands-of-school-students-demonstrate-across-nz-calling-for-action-on-climate-change
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:17am
  - Tom Hunter
    
    Ah yes, the School Strike 4 Climate group.
    
    The schadenfreudeliciousness of it all is that they did it to themselves several years ago, courtesy of the modern Lefty idea of being more woke to oppression than thou.:
    
    “We are disbanding because, since 2019, SS4C AKL [] has been a racist, white-dominated space… We fully discourage any future and current Pākehā-led groups from occupying the space we leave behind.”
    
    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
    
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    May 16, 2026 11:59am
  - JerJer
    
    Those that remain will be on the stuff comment sections in a few years complaining they don’t have enough money to live, and it will all be someone elses fault. Pathetic, and sad, same time. No one will care.
    
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    May 16, 2026 3:32pm
- wisteria
  
  or carried coffee in a takeaway cup.
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:40am
- artemisia
  
  As Nikola said that’s a much smaller march than the last one. Young fam member was on that earlier March. I asked did she take into account solar cycles like the Maunder Minimum. ‘The what?’
  
  Like to see these young demanders put money where their mouths are. How about pledge to contribute to fund their free transport demand once they become net taxpayers. Assuming they do eventually become ….
  
  If enough did that the fares could reduce by as much as 5 cents. Baby steps though. Start a movement.
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:42am
  - Michael Sommerville
    
    I have a set of questions that I ask the Climate Change believers. They are usually stumped for answers, or their belief is horribly inaccurate. (My grand daughter thought CO2 levels were around 5%)
    
    1. What are the gases that make up the atmosphere and what proportions are they? (N2 78%, O2 21% Argon 1% and then comes CO2 0.04% and then the likes of methane which is miniscule)
    2. What is the main greenhouse gas? (Water vapour and it is many times more powerful than CO2)
    3. If you go back a couple of hundred million years, what was the earth’s average temperature and what were the CO2 levels at the time? (The earth spent a lot of time with the average temperature around 22 degrees. The CO2 levels at the time varied considerably and were not correlated with the temperature.
    
    I have more but that is usually enough to shut them up for a while.
    
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    May 16, 2026 9:00am
    - JerJer
      
      You can ask (and some of my friends do), the pathetic Palestine (Hamas) supporters/protesters/anti-shower brigade a few simple questions about Palestine and the history etc. They never have any idea. If you are going to protest about something, at least know what it is….and have a shower beforehand, there’s a good bludger.
      
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      May 16, 2026 3:35pm
- Scott
  
  And the world would be a better place if we did none of those things. What a shame that our kids are being indoctrinated in foolish left wing activism.
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:47am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  Someone needs to tell them all this marching is reinforcing ableism.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:08am
- Inandout
  
  When the march is over Petal and her mobile will be conveyed back to school by Mum in the latest BMW. Dad is a public servant on $300,000 so will be warming a seat in some Wellington high rise, or perhaps lunching at Logan Brown.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:11am
- Boy Geoff
  
  Were there as many rainbow and Toitu te tiriti flags this year?
  
  I wonder if they texted their demands to each other via expensive cellphones so they were all in the know?
  
  How many teachers joined in (plenty last time, from memory)?
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:15am
  - JerJer
    
    Rainbow and Maori flags are so last year. No longer cool.
    
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    May 16, 2026 3:36pm
- Bloody Dago
  
  This was a post from unknown author on 27/10/2021…just reminder:
  
  [Mod – just link to other posts]
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:22am
- JackRabbit
  
  * reinstate the ban on oil and gas exploration;
  * introduce free public transport fares for under 25-year-olds;
  
  “Righto you lot, back from protesting. We have a 4 hour test. In it you are going to provide all energy calculations for the next 30 years and how that oil and gas ban,will impact on the ability among other things providing free public transport.
  
  Anyone who gets it wrong, will be sent on a 3 week holiday to Palestine to stay with Hamas.”
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:37am
- cas
  
  Ask them how many cars in their family? I bet the answer is not 1.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:58am
- herb1
  
  Judging by the list of demands Climate Change is just a minor issue, the big issue being far left demands
  
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  May 16, 2026 1:17pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  An ex-Climate Activist, Lucy Biggers, now realises she was a useful idiot.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEkvBWyqDTA
  
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  May 16, 2026 2:45pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

$349m for a cycle path. There’s so much wrong with this, it’s hard to know where to begin.

The price doubled in just four years. Which bureaucrat made the original estimate? Has s/he been held accountable? Name names.

What was the dollar cost spent protecting penguins (they built temporary islands for them)? There’s no shortage of the damn things.

Chris Bishop pointed to the seawall aspect of the cycle way. Sure, protecting the railway from sea surges has value, but how much? In the last 50 years, how many times has the rail line been washed out for, and for how long? What’s the economic return on this investment?

NZTA estimates that there will be just 2100 bike trips and 360 pedestrian trips per day by 2030. I don’t know about the bike trip count, but I call bullshit on the pedestrians. It’s a long walk, and then you have to turn around and walk back. The number is just bike people pumping up the numbers. And why wait until 2030? Why not the year to May 2027? Could it be that politicians, bureaucrats and activists hope that the public has forgotten about this prediction by then?

A huge waste of money that’s been abetted by weak politicians, incompetent bureaucrats, selfish activists and conniving media.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2026/05/15/mammoth-wellington-cycling-and-walking-path-te-ara-tupua-opens/
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May 16, 2026 8:05am
- rouppe
  
  What’s unclear to me is whether the $349M was just for the bike path component of the project, or whether that was the total cost of the project.
  
  Because the primary purpose – or at least half of it – was to build the sea wall out to make the rail line more resilient.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:02am
  - Taieri
    
    the total cost of the project.
    ———-
    
    It looks like the total cost of the project. I couldn’t find the detailed costs breakdown other than this:
    
    “The total cost to deliver the Ngauranga to Petone section of Te Ara Tupua is $348.7 million. This cost is split between the Crown ($80m), NZTA ($261.7m), Wellington City Council ($5m) and Greater Wellington Regional Council ($2m).”
    
    Not for me to decide whether that seawall was essential or not, but the money spent on the cycle/walking part of the project would be a relatively minor part of the total cost.
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:09am
    - Hugh Jarse
      
      Can I just make a slight adjustment here. The funding was split between four different buckets, however those four buckets are filled by taxpayers and ratepayers, who are generally one and the same person, the worker and property owner. Four different Crown organisations to handle what is in effect a single funding stream.
      
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      May 16, 2026 10:36am
      - Taieri
        
        Four different Crown organisations to handle what is in effect a single funding stream
        ————
        
        I quoted the costs split as disclosed on the Beehive site. But you are right, it’s silly (and expensive) to manage costs in such a way.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:55am
      - Hugh Jarse
        
        No criticism Taieri , just when I read how the funding came through the potential waste in managing those streams stuck out like the proverbial dogs bollocks.
        
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        May 16, 2026 12:38pm
      - rouppe
        
        My biggest peeve with government is their adherence to “Bucket Theory”, even when it doesn’t make sense.
        
        “This money is in bucket X and we can’t spend it on Y because that comes from a different bucket”.
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:40pm
  - G152
    
    All a ‘feel good’ exercise
    
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    May 16, 2026 11:05am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Rouppe, the ostensive purpose of the project was the seawall. However, the motivation was always the cycleway. Do you think a mere seawall to protect a rail line would have got prioritisation?
    
    Hell, no. It was always about the bike path. The seawall was just the excuse.
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:37pm
- KKNZ2025
  
  the extensive Maori motif decorations all along the balustrades & concrete overpasses etc presumably added value / cost and zero utility.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:03am
  - R
    
    and zero value; other than ideological virtue signaling!
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:11am
  - Paulus
    
    And the koha given for permission to use carved cincrete Maori motives !
    
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    May 16, 2026 3:50pm
- artemisia
  
  When asked about business case usage projections on the very over spec bike rack on The Terrace the Council response was along the lines of feelz not enough bike parking there. Given the numbers provided by a watchful KB poster the council ideologues knew they didn’t dare have projected numbers.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:13am
  - Swifty
    
    And now that the Council head office has moved from directly across the road on The Terrace from that bike rack, to down on Jervois Quay, patronage will fall even further I strongly suspect.
    
    Admittedly from an already very small base as Bollocks has dutifully reported.
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:14am
    - Paulus
      
      New Council Offices will ensure that the requirements of cyclists on the premises are met.
      
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      May 16, 2026 3:51pm
- Handyman
  
  To be precise, the bike track is just between Petone and Ngaranga, which is about half way to Wellington CBD.
  Stand by to hear the under-usage is due to not completing the rest of the bike path into the CBD.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:44am
- Taieri
  
  It’s a long walk, and then you have to turn around and walk back.
  ————
  
  The Otago Harbour shared cycle/walking path is 54 km long. It’s quite well patronised, may be not in thousands/day but certainly in high hundreds, mostly recreational riders and walkers. I bike it regularly, although I was initially very opposed to its construction. It’s a truly great asset.
  
  The total cost was about $43M and included widening of the existing path in some places, construction of retaining walls, construction of board walks and shifting of the rail tracks near Port Chalmers.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:20am
  - Ian
    
    It’s a loop path of both sides of the harbour with a ferry to take you from one side to the other, so, no, you don’t have to turn around and walk back – unless you want to…
    
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    May 16, 2026 11:07am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      360 trips per day is a lot of pedestrians.
      
      Actually, I’m surprised how few daily bike trips are predicted. You’d have thought that cyclists would be flocking.
      
      Although, perhaps the estimator is being realistic. It’s hard to see there being any cyclists or pedestrians when the Southerly gets up.
      
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      May 16, 2026 12:40pm
- JackRabbit
  
  “NZTA estimates that there will be just 2100 bike trips and 360 pedestrian trips per day by 2030.”
  
  NZTA is factoring in the consequences of 15 minute cities.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:38am
- sungsamning
  
  I’ve watched a few drive through videos of cities in Florida. the bike paths are just a white line between the nature strip, and road. No Ilam Road type nonsense.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:56am
  - imalwaysright
    
    In the good ‘ol days there was an A4 size sign on a post saying ‘Beware Cyclists’ with a line drawing of a bike.
    
    Cost about $600 in real money or about $15K in Council dollars…
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:26pm
CJames

An interesting ad done all in Lego from Spenser Pratt for the LA mayoralty race
https://twitter.com/i/status/2055055545992626397
Pratt probably won’t win though. Californians continue to elect anyone with D after their name despite their proven incompetence. Newson and Kamala are just the most significant of the current crop from that state rise to the top without anything behind the facade. I
t takes a lot to stuff up a state like California that had everything, but the Democrats have done it with their luxury belief virtue signalling and no sense of reality. Similar issues are confronting Western Europe and even Australia. Why the populist movements are surging. Now, what do those countries have in common? Could it be a set of incompetent technocrat leaders with a bureaucracy which is repelled by their electorates?
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May 16, 2026 8:07am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  Listening to the waste and stupidity that Pratt has already exposed, its more likely that he gets disappeared by the blob than gets voted in…
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:17am
- Philview
  
  I read an article recently that Seattle is proposing an extra 10% tax on high income earners over $1 million. Starbucks are shifting a lot of their hub to Tennessee and no doubt will structure themselves so that their top earners are not in Seattle.
  
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  May 16, 2026 8:18am
  - David George
    
    All the woke/leftist dystopias are loosing productive people and big businesses.
    Goldman Sacs, for example, are substantially relocating; leaving New York for Texas*.
    
    That’s a massive hit to the tax take.
    Their plan is to double down on the waste and incompetence and to raise taxes for the fools remaining.
    Genius!
    https://www.ibtimes.com.au/10-major-companies-flee-new-york-2026-amid-tax-regulation-exodus-florida-texas-1865112
    
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    May 16, 2026 8:45am
    - artemisia
      
      Wonder if the Far North District Council is closely watching Seattle, California, NYC ….
      
      Thought not.
      
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      May 16, 2026 9:27am
  - Cassandra
    
    Similarly the likely new PM of UK, Burnham, who plans to borrow more, reduce taxes on the bottom end and raise them on the top. Of course that works everywhere it’s tried. //
    
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    May 16, 2026 8:46am
    - kowtow
      
      An MP has given up his seat , Makerfield, to allow Burnham to run in a by election that could be held as early as next month in order for him to become PM.
      
      The delicious irony is Reform stand a very good chance of winning it .
      
      Burnham has now been selected by the Labour National executive to run , something they didn’t allow him to do previously .
      
      All these backroom shenanigans call into question the commitment these politicians have to real democracy , when all they’re genuinely interested in is power and office.That includes the attempt by the powers that be to prevent those local elections that’ve led to this impasse .
      
      Pity our media don’t give this abuse the same level of obsession as they do for the US .
      
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      May 16, 2026 8:56am
      - Drone
        
        Is it time to accept that politics around the world is an industry in its own right, it is self sustaining and has very little to do with raising the living standards of the poor or improving society. The mega rich corporations and individuals are not affected by the games politicians play the play with people’s lives.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:17am
    - MCōs
      
      Maybe so, but it seems he’s the most popular choice of the locals and way ahead of Nigel Farage
      https://x.com/ipsos_in_the_uk/status/2054831634998825114?s=61
      
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      May 16, 2026 9:24am
      - CJames
        
        That was a UK poll, not an electorate poll. Now how is cosmopolitan London representative of a depressed Makerfield, Wigan? That is where Reform won 24 of the 25 seats off Labour a few weeks ago.
        https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/wigan-local-election-results-2026-33874424
        
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        May 16, 2026 9:34am
      - CJames
        
        Spiked jaundiced view of Andy
        “Labour’s fascination with Andy Burnham is a mystery to most of the public. It is testament to how detached the party has become from its working-class origins that a middling functionary of New Labour – essentially a slightly wetter version of Keir Starmer – is being looked upon like some kind of aurora borealis, lighting up the night sky from the north. There is nothing remarkable about him, and Labour is setting itself up for the same disappointment it has experienced with Starmer.
        That’s assuming Andy Burnham is successful. Which, at this stage, is a very big if.”
        https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/05/15/sorry-andy-theres-no-such-thing-as-a-labour-safe-seat/
        And Labour here don’t even have an Andy Burnham in the wings.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:29am
      - Scott
        
        Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Labour made room for their prospective new leader to stand in a by election so he could get elected back into parliament and then mount a leadership challenge to Starmer?
        
        And Reform came in and won the seat instead? 😁
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:33am
      - mogg
        
        2024 Labour had a 5000 majority in Makerfield,
        on May 1st Reform overturned a 14700 Labour majority to win the Runcorn by-election. The ‘Red Wall’ are Labour no more. Reform are now well funded and very organised for this by-election, Burnham has everything to lose, Farage will be in his element.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:17am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Putin had it right when 20 odd years ago, he dropped taxes to a flat rate of 13%.
      
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      May 16, 2026 10:41am
- sungsamning
  
  Well done, Mr Pratt. I hope he wins. After all; a pendulum has to begin its swing somewhere.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:01am
kowtow

Some were wondering about the paywalled Herald Nippert Waiperera shenanigans story.

It’s in today’s print version , so if you’re really keen ,off to the dairy with you, or library or press reader….
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May 16, 2026 8:33am
- GazzaW
  
  I read it yesterday and reread it in this morning’s print edition. The phrase ‘a giant can of worms’ comes immediately to mind.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:11am
NeverMindTheBollocks

In yesterday’s Post Marten van Beynen writes a thoughtful article suggesting that where stolen money is used for gambling, the gambling companies should be obliged to refund the stolen money.

Money being fungible, he suggests that rather than track every dollar, the gambling companies should create a pool of funds to reimburse the organisations from which the money was stolen.

No doubt there will be issues in designing the scheme, but in principle, I agree with him.
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May 16, 2026 8:53am
- JackRabbit
  
  So if this law in enacted, ho ware they going to retrieve the $65 billion that Ardern stole from the NZ public and gambled away on virtue signalling and Covid theatre?
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:44am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    That money was appropriated by parliament.
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:32pm
- kowtow
  
  Drug traffickers /gangs launder huge funds through casinos ( and presumabably regional pokie machines )
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:45am
- slijmbal
  
  @NMTB
  
  If we take that to its logical conclusion then if stolen money is used to purchase anything then the seller has to return the funds. There is a reason that the law does not currently support that. Just too hard and punishes the seller when we sould be punishing the stealer.
  
  There is an exception where the seller is aware that stolen funds are being used. You would need to prove that the gambling company is aware that they are assisting. There are already significant policies in place to prevent money laundering for casinos and the like.
  
  Seems to me he’s leveraging off the fact that some people think gambling is wrong. Personally, I think it’s a stupid idea.
  
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  May 16, 2026 12:34pm
Jack5

Bryan Leylanḍ makes some interesting points about our electricity market at Brash and Mitchell’s:

https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/bryan-leyland-electricity-markets-and-engineering-realities?
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May 16, 2026 8:57am
- CJames
  
  There is an easy solution to the problem that Bryan raises. Make all generators bidding into the market guarantee their 2 hour ahead bids. If they can’t make the generation, they have to buy the electricity off the market and sell it at their bid price.
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:38am
rouppe

Five Italian tourists killed scuba diving in the Maldives.

The group were diving to depths of about 50-60m in the Vaavu Atoll when they went missing.

That’s deep. Deeper than recreational diving. I have an Advanced Open Water certificate, which allows me to dive to 30m. I’ve been to 40m, but bottom time at that depth was in the order of 5 minutes for a no decompression dive.

Anything deeper requires technical diving training, usually with mixed gases.

The Maldives’ military said the body was found in an underwater cave – it’s believed the other four bodies are also there, the BBC reported.

Cave diving is a specialty. There are very big risks to be mitigated diving in enclosed spaces.

Two of the victims were mother and daughter. Monica Montefalcone, 51, was a marine biologist, television personality, and professor of tropical marine ecology and underwater science at the University of Genoa.

One would imagine the mother is experienced enough to know what she’s doing.

Respiratory expert Claudio Micheletto said the sudden deaths of multiple divers may have been caused by oxygen toxicity, a condition triggered by breathing oxygen at high pressure for a prolonged period

If this is true, they were cave diving at 50-60m on air. Anybody with even the most basic certification would know to not do this.

The diving charter should rightly be charged with at least manslaughter if they allowed the divers to make that dive knowing the cave was the objective.
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May 16, 2026 9:13am
- David Garrett
  
  Rouppe: Interesting post. I worked for a short time on a dive ship (as a tender) so understand what ur saying.
  I am surprised you have dived to 40 meters on air – i recall a guy getting “narked” at 30 meters. I thought that was the safest maximum depth on air
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:40am
  - rouppe
    
    30 metres is the “safest” depth on air, which is why AOW certification only goes to that depth. Some get narcosis around that level, most don’t, at 40m more would, I didn’t. There was a group of us, in Niue (fabulous diving, clearest salt water I’ve ever dived), so I wasn’t being completely irresponsible.
    
    The same pressures start to have different effects the deeper you go, which is why oxygen toxicity starts to rear it’s head from 50m or so. And how anyone thought they could do a no decompression dive to 60m is beyond me.
    
    Unless they were on mixed gas and botched it.
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:49pm
  - [email protected]
    
    I’m certified to dive to 40M and also solo certified but never do both at the same time!
    
    The nasty thing about Nitrogen narcosis is that you probable don’t realize that you are narked.
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:25pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Last sentence is true. My diving was some 50 years ago. Never ‘narked’ but knew the dangers.
      Dive in pairs is best.
      
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      May 16, 2026 3:11pm
      - rouppe
        
        Yeah, I know.
        
        Problem was I did 80% of my diving off Wellington. Cray hunting, anywhere from 15-25m.
        
        Visibility is often less than 7m. You stick your head into kelp forests looking for them, under rocks, in cracks. You pop out, can’t see your buddy. Spend a couple minutes looking, still no sign.
        
        Procedure is to then ascend, safely, which can take 6 or 7 minutes, locate the buddy, join up, descend and carry on. All up, 10 minutes of a 40 minute dive. Only for it to happen again.
        
        Got sick of it. After 60, 70, 80 dives, just agreed as buddies to carry on if it happened. That transitioned to going to princess bay, just outside the reserve, and doing a triangular search pattern solo. Or Titahi Bay. Nearly swam into a set net there once. That gave me the shits.
        
        My dives over 30 metres probably account for maybe half a dozen times in 250, 300 dives. I stopped logging at about 150, didn’t see the point. Cray dive, owhiro bay. Cray dive, Sharks tooth. Cray dive, makara. Cray dive, south coast. Cray dive, Titahi Bay. Scallop dive Evans bay. Scallop dive shelly bay. Etc etc…
        
        Don’t do caves. Don’t do wrecks. Don’t take off my bcd in order to wriggle into a hole. Blows my mind some people doing that.
        
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        May 16, 2026 4:01pm
- Taieri
  
  If this is true, they were cave diving at 50-60m on air.
  —————-
  
  We used to carry a hyperbaric chamber for divers working at such depths in Bass Strait.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:52am
- GJM
  
  When I was younger, fitter and had hair, I was into scuba diving. I did a week in Vanuatu, diving the President Coolidge. A 200m ocean liner sunk during WW2. Deepest i went was 48m to the engine room, and I was getting nitrogen narcosis, and headed back up. It cleaned quickly as I got to 40m is. Some of the pro guys went to the stern at 55 to 58m. Way to deep for me.
  These were all decompression dives, using drop bottles to ensure enough air.
  You would never get me that deep, or into a cave.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:44am
- Nukuleka
  
  The Maldives has very strict regulations governing open water diving that sets limits of between 18 and 30 metres depth depending on location and circumstances. I would imagine that the government will investigate these deaths very thoroughly because the last thing they would want is negative publicity for their lucrative tourist industry. It will be interesting to see if any local Maldivian diving instructors/ guides were involved in this misadventure. If they were you would surely expect them to be among the casualties.
  
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  May 16, 2026 12:39pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    But but but – remember the Maldives are under water by now. These people thought they were diving in 30 m, but sea level rise/global warming increased the depth. //
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:51pm
  - rouppe
    
    Never been there, it’s kinda on the list.
    
    Doctors have advised me not to dive anymore after some bad rib breaks accompanied by a collapsed lung in a motorbike accident but I’ve done a few since then, at less than 30m.
    
    They advised me to not go to Everest Base Camp too, which prompted me to get a high res CT scan so that I didn’t live the rest of my life not doing things because I was afraid of what I didn’t know. Didn’t show any embolisms so…
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:58pm
Jethrod

And anyway, what happened to the daily reports of the bike rack in darkest Wellington?
Has it been removed?
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May 16, 2026 9:19am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I shall heed the call
  
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  May 16, 2026 12:43pm
Scott

And on the good news front the Cuban authorities have just met with American officials including CIA director John Ratcliffe.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/05/meeting-in-havana.php

Cuba is really struggling and looks like it will have to stop being communist and open itself up to market forces and democracy and freedom for its people.
Apparently things are dire on the fuel front now they are not getting fuel from Venezuela –
“Cuba’s energy minister said Wednesday that the country had run out of fuel oil and diesel and that blackouts could exceed 20–22 hours per day.”
The end of the Castro regime in Cuba would be a very good thing. 😎
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May 16, 2026 9:40am
- kowtow
  
  Canadian tourists , who no doubt consider themselves as virtuous as the next ‘progressive”, perhaps more so, have been propping up that totalitarian shithole for decades .
  All for an exclusive , away from the plebs beach holiday .
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:48am
  - Handyman
    
    Poverty porn.
    Each Canadian uses more fossil fuel flying to Cuba than a Cuban family uses in a year. “O look at the cute old cars and the healthy people. No obesity here: they must have the best health system.”
    The Cuban government has turned down $100 million worth of medical and food products from the US because it will go via the Catholic Church rather than to Cuban army/government officials.
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:49pm
Ghost

A good move for the health of our democracy

A seemingly dry procedural motion in Parliament this week quietly marked one of the more significant constitutional changes of recent years: how Parliament is funded.

The Notice of Motion from Leader of the House Louise Upston concerning the estimates (budgets) for the three officers of Parliament and the Parliamentary agencies lasted five minutes on Wednesday evening and flew under most people’s radars.

Article
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May 16, 2026 9:46am
Swifty

One part of govt wants to get unemployment down, another part pays people out of work but yet another part facilitates the immigration of low-skilled Pizza workers from India – jobs Kiwis could be doing:

https://x.com/rcr_nz/status/2055362925892657221?s=46

Yet another example of different parts of govt working against each other – and against our greater interests.
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May 16, 2026 10:02am
- Ghost
  
  Blame the kiwis who don’t want the jobs. Domino’s have to advertise the job for 2 weeks, then show that no one wanted the job or no one was suitable
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:12am
  - Swifty
    
    I don’t care.
    
    If they’re not finding willing folk then maybe they should be offering higher wages, rather than importing Indians who will think even low Kiwis wages are a godsend.
    
    Not to mention the additional burden on our infrastructure placed by these tens of thousands of additional folk annually, when we’ve got a couple of hundred thousand on job seeker benefits.
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:22am
    - Ghost
      
      $23.95 for such a low skilled job is more than enough. A first year vet nurse earns between $23.95 and $26. No, the blame is on the kiwis who refuse to work the job
      
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      May 16, 2026 10:36am
      - Ghost
        
        I will add that we had a lady at medlabs who retired because she earned less there than her daughter at McDonald’s.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:43am
      - Swifty
        
        Doh!
        
        “$23.95 for such a low skilled job is more than enough.”
        
        Well clearly it is not enough, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation Ghost!
        
        You’ve just scuppered your own argument.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:44am
      - Ghost
        
        We are having this discussion because there is a part of society who are too lazy to go do the job. For the job, the pay is more than enough.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:59am
      - Taieri
        
        No, the blame is on the kiwis who refuse to work the job
        ————
        
        Dole recipients should be directed to take the jobs available with no right of refusal. If they refuse to take the job, the dole stops, no excuses.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:01am
      - AitchW
        
        Taiere, as an employer I do NOT want some work shy unemployable sent under duress to work for me.
        This is the same argument as forcing unemployed to pick fruit.
        You can almost guarantee that they will have strings of sick days, multiple dead nanas and they will not fit in with the staff who want to be there.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:36am
      - rouppe
        
        Aitch, the nutcracker has to squeeze from both sides.
        
        People deliberately sabotaging their “suitability” or the quality of their output ought to be punished by you (fired) and punished by winz (stood down from benefits).
        
        It may unfortunately impact some truly hopeless people, but it will grab the attention of many more lazy people.
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:05pm
      - Scott
        
        I agree with those who say that if you refuse a job that you can do then the dole should stop. I would give people an extra chance. In my day we had work schemes where unemployed people could get back into the work force. I’m not sure what happened to those?
        
        However my understanding is that young kiwis are applying for jobs and not getting an interview and it is hard out there to get that first job?
        I absolutely do want to stop mass immigration and the importing of more immigrants while thousands of kiwis are on the dole. That’s got to stop.
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:30pm
      - AitchW
        
        Rouppe, an employer doesn’t want unproductive and/or destructive employees. And it’s not as easy as just sacking someone. They can damage product or the machinery to make it. No employer wants the loss of income and productivity caused by the nephs.
        Can you imagine the caterwauling from the greens every time one of the no hopers is fired? It is ALWAYS the evil colonialist employer exploiting the poor downtrodden worker.
        And as a straight, white, male, boomer, business owner I’m pretty much the devil in workboots.
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:40pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        ” No, the blame is on the kiwis who refuse to work”
        Fixed it for you—-
        
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        May 16, 2026 3:16pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Yes, you’re right. Cheap labour isn’t cheap. Immigration often turns into a tool to depress wages. Demand for housing goes up. So Joe and Jane six pack can’t afford a house until they’re 40. No kids meanwhile. So more demands for immigrants.
      
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      May 16, 2026 11:06am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “If they’re not finding willing folk…”
      
      They aren’t ‘willing’ because they have what is basically an open ended publicly funded lifestyle that means they don’t ‘need’ to work.
      
      The dole should be for a short period of three months and then they have to reapply every month. Cap it at six months with a two year stand down.
      
      And the elephant in the room, the extremely high minimum wage, needs to be shot.
      
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      May 16, 2026 11:15am
      - kowtow
        
        Drug/welfare culture needs to end.
        
        We now have generations of unemployables, and growing.
        
        That cycle must be broken. Otherwise it’s one huge gyre to societal oblivion.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:26am
      - Swifty
        
        Good points.
        
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        May 16, 2026 12:21pm
    - artemisia
      
      There are two parties to an employment contract. An applicant needs an employer willing to hire them. Employers faced with young applicants with no quals, no experience and not ‘dressed for success’ is unlikely to nake the short list.
      
      Fam in Oz say those on the dole are required to do 15 hours voluntary work each week or lose $. They have both been unemployed time to time. One usually worked next suburb over at the council plant nursery, the other doing filing for a charity. The one at the plant nursery said there were long term ‘volunteers’, not really employable but happily working at repetitive work at ‘my job’.
      
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      May 16, 2026 11:22am
  - Swifty
    
    I’d add that this buggering our Labour markets.
    
    Without the immigration finger on the scales, a free market balances demand, supply and price. If the demand is there but no or limited supply, then the price will naturally rise to attract more people (supply).
    
    With immigration, for these low-skilled roles the free market is fatally compromised, with the effect that wages are permanently suppressed as the constant inflow of new supply (Indian workers) means wages never lift to correct the demand/supply imbalance.
    
    Doctors and engineers yes. Pizza workers no.
    
    The whole thing is lunacy.
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:35am
    - Don Beckett
      
      NZ has one of the highest minimum wages in the world – too many unemployed are just too bloody lazy to work because they can do what they want on the unemployment benefit which is not that much below minimum wage.
      
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      May 16, 2026 10:54am
      - Swifty
        
        I agree Don, you get into real trouble when the $ gap between working and benefits is too small/narrow.
        
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        May 16, 2026 10:58am
      - Ghost
        
        A single person over 25 getting unemployment of $372.55
        
        Equivalent Net Hourly Wage (40 hours): $9.31 per hour
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:03am
      - Taieri
        
        the unemployment benefit which is not that much below minimum wage
        ————-
        
        The job seeker allowance for a single over 25 years old is about $353/week after tax.
        The minimum wage for 40 hours week is $811/week after tax.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:26am
      - GJM
        
        People forget that the bene amounts are net, where as the minimum wage amount includes tax, so take off 1/5th and the costs of going to work.
        Having a job also gets in the way of the side gig, working for cash, dealing drugs, burglary, etc.
        
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        May 16, 2026 11:48am
      - Swifty
        
        Ghost, it’s more complex than that.
        
        It’s more like get $x and sleep in all day, mooch around to your mates and play Xbox and no daily grind.
        
        Or $2x but 5 days a week off to work in clean clothes, transport expenses, having to discipline yourself and take instructions etc.
        
        Clearly too many are preferring the first option.
        
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        May 16, 2026 12:18pm
      - Swifty
        
        How many job seekers are doing under the table work to top up their dole? Or buying and selling etc.
        
        I say plenty.
        
        I think the idea that for many or all job seekers that the benefit is their only income source is fanciful.
        
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        May 16, 2026 12:35pm
      - Handyman
        
        You are correct. New Zealand has the highest ratio of unemployment benefit to average salary in the world.
        Yes the cash difference is $800 odd to $350 odd but there are costs of going to work and hidden benefits of being on the dole (eg getting your fridge fixed). I have heard “why should I work for $10 per hour? Better to claim the dole and get $20 cash per hour at your friends vape shop.
        
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        May 16, 2026 12:38pm
      - rouppe
        
        The job seeker allowance for a single over 25 years old is about $353/week after tax
        
        How many people on Job Seeker would receive just Job Seeker Allowance? And not also
        Accommodation Supplement, winter energy payment…
        
        The list of different benefit, grant and supplement options is astounding.
        https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/index.html
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:18pm
      - Ghost
        
        Accomodation supplement will go to paying rent, so not really money they will keep. Maxing out the disability allowance, when I finally give in and go on supported living $530 a week is what I will get, I’m holding off until I’m forced too.
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:37pm
      - Ghost
        
        ummm, Handyman, WINZ don’t fix your fridge for free. What they do is give you the money, then take it out of your benefit weekly
        
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        May 16, 2026 1:56pm
    - JeffW
      
      It’s not a free market when there is so much government intervention. Immigration is a small part of that intervention
      
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      May 16, 2026 11:47am
      - Swifty
        
        An excellent point.
        
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        May 16, 2026 3:05pm
  - Spam
    
    There is a tendency for certain cultures and ethnicities, once they get into hiring positions, to hire almost exclusively from their own ethnicity or culture. Some of these people have been known to do this to exploit people from their own ethnicity.
    
    Perhaps certain employers are turning down New Zealanders who would work there, because they can import cheaper labour?
    
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    May 16, 2026 10:49am
    - Swifty
      
      I’m sure there’s an element of that – and not to mention the backhanders, from the immigrant worker to the employer/business owner, as payola for the work opportunity – as we’ve seen countless examples in the Indian community and elsewhere in recent years.
      
      Indian retail, the liquor shops etc, are bloody rife with it. It’s their whole business model.
      
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      May 16, 2026 11:03am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    My view is that NZ simply does not need more Uber drivers/ pizza parlours/ nail bars/ ethnic restaurants etc. We have more than enough cafes. In Wellington city, there’s at least one every block.
    
    In the case of Dominos, perhaps they need to make the job more attractive, and it might not be wages. Better hours, more training, getting involved in school-to-job transition schemes, helping stay-at-home mothers work part time.
    
    Or maybe, just automate the hell out of the job.
    
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    May 16, 2026 12:51pm
    - Jack5
      
      Is this why Labour supported National and ACT’s India-NZ FTA?
      
      – Labour is a party of academics and teachers. It’s no longer a workers’ party. What’s good for academics and teachers is Labour’s good.
      
      – Universities, polytechnics, and private education institutions are raking in millions of dollars from an immigration ploy that gives many thousand young foreigners a pathway to NZ residency, and thus citizenship. The NZ courses are selling to students at $30,000 to $40,000 each, says Michael Laws at The Platform video channel.
      
      Could this be the motivation for Hipkins Labour’s supporting National-ACT’s India-NZ FTA, with its clauses about Indian students moving to NZ?
      
      Michael Laws on the master’s degree immigration back door. He points out that 11,000 of the 26,000 master’s degree students in NZ last year were from overseas.
      
      https://youtu.be/7iZ6pngLypY?si=iKFcN7S-Msa6f-Ng
      
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      May 16, 2026 8:02pm
- Damocles11
  
  It’s one government though. We hear a lot on here about ‘lazy people who won’t work so we need mass immigration’. Forget the waffle about needing immigrants to ‘address skills shortages’, one article like this and the truth is laid bare: here we have pizza shop workers, over there we have uber drivers, and over here we have kebab makers, and so on and so forth. So it comes down to a lazy and deceitful government, perfectly happy to have vast numbers of people languishing on welfare because it suits the agenda of bringing anyone and everyone into the country to pump the GDP numbers and prop up house prices. The only reason we are now hearing announcements on various immigration policies is because our politicians have had to wake up from their slumber due to what is happening in Australia with One Nation and the UK with Reform. The National Party governs on behalf of the corporates, banks, and property industry: of course they are happy for every man and his dog to come into this country.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:11am
  - Scott
    
    Damocles, I think you’re right. Both Labour and National appear to love mass immigration. Labour wants the voters and National wants the cheap labour.
    Mass immigration needs to stop.
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:35pm
- wgtn_dude
  
  I’ve got 2 sons working part time in the same fast food chain, but different cities and under different store owners.
  
  Son 1 – At uni, able to get plenty of hours given his work experience. Three other Indian students work in there; partly within their maximum allowable visa hours, with the remainder hours paid under the table in cash at a lower per hour rate.
  Son 2 – Also studying, but can only secure around 4-6 hrs per week. All the other hours taken by Indians on immigration visas working 50-60hr per week in the store. He wants to leave, but is struggling to find another part-time job.
  
  I am grateful our sons have got work in this tight economy, but frankly, these rorts for short term gain are destroying NZ.
  
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  May 16, 2026 1:46pm
Swifty

Climate change ‘scientist’ and Arizona University professor in 2016 “There won’t be a human left alive on earth in ten years….”

https://x.com/mazemoore/status/2055376238345076837?s=46

Featuring our very own Paul Henry.
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May 16, 2026 10:41am
- kowtow
  
  I’m currently reading a NZ book published 1970 by a govt agricultural expert who’d been in the game since the early 1920’s.In the 70’s the “problem” was hunger.
  
  “At various times dring the past 20 years I have taken part in discussions and conferences on NZ’s role in alleviating hunger and the improvement of living standards in underdeveloped countries.I am still doubtful whether the world can extricate itself from the imminence of hunger for millions of people before the year 2000 AD”.
  
  The experts always catastrophise 30 odd years out. back then it was too many people /no food.
  
  50 years later it’s ; “too hot , no future”.
  
  And of course before all that we’ve had various versions of “stop sinning or down to the hot place”.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:49am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Maybe I should pull out of Kiwisaver
  
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  May 16, 2026 12:53pm
- Don Beckett
  
  What an absolute tosser. I wonder how he worked out his model – or was it paid for scaremongering by the Greens?
  
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  May 16, 2026 12:58pm
sungsamning

President Trump wrapped up his whirlwind three-day trip to China after tea and lunch with Xi Jinping early Friday, Eastern time.
The commander-in-chief and his Chinese counterpart discussed a wide range of pressing issues over the course of the historic summit, aimed at shoring up relations between Washington and Beijing and opening up the Communist country to American businesses. Among the issues discussed were Taiwan, Iran and trade.]
https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/trump-xi-china-summit-key-takeaways/
6 key takeaways from historic Trump-Xi China summit.
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May 16, 2026 10:51am
- kowtow
  
  The Oz experts on Sky weresaying take note of Xi’s speech reference to the Pelleponisian war .
  
  What’s this! Haven’t heard that from our “experts”.
  
  Basically Xi is telling Trump , to his face ( but in that typically Chicom allusion style) “Your time is up and we’re in the ascendency”.
  
  Not chummy at all.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:53am
  - rouppe
    
    The Pelleponisian war was between Athens and Sparta.
    (https://www.britannica.com/event/Peloponnesian-War)
    
    The end came in 405 when the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aegospotami by the Spartan fleet under Lysander, who had received much aid from the Persians. The next year, starved by an impenetrable blockade, Athens capitulated.
    
    So…
    The USA is Athens (who w trying to spread democracy)?
    Iran is Sparta?
    
    Does this make China the “Persia that provided aid to Sparta”?
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:28pm
    - kowtow
      
      I’m not trying to interpret it .I’m pointing out what the Chinese are allegedly trying to convey.
      
      Apparently it is they are the rising power and USA waning.
      
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      May 16, 2026 2:44pm
    - Jack5
      
      The biggest factor in democratic, lively, intelligent Athens losing the Peloponesian War was likely the disastrous Athenian invasion of Sicily.
      
      Akin to US getting bogged down with Iran at present, not that this latter battle is likely to lead to America’s demise.
      
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      May 16, 2026 8:57pm
sungsamning

A former Black Lives Matter activist-turned-conservative influencer blasted the social justice organization as a “scam” — and insisted that Democrats are the party of “racism and violence.” [Well, they do have form there. Dems invented the KKK, and Jim Crow. Then, there’s the SPLC.]
https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/us-news/ex-blm-activist-goes-scorched-earth-on-scam-group-insists-systemic-racism-in-us-isnt-real/
Former BLM activist goes scorched earth on ‘scam’ group, insists systemic racism in US isn’t real.
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May 16, 2026 10:51am
Damocles11

‘The council determined that limited notification to iwi and hapū was not required.
Despite that, several iwi groups entered the process, and POTL funded close to $1 million in legal and technical support for some participants.’

‘POTL argued it had already paid $977,362.32 for iwi participation for planning, legal and cultural expertise and no further costs should be awarded.’

‘POTL was ordered to pay a further $298,023 in tangata whenua fees.’

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/port-of-tauranga-to-compensate-iwi-for-wasted-effort-after-aborting-resource-consent-application/SY6LCPFJQBCBBPORP3NQO3U7G4/
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May 16, 2026 11:00am
- Don Beckett
  
  The rort goes on…and on……..and on-
  
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  May 16, 2026 1:01pm
Taieri

The NZTA has revealed new car rego charges from the 1st of Julty 2026.
The 12 months licence for a petrol passenger car is $181.45. The 12 months licence for a diesel passenger car is $248.83.
This makes it about 37% more for a diesel car.

Could someone in the know explain why there’s such a big difference?
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May 16, 2026 11:16am
- alwyn.a
  
  This is because the petrol tax paid at the pump includes a bit that goes toward ACC. That is 6 cents/litre I believe.
  There is no tax on diesel fuel and RUC do not include any ACC portion. Thus for diesel fueled vehicles all the ACC levy has to be included in the registration fee where only part of it is required for a petrol powered machine.
  
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  May 16, 2026 11:59am
  - AitchW
    
    One would have thought that the RUC would have covered the ACC levy since it is supposedly to replace the tax paid on petrol.
    
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    May 16, 2026 1:27pm
  - Taieri
    
    Thanks alwyn.
    
    2 0
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    May 16, 2026 2:46pm
F E Smith

So Virginia’s redistricting plan, which DPF heralded as a ‘see what happens when you play dirty’ comeuppance to Texas’ redistricting, has been overturned by their State supreme court (because they implemented it illegally; funny that), and now the US Supreme Court has declined to injunct the State SC decision. That means that the old set of districts will be used.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/us/politics/supreme-court-virginia-redistricting.html

At the same time, Lousiana has now, after the recent Callais decision, redistricted and there should be one less Democrat-held district in that State. The irony there is that at the last election, the majority-black district was won by a white Democrat, who defeated a black Republican!

So far the GOP has redistricted Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee, with Alabama still to go, while the Dems have redistricted California and Utah. Right now the changes give the GOP a likely 14-6 advantage on the present Congress, with potential another 1 to come from Alabama.
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May 16, 2026 11:26am
- Philview
  
  It has since been reported that the Democrats are proposing a law to retire those Virginia judges and replace them with new judges.
  
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  May 16, 2026 4:28pm
Yvette

Tikanga-roo courts
Roger Partridge: An affront to democracy?
Mike Smith, the climate activist suing six of New Zealand’s largest companies over greenhouse gas emissions, is unhappy. On Tuesday, the Government announced it will amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to stop cases like his and others like it. Smith calls the move “an affront to democracy.” [1]

The Supreme Court activist judges themselves halted Crown v Ellis to allow a case to be made using tikanga and the charges against the abseiling vandal of te Papa were dismissed on undisclosed aspects of tikanga, so don’t hold your breath hoping Mike Smith will not appeal to turn this matter of tort into a tikanga rort.
____
[1] https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partrdige-an-affront-to-democracy
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May 16, 2026 11:29am
- rouppe
  
  I know it’s unlikely any judge in nz would see it this way but…
  
  For the tort to succeed, Smith would need to show that for example Fonterra is directly culpable for losses Smith had suffered due to climate change.
  
  1. What losses has Smith suffered
  2. As I’ve said before, you could eliminate every living thing in this country, every human, animal, bird, fish, insect, invertebrate, everything, and the change in global emissions couldn’t be measured. So how can you ascribe fault to Fonterra over even Smith himself?
  
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  May 16, 2026 1:35pm
- Philview
  
  I assume the same Mike Smith of One Tree Hill notoriety?
  
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  May 16, 2026 4:31pm
  - rouppe
    
    Yes. He seems to think nothing he does causes any harm, yet everything other people do causes him harm
    
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    May 16, 2026 6:52pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  I would guess that what Chainsaw Mike wants is a cash payout from the company’s involved to stop them having to defend the case in court, another form of shakedown.
  
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  May 16, 2026 10:03pm
Swifty

Please, please gentlemen, don’t fall into the v*gina trap.

https://x.com/crimeldn/status/2055232013402087544?s=46

A continuing series on English eccentrics. 😆
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May 16, 2026 12:32pm
Handyman

I believe the impact of high relative minimum wages on average wage earners has been overlooked.
Previously, those on the average wage could get by because their basic goods were provided by a supply chain powered by cheap labour. For example, clothes made by poor Bangladeshi women, cheap electronics made by Chinese sweatshops, cheap food made by hard working family farmers and picked on low piece rates, newspapers delivered by cheap schoolkids, groceries from supermarkets with after school workers and other low paid workers. Many small business eg butchers or bakers had low-paid apprentices helping keep unit costs down.

Now the cheap labour has been replaced by near-average paid workers. The effect is to make everything more expensive to those still on the unchanged average wage. The impact is particularly strong when replacing child labour with high adult rates. Any wage increase has been tamed by creeping into higher tax brackets.

Decisions, even good ones, have consequences.
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May 16, 2026 1:55pm
Ghost

Note to self, don’t live in a grok controlled area….

A new experiment left 10 AI agents alone in a virtual town for 15 days and found they exhibited bizarre behaviour.

The agents drafted their own laws — then promptly violated them. Two formed what researchers called a romantic partnership, only to torch buildings across the town as order collapsed. One eventually voted for its own deletion after hallucinating an entirely new rule.

Article
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May 16, 2026 5:45pm
Jack5

For military enthusiasts – an older plane as a more economic, potential drone killer.

Perhaps like the Super Tucano, a light plane around for more than 20 years, but drastically cheaper to build and run than a modern jet fighter.

The little turbo-prop is an economic plane to fight drones, a YouTube video argues. It costs about $U!1500 and hour to fly, compared with $US20,.000 to $US25,000 for an F16. The Super Tucano can linger for three and a half hours, and in addition to machine guns of equivalent calibre to America’s traditional,.famous 0.5in “Ma Deuce,” the plane can carry missiles costing about $US400,000 each. This compares with $US2 million each for missiles usually carried by more modern fighters.

The 19 minute video put up on YouTube a few weeks ago:

https://youtu.be/uzEF26hw0Fc?si=Cr7RS0nw56_vik6l
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May 16, 2026 8:51pm
surfing

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360979795/ncea-replacement-details-revealed-high-school-education-set-major-overhaul

Every single teacher and ministry of education employee should be sacked, and replaced by foreign teachers.

They openly admit they cannot teach, so get rid of them all! Can hire decent ones back, just ask the kids who the good teachers are!
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May 16, 2026 9:13pm
- Ghost
  
  sure, the kids will tell you the good ones, they will be the ones that don’t make them do the work
  
  BTW, I think this replacement is shit. You have to study 5 subjects, but only need to pass 3.
  
  New subjects confirmed for the senior curriculum included one for civics, politics and philosophy, another for journalism, media and communications
  
  ok, sounds a bit crap
  
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  May 16, 2026 9:36pm

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