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August 6, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 06 August 2026

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General Debate

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Cassandra

Much is being made of an anti-Israel Egyptian’s victory in the Michigan US Senate Democratic primary. Note that he won by 1.5% and the third candidate got 4%. The winner is unlikely to win the November election. Republicans are delighted that he won.
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August 6, 2026 8:04am
- Southern Raider
  
  I think the USA is on the path to ripping itself apart.
  
  The Democratic Socialist Alliance seems to be winning more and more primaries and mayor seats. It’s like the Greens and TPM radicals replacing all the semi moderate Labour MPs in NZ.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:40am
  - David George
    
    Mayor Madmani is now widely distrusted and disliked. The people are waking up to the vile reality of Islamo Marxism.
    While the primaries are interesting they still have to win with the people. All in all, having opponents from the American hating Left is good news for the Right.
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:52am
    - Cassandra
      
      My reading is that he remains popular.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:03am
      - David George
        
        You are correct, Cassandra, according to recent polls he has 46% approval. Not widespread but still quite high.
        Give it time.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:11am
    - Southern Raider
      
      Although I would like to think that he still has a large support base in NY and across the USA. If an election was held today I expect his margin would be cut but he would still win.
      
      Across the USA is a growing number of look a likes popping up for election and actually getting elected.
      
      The mayor of Seattle is another classic example of the DSA and what a disaster is awaiting broader America. At what point do Texas and Florida decide to pull out of the Union.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:15am
    - Im Right
      
      The trouble with socialist/Marxist philosophy David is that it appeals to the young and the poor of society, on paper and tub thumping speeches it sounds like the silver bullet that will cure societies ills, in reality it is the complete opposite.
      I’ve never seen a more accurate description of socialism than:
      “You can vote your way into socialism, but you’ll have to shoot your way out.”
      
      Plus….
      Ever heard of a socialist country where the leader(s)/top bureaucrats were NOT filthy rich?
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:25am
- mike
  
  Michigan-born but still ‘Egyptian’?
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:50am
  - Cassandra
    
    Just like you are a European.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:04am
    - Colville
      
      Speak for yourself.
      I am a New Zealander.
      My skin colour is not who I am.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:14am
    - Bullion
      
      I’m sure you’re consistent using “european” as a pejorative.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:23am
    - mike
      
      I’m a NZer. He’s an American.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:47am
      - Jack5
        
        “A nzer”?
        
        C’mon Mike, it’s “an NZer” and “a New Zealander”.
        
        N is a consonant, but NZer is pronounced as “Enzedder,” beginning with a vowel.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:58am
      - Cassandra
        
        He calls himself an Arab-American. You are still classified as a European. Up De Nile.
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:28pm
      - mike
        
        I’m really not sure how Cassandra can assume my ethnic background.
        
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        August 6, 2026 1:17pm
      - Cassandra
        
        It was instinctively, mike plus the way you write.
        
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        August 6, 2026 4:01pm
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      He calls himself Egyptian.
      
      Someone else calls me European.
      
      I call my self a New Zealander.
      
      How many gooberment forms allow me to identify as a New Zealander?
      
      How many many make me a New Zealander of Eurpean descent?
      
      How many use ‘Pakeha”?
      
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      August 6, 2026 12:14pm
      - waikatosinger
        
        I’ll answer to Pakeha. At least it makes it damned clear that I belong here and nowhere else.
        
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        August 6, 2026 4:32pm
artemisia

Early childhood advocates fear funding review will put business bottom lines over children

Advocates are getting in ahead of the ECE funding review recommendations in case it affects the flow of OPM into the sector – aka their jobs however they attempt to frame it.

Here’s a surprise , who could have guessed it, fiscally neutral funding is “a recipe for disaster” for children ….

A senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Auckland, Kiri Gould, said a fundamental flaw of the review was that its recommendations could not increase government spending…. early childhood is so under-funded,” she said.

I wonder if one or two of the submissions to the review presented ideas for managing within budget. How about starting with the mantra ‘there’s 30% waste in every process’.

There is talk in the sector about ECE businesses closing down, some because not financially viable, but that is the nature of businesses. Ask the hospo and construction sectors ….

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/900601/early-childhood-advocates-fear-funding-review-will-put-business-bottom-lines-over-children
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August 6, 2026 8:10am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Perhaps the ECE centres should (gasp) just put their fees up.
  
  Which might in turn encourage mothers to (double gasp) stay at home with their pre schoolers.
  
  Of course, the annual winter holiday in Fiji might have to be canned, but hey, that’ll be good for emissions reduction, am I right?
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:40am
  - R
    
    ‘stay at home’…..would be even better for the child(ren), particularly if the father is living in the same house, and supporting the family.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:25am
  - Bullion
    
    Just what we need, add to the 440,000 working age people underutilised.
    
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    August 6, 2026 12:23pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Like people are economic units?
      
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      August 6, 2026 8:16pm
kevn

Power supply issues and the data centre…
https://nigelgrayearthpulse.substack.com/p/transpowers-warning-proves-nz-cannot
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August 6, 2026 8:14am
- Jethrod
  
  That is scary stuff.
  I suppose if NZ Ltd can’t supply power to these data centres there will then be penalties to pay. Another vice around ones gonads.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:56am
- peterwn
  
  Prospective large customers have no ‘right of supply’ – they have to arrange their own power source – either building their own plant or negotiating with generation companies to purchase power. Generation companies respond by commissioning new capacity. All four major generators have prospective new generation in the pipeline (sources, resource consents etc) and are ready to build to meet increased demand.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:02am
  - wsk12345
    
    The problem Peter, is that most of the new capacity they are building is t capacity at all. Every new Wind or solar farm added is degrading the overall security of supply by reducing the proportion of firm power.
    
    I would recommend Larry Blair’s substack as much better informed and more measured than this one.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:30am
    - kevn
      
      Thanks wsk.
      For those interested…
      https://newzealandenergy.substack.com/p/near-miss
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:23am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Exactly. The opposition is based on pure ignorance, and the same applies to the water requirement. Things like this are why NZ is poor. Green opposition should be a clue.
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:02am
    - Taieri
      
      The opposition is based on pure ignorance
      ———–
      
      Not necessarily.
      The claimed benefits to NZ are not all that great once you get through the hype.
      
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      August 6, 2026 1:00pm
  - kevn
    
    pete.. The demand is here, now.
    Building new generation will take how long?
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:12am
  - kevn
    
    peter… So you suggest we can ignore Transpowers concerns?
    All is well in NZs power generation world?
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:16am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Prospective large customers have no ‘right of supply’ – they have to arrange their own power source – either building their own plant or negotiating with generation companies to purchase power. ”
    
    If they negotiate with suppliers then they do have right of supply.
    
    The problem is that the big users will be given the supply that they have contracted for at the expense of smaller users, and the public, who don’t have the same bargaining power as a data centre.
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:47am
    - R
      
      ‘at the expense of small…..’ Perhaps if the small users hadn’t been ideologically deluded and supported anti development activists over the last50 years, we would now have the hydro infrastructure to provide a stable secure supply.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:28am
- RoboRob
  
  This is an indictment on our energy infrastructure system and the repeated failure of successive governments to deal with a known issue. Simon Watts and Luxon being the most recent failures but not alone.
  
  Data centres are a red herring and just another example of a business or industry that NZ might miss out on simply because politicians cant get their acts together and fix the system. If anything AI data centres are less of an issue as they tend to bring their own energy infrastructure or pay existing generators to build new generation for them.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:08am
  - wsk12345
    
    The issue isn’t “fixing the system”. The markets work well enough except in providing firm capacity. The market design never focussed on this because energy was historically our issue not capacity (think peak capacity on roads vs total road space over time, the latter being “energy” equivalent). That’s a change that could be made, simple enough of not easy.
    
    The bigger issue is the lack of generation options thanks to labo/greens/climate agenda. Ruling out gas, coal and hydro – the only 3 sources of additional firming (geothermal is baseload) is the issue. Instead we will spend many many multiples of the cost of those on work arounds like wind, solar and batteries which will never be as good.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:47am
    - RoboRob
      
      Agree.
      
      What I mean by fix is that for the lay person, we never have the situation where ‘we almost / do’ run out of power. Where businesses aren’t forced to stop production / use because we have a shortage. Where new businesses can open and assume availability of power at a reasonable price. Where our power price is not one of the more expensive rates in the world (even though the fuel source is primarily free).
      
      People don’t generally care about the generation mix, baseload, firming etc. They just want to know they have cheap available power. NZs governments have failed on this. The price has risen and the availability has dropped.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:48am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Its time to declare electricity supply an essential service.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:49am
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        It sort of was which is why it was nationalized in the old days when boys were actually boys and all kiwis were equal regardless of race.
        Key knew better though so we’ve got private ownership of 49%, no investment in lines upgrades or new large scale generation and doubling power bills.
        And dairy cows in the Mackenzie
        
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        August 6, 2026 5:16pm
  - mogg
    
    Yes Infratil are a major builder of data centres, they also underwrite or fund renewable energy projects to compensate for their electricity use.
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:49am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    One data centre is set to use 6% of our entire electricity supply and I don’t see any amount of baseload power being built.
    That’s not a red herring.
    
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    August 6, 2026 1:10pm
- kowtow
  
  Herald today on power supply in the cold.
  
  90% renewable ,but no breakdown. That’ll be by far mostly hydro from the SI , but limited distribution to the NI by the Cook strait cable capacity .
  
  Great planning and top class infrastructure ……..not.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:33am
  - R
    
    ‘not….’ But look at our wonderful, all excuses encompassing.. WELFARE SYSTEM
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:32am
- Southern Raider
  
  Even as we hit a cold snap (people seem to have forgotten it’s winter) we have green radicals calling for natural gas to be stopped and wood fires to be banned.
  
  We don’t have a demand issue in NZ, we have a politically driven capacity issue.
  
  Gas is used for heating but because of the price people are choosing not to use it or supplement with electric heaters. Transfers more demand to a constrained electricity source.
  
  People have been forced to get rid of wood fires which then forces them to use electric heaters and heat pumps. Transfers more demand to a constrained electricity source.
  
  Growing up we had a wood burner and wet back which did all the heavy house and water heating. If I lived in a rural area again there is no way I would rely solely on an electric source of heating as Murphy’s Law would be you get cut off at the same time it’s minus 5.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:46am
  - Ehlana
    
    I can understand upgrading wood fires to reduce air pollution and improve efficiency, but why, especially in rural areas, would you want to get rid of them?
    Wood is a renewable resource and apparently we are planting more pine trees right now, so it’s not one we’re going to run out of soon.
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:44am
    - RoboRob
      
      Totally. I love fires and wish we had one 🙂
      
      I also love my heat pumps, but I am well aware of the limitations. As the temperature drops, especially below zero, the efficiency drops as does the output. You never have that issue with a log burner.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:51am
      - Taieri
        
        the efficiency drops as does the output
        ———-
        
        It does, but it also depends on the type of machine and refrigerant used.
        This morning my heat pump was still performing very well with -1 deg C outside. This unit is only 3 months old and running on R32.
        A very important factor is humidity outside. Any moisture on the evaporator fins is very detrimental to performance as it tends to freeze and reduce the output.
        
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        August 6, 2026 1:05pm
    - kowtow
      
      A wood or coal range that can keep you warm , cook your food and heat your water ( even in a power failure) makes you independent .
      
      With ‘electricity” the state sets the price and essentially controls you .
      
      That’s what the Greens and to a lesser extent Labour are all about , command and control.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:55am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Comment of the day/week/year…etc.
        But it will be ignored.
        Well said
        
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        August 6, 2026 2:23pm
    - Southern Raider
      
      I normal person would agree with you but the Green acolytes what a full ban regardless of how efficient the wood fires are
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:16am
  - R
    
    Southern Raider, you will have to stop this logical real world thinking. It upsets the activists and environmentalists, they spill their latte’s.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:35am
- Southern Raider
  
  Maybe all EV chargers (domestic and public) should be legislated to have controls on them like hot water cylinders do so that they can be temporarily turned off during periods of peak demand?
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:32am
  - RoboRob
    
    Or even better, maybe we should have enough energy so we don’t have to turn off water cylinders and tell businesses to shut down for a few hours.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:15am
- I remember when
  
  One of the problems with the current situation is that extreme cold weather occurs with high pressures which means little, to no, wind.
  Present Transpower data shows Wind is producing 60 MW of its stated capacity of 1470 MW.
  Doubling Wind capacity will have virtually no effect.
  Before dawn no Solar, so that leaves Hydro and Geothermal to carry the ‘green’ capacity.
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:01am
  - RoboRob
    
    My observations, when I was paying attention, was that Wind generally produces around 10% of the stated maximum. As you say, on really cold days it is generally still and its even more useless.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:16am
surfing

This Jason Arday story exploded over the last day or two.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e146jw618o

Made me curious, to see an example of this plagiarism ….
https://dennismccarthy.substack.com/p/who-plagiarized-more-jason-arday

It’s pretty bad. The university seems complicit in a cover up.
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August 6, 2026 8:20am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Arday has resigned. Another DEI crash and burn.
  https://share.google/i5mhDvWshuc0HckL9
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:03am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  This “autistic” professor seems to have been using lawyers and even the police for the last year or so to threaten journalists and other researchers who have been asking questions about his methods and results.
  
  https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/i-was-reported-police-over-arday-case-i-was-just-doing-my-job
  
  https://retractionwatch.com/2026/07/27/cambridge-jason-arday-plagiarism-allegations-times-higher-education-exclusive/
  
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  August 6, 2026 3:27pm
Yvette

New Zealand first?
Chapter 2 of the Cabinet Manual stipulate that Ministers are held accountable to the Prime Minister for their personal and political conduct at all times, regardless of which “hat” (party leader or minister) they claim to be wearing.

Paragraph 2.56: Behaviour and Ultimate Accountability
“In all of these roles and at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical and behavioural standards. This includes exercising a professional approach and good judgement in their interactions with the public, staff, and officials, and in all their communications, personal and professional. Ultimately, all Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.” [1]

So why has the Speaker not had issue with this, or does Cabinet Manual not apply in the Debating Chamber, and should there be an explanation as to why the Chamber is not as clear and rigorous as the Cabinet Manual.
________________

Last week, Jones said he backed his leader because NZ First would soon be campaigning on restricting immigrants’ rights to stand for Parliament.
“They’d have to be here in our country for a long period of time before they can become politicians. We’re going to campaign on that,” Jones said.

Peters told Xu-Nan: “Go back to your own country. You only came here just five minutes ago. Go back to your own country, that’s where they lie like a flat fish. But they don’t lie like that here, all right, this is what we call democracy.”

“Our leader has articulated what we’re going to put in our manifesto in relation to qualifications for who can stand for Parliament. When that manifesto is completed, that will be available,” he said.

Under the current law, any New Zealand citizen who is old enough to vote can stand as a candidate. Jones has said NZ First will campaign to change this. [2]

• But then will it be “what we call a democracy?
• Will it become a little like you can not take a case to the Waitangi Tribunal unless you are of Maori descent?
• Is New Zealand First aiming at being more racist that te Pati Maori?

________________
[1] https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-business-units/cabinet-office/supporting-work-cabinet/cabinet-manual/2-ministers-crown-appointment-role-and-conduct/conduct-public-duty-and-personal-interests#:~:text=2.56%20In%20all%20of%20these%20roles%20and,to%20the%20Prime%20Minister%20for%20their%20behaviour.
[2] https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361016012/there-huge-appetite-new-limits-standing-parliament-says-shane-jones-he-promises-new-nz-first-policy
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August 6, 2026 8:21am
- imalwaysright
  
  Winston commented the other day that the Cabinet Manual isn’t designed for coalitions.
  It seems to work for confidentiality purposes, but it is unsuitable for multiple leaders.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:30am
- Cassandra
  
  Only citizens should vote. Citizenship should require proof of assimilation. That’d sort the problem out.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:30am
  - David Garrett
    
    Cass: I’m prepared to bet we have a few thousand Muslim citizens who are not the least bit “assimilated” and they never will be.
    
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    August 6, 2026 8:35am
    - Cassandra
      
      You bet. Enoch got it right, he just targeted the wrong people.
      
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      August 6, 2026 8:43am
      - David Garrett
        
        Cass: Quite so…very smart man Enoch. I remember some journo wrote a hit piece in me alleging Enoch and I had similar ideas..(there was a certain facial resemblance)
        
        The journo was probably too young and stupid to know how erudite Enoch was…so rather thabe bothered by the comparison I was flattered
        
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        August 6, 2026 9:27am
      - Cassandra
        
        Melbourne Professor of Greek at 23. Makes my stuttering Latin look pathetic. But interesting that he was misquoted (“rivers of blood” my arse) and hounded out of politics.
        
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        August 6, 2026 9:42am
      - kowtow
        
        He didn’t targat anyone. His speech was actually about a race relations or equality bill , that would pervert the English constitution .And he was right.
        
        He was targetting Labour , if anything.
        
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        August 6, 2026 10:58am
      - Cassandra
        
        Kow: he was referring to Caribbeans. Who have actually assimilated quite well.
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:30pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Why pick on Muslims?
      
      What about other groups? Example Indians? Chinese?
      
      Then again what do you mean by “assimilated”? ”
      
      Am Curious as to why you keep spitting out these anti Muslim Generalisations.
      
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      August 6, 2026 3:06pm
      - Graeme Hall
        
        Good question: ask Lee Rigby.
        
        Whoops not available: he was run down, stabbed and almost decapitated near his barracks on May 22, 2013, by Islamist terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in Woolwich, London.
        
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        August 6, 2026 9:21pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    What would you take as “evidence of assimilation”?
    
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    August 6, 2026 8:37am
    - David Garrett
      
      Pope: Oh I don’t know…playing sport with infidels perhaps? Intermarriage?
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:42am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Sonny Bill is Muslin and plays sports with infidels.
        
        Again, David, anti Muslim generalisations.
        
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        August 6, 2026 3:07pm
  - Jethrod
    
    //
    
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    August 6, 2026 8:56am
  - Taieri
    
    Citizenship should require proof of assimilation
    ————–
    
    And how do you prove that you are assimilated?
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:40am
    - Cassandra
      
      Cheer for the Blackcaps v India?
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:08am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Most of them would be betting on the Blackcaps….
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:04pm
  - mike
    
    What’s that got to do with Peters’s racism/?
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:53am
- Yvette
  
  While sitting on the morning throne my mind can sometimes wander. Like, if Winston has to claim he says something as Leader of New Zealand First can it indeed mean he shouldn’t be saying it as Foreign Minister, and that indicate he lacks a certain selves-discipline, or should I flush that thought as well.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:45am
  - rouppe
    
    This “hat wearing” escape clause is pretty naff.
    
    Not just Winston Peters, all of them do it.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:05am
- Nūhaka Native
  
  Winston Peters told Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to “go back to your own country” during a heated debate in Parliament, and reporting says the exchange came after Xu-Nan had been heckling Peters about his vaccination status.
  
  It’s worth noting NZ First is highlighting controversy that Chris Hipkins is accused of not clearly telling the public that young men faced a higher myocarditis risk after vaccination, despite ministers having advice about it.
  
  A bit of goading and deflection during a debate in parliament by Xu-Nan, maybe?
  
  Now, my ancestors to NZ were immigrants; some got here about 1200 AD, some about 1830, the rest late 1890s and around 1920. NZ needs immigrants. I wouldn’t have said what Peter’s said. We are down to a 1.5 replacement birth rate now, so a non sustainable population growth rate.
  
  However, by being ‘provocative’, NZ First is highlighting we have increased our population by about 1.2 million in 25 years (from about 4 million to 5 million)s, and most of that (about 900,000) is through immigration.
  
  That rapid increase in population strains infrastructure and services, house prices, schools, hospitals and the rest for all of us.
  
  As for politicians. I don’t like the imported crazy ideas we get from the Greens, but if a person is a citizen, I don’t think we can stop them running for office.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:52am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    It’s the full context that is missed, deliberately, by the media.
    
    When taken in full it paints a very different picture about that one quote.
    
    A picture that the media hit-piece doesn’t want to show.
    
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    August 6, 2026 12:22pm
- peterwn
  
  The Cabinet Manual applies to Executive Government and not to the two branches of Government ie Parliament and the Judiciary.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:05am
- Jack5
  
  Xu-Nu and the media …
  
  New Zealand’s media have jumped in and joined the political campaign, ditching their traditional, old-fashioned role of reporting it.
  
  On State TV clips in the 6 o’clock news, it seems there’s always Hipkins in his latest tidy jacket and tie, primly commenting on any sundry political matter raised.
  
  There’s the endless hammering and re-hammering of topics that might harm the coalition, and highlighting of any issue that might split it.
  
  Consider cover of Winston Peters’s China remarks about Green MP Xu-Nan.
  
  On the Radio NZ site there’s a ladder of news items about this.
  
  Consider TVNZ’s Tova O’Brien interviewing Xu-Nan. Raybon Kan, a comedian writing in the Herald on watching the interview, says O’Brien keeps trying to pin Xu-Nan to the Peters comments while Xu-Nan tries to widen the interview to broader Green issues.
  
  Kan writes:
  
  “O’Brien, sympathetic, keeps asking Xu-Nan if Peters has been racist. Xu-Nan keeps pivoting to Green policy.
  
  “O’Brien:’How do you feel when you hear someone, not just any someone, a deputy prime Minister, saying something like that?'”
  
  The feelz, the feelz, the feelz …
  
  Many, many Maori must wish at times, and say, non-Maori should just bugger off to wherever our ancestors came from, be that Scotland. Samoa or Sechuan. Surely that doesn’t brand them racist, especially if the Maori speaker also has some non-Maori genes.
  
  Why are the Woke such thin-skinned wimps? Why do they seem more pissed off than Xu-Nan about the Peters remarks?
  
  It’s obvious. The Woke want to torpedo the Centre-Right coalition.
  
  If you want something tangible to argue about look at what’s happening to the money paid to the country on sale of the old savings banks. I did a post on this late last night under DPF’s post on the Wellington Community Fund. My post was about the hundreds of millions from the sale of the Canterbury Savings Bank, and its administration by the Community Fund that’s changed its name to Rata Foundation.
  
  Radio NZ’s campaign on Xu-Nan:
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/895020/green-mp-lawrence-xu-nan-grills-winston-peters-on-racist-comments-that-were-directed-at-him
  
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  August 6, 2026 12:03pm
Pope Punctilious II

I was disappointed to see Ani O’Brien describe the mock execution of Peters as “political violence”. This is the same kind of linguistic distortion that radical leftists and Maori activists routinely engage in. Make no mistake: some very unsavoury types organized that stunt, but it wasn’t violence. It was political theatre. Fortunately, actual physical violence against politicians is rare in NZ, the only serious recent incident I’m aware of being the loser who beat up James Shaw a few years ago. Keep it sober Ani, keep it real.
https://aniobrien.substack.com/p/the-activists-behind-winston-peters-mock-execution?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F84b35634-4f2f-4090-8ab3-2ceae2ca36ac_1000x347.png&open=false
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August 6, 2026 8:23am
pdm

I have just listened to Leighton Smith talking with Mike Hosking.

All due respect to Kerre Woodham but, wouldn’t it be great to have Leighton back 9 to 12 weekday mornings even if he is almost 80 years of age.
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August 6, 2026 8:26am
- imalwaysright
  
  Agree. His podcast is brilliant.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:43am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Unfortunately Leighton is stuck in the 20th century.
    
    He carries on like its his radio show.
    
    Have suggested to him that he either go video or provide a text version for the 700,000-plus Kiwis who are hearing impaired.
    
    Bias: I have been on a Leighton Smith Radio show as a guest. Was intrigued to see what goes on behind the scenes.
    
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    August 6, 2026 3:12pm
- leoj
  
  Kerre’s agreeing with Ian Taylor tells us a lot.
  
  She’s a lefty, soft and wet.
  
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  August 6, 2026 2:18pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.33am, as many as four bikes today. Still 20 empty slots.

A cool, calm, dry morning in the Capital, no wind, rain, snow or ice, ideal for cycling.
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August 6, 2026 8:33am
Cassandra

RNZ headline: “Older Kiwis choosing between ‘starving or heating’ as price increases bite.”

BS. Starving is not eating anything . Nobody starves in this country. Good, nutritious food is available. It might not be flash but it’s nourishment. A bag of porridge and some milk will make a big breakfast.

Typical Red Radio nonsense.
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August 6, 2026 8:41am
- Simon
  
  Agree, with one in eight working age population on permanent welfare due to National party, they should be on a diet of beans and vegetables
  
  $30 billion pa spending by National on non super welfare the bone idle are doing very well.
  As for those on Nat Super some are doing it hard.
  
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  August 6, 2026 8:59am
  - Ehlana
    
    What did the National Party do to them to make them permanently dependent on welfare?
    And what’s wrong with a diet of beans and vegetables? Isn’t that what vegans and vegatarians live on?
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:47am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Rampant welfarism is a national disgrace, not a National disgrace.
      
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      August 6, 2026 12:47pm
- Bullion
  
  Starving can be eating fewer calories to sustain one self long term.
  
  They may even be rationing their oats and milk! You don’t know, just up there on your high horse looking down.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:01am
- rouppe
  
  There was a fellow on the news last night. Presumably unemployed, aged under 30 by the looks.
  
  They’re advertising full blast for election workers at the moment. No excuse.
  
  Also some bloke moaning that he was sold “go to uni, get a degree, get a great job”. They neglected to say what his degree was…
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:08am
  - RoboRob
    
    My eldest almost has a commerce degree. Not that long ago the big firms would go to the universities and snap up people about to graduate. Not so now, much slimmer pickings.
    
    He is finishing his degree in Singapore on an exchange. I hope he manages to pickup a job there.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:15am
    - rouppe
      
      Mine is ¾ through an engineering degree. I do worry about what’s next but I’d encourage him going overseas too.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:59am
      - RoboRob
        
        I didn’t encourage him to go overseas, he is doing a 6mth university exchange, but my hope is he picks up a job with one of the many large financial institutions there. I am not sure that’s all that realistic but you never know 🙂
        
        I dont want him out of the country but it would be great for his career and I wouldn’t mind visiting. We regularly holiday in Singapore.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:19am
  - Philview
    
    I wish him well but wonder how TVNZ News find such people for stories. Son of a staff member perhaps? Was it news or an editorial decision to run beat up stories on the Government and bring in people they can frame the stories around?
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:27am
- RoboRob
  
  Did we all forget that it wasn’t so long ago that a winter power subsidy was introduced. That’s $150 extra per month for power / heating. I’m not arguing that people on super are rich but unlike the rest of the country people on super get a guaranteed income increase every winter.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:12am
  - Ghost
    
    And there are pensioners who go without food to pay their power bill, some who don’t heat their home so they can eat. Cost of living out of control, petrol, food. People on super get a guaranteed income that doesn’t cover expenses.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:35am
    - Cassandra
      
      BS. Nobody goes without food. They might have to eat staples but it is food.
      
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      August 6, 2026 9:45am
      - Ghost
        
        Actually, they do, but hey, if you think it is bullshit no one is going to change your ignorance. It’s also nothing new. We used to over feed pensioners when they would come into one of our businesses so they would have enough take it home, because we knew talking to them that they would go without. But hey, you pretend you know better. Btw, there is also an increase in pensioners turning to food banks at the moment, but your ignorance probably won’t even come out of the sand to realise that.
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:08pm
      - Ghost
        
        Here is an article, and this isn’t even just happening here with other countries reporting elderly are going without meals. But you know better, well, you pretend you do
        
        https://www.odt.co.nz/canterbury/christchurch/old-people-are-either-starving-or-freezing-in-their-own-homes-wzs8t63r
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:15pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Why the abuse?
        
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        August 6, 2026 2:26pm
      - Jack5
        
        The Greens cause the winter suffering of Old Folk and the poor generally.
        
        But for the Greens’ bullshit and agitation we could have ample, moderate-price power generated for winter peaks from our huge reserves of coal.
        
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        August 6, 2026 7:24pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    It is not that much. It is $40 per fortnight. That’s what I get anyway.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:37am
    - Taieri
      
      It is $40 per fortnight. That’s what I get anyway.
      ———
      
      Are you not a public servant anymore? Retired now?
      
      Winter energy payment is currently $20.46 per week for a single with no dependent children and $31.82 per week for a couple with no dependent children.
      
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      August 6, 2026 9:46am
      - RoboRob
        
        You get it once you hit retirement age, so you can still get it while working. My neighbour did and my mother and father in law do. My father in law has previously worked full time, received government super and received an army pension. Very happy chap. Mother in law still works full time and her employer still matches her kiwisaver contributions (which she can access), happy days.
        
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        August 6, 2026 10:57am
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Generation take it all and pull up the ladder.
        Happy days.
        
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        August 6, 2026 1:25pm
    - RoboRob
      
      My bad. Apparently it is $31.82 per week (~$125 per month) for couples. $20.46 for singles (~$80 per month).
      
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      August 6, 2026 9:47am
  - rouppe
    
    With the split of Porirua rates into city and water, I just got my two new bills.
    
    It was supposed to be revenue neutral, at least at first.
    
    My total has gone up about 5% from just under $7000 to $7300-odd. It’s out of control, and the city council has completely avoided any consequences for their poor management.
    
    That’s what pensioners face
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:04am
    - Ehlana
      
      Councils used to run a scheme whereby rates could be deferred and paid from an estate. If this change is meant to be nuetral, I wonder if the same will apply for the new water charges?
      Doesn’t help renters, but might be worth it to keep old people in their homes.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:50am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Maybe give pensioners an exemption from fixed daily charges. They have thinner skin and aren’t as active so they will feel the cold.
    It would be easily financed by sacking a few dozen ‘executives’.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:04am
    - wsk12345
      
      Ffs let’s just have the very few remaining net taxpayers fund this as well. I’m getting really sick of living on $40 k pa and still paying $65 for the doctor, and paying all my own rates and power bills without any subsidies. And sure let’s take a bit more and give it to people who didn’t help themselves.
      
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      August 6, 2026 4:08pm
  - Flossie
    
    And I think our power bill has almost doubled since then.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:15am
- graham
  
  Not just RNZ, Cassandra – much of the MSM in New Zealand seems to be in a race to the bottom, with hyperbole and click-bait headlines (“You’re doing dieting all wrong!”) dominating.
  
  Lack of context or any real analysis seems par for the course, and The Queen’s English (including proper grammar and vocabulary) is apparently now regarded as a quaint old-fashioned notion, with our news-readers referring to kids rather than children and cops instead of police.
  
  Excellence in journalism? What a quaint notion.
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:21am
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: I agree…but I notice on my forays back to the homeland how much the cost of li ing has increased…At this time of year I make Irish stews in the crockpot. Six neck chops used to be about $8…now they are double that. And carrots and onions are now the only veges which don’t cost the earth..$5 or more for a cauliflower FFS
  .$10 a kilo for Brussels sprouts
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:34am
  - Cassandra
    
    Absolutely. The price of meat is staggering. A yearling bull is $3,000. Imagine what the farmer who paid that gets 18 months later when the bull goes to America.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:47am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: You’re right…my neighbor bought an extra weaner to raise with his for me…it cost $1200…last time I bought them they were about 800…still, that boy will fill both my freezers in m 18 months. I will be giving away meat.
      
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      August 6, 2026 9:57am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        I hope you won’t be giving it away, that’s against the law. (apparently)
        
        That’s about 8 banana boxes of beef. Usually a box or 2 of mince.
        
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        August 6, 2026 12:27pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Charlotte Not quite right…selling home kill is illegally; giving it away is not
        
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        August 6, 2026 1:49pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Lamb has been expensive for years…so rarely figures in my menus.
      Beef is getting out of reach – so I look for bargains.
      Pork is still reasonably priced and a shoulder roast in the slow cooker can feed us for days…..numerous types of pulled pork recipes.
      
      I’ve just managed to get four evenings of dinner for the 2 of us from a 850g Rolled pork Roast – cost $16.90
      
      1st night – Roast pork and roast veg with Apple sauce/Gravy. (only a third of the meat eaten and most of pork crackling left)
      2nd night – thin slices of cold roast pork heated up in left-over Apple sauce/gravy over rice and green veges (now two thirds of original roast consumed)
      3rd night – had nephew over for dinner, so final third of cooked pork sliced and added to a large wok-full of stir-fry veges and noodles
      4th night – left-over stir fry warmed up and served with roast spuds and pork crackling (salvaged from roast after 1st night)
      
      So all up…. the meat was working out at less than $2 per person, and I’d estimate less than $2/person for the veges/rice/noodles at each meal.
      
      My mother and step-mother were teenagers during the 1930s depression. They learnt to cook tasty, nutritious meals from the cheapest cuts of meat and seasonal veges. It’s a pity that too many folks these days are clueless about leftover gourmet cooking.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:25am
      - David Garrett
        
        Maggy: When I were a lad we often had all the offlal meats: liver kidneys even tripe.
        
        At the Silverdale Pak n Save ox tongue hasn’t been available for years (one of my favorites) and now liver and kidneys are on the way out…rarely available now.
        
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        August 6, 2026 10:49am
      - Taieri
        
        even tripe
        ——–
        
        Great stuff if you know how to cook it.
        Unfortunately, can’t buy it down here anymore.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:09am
      - Cassandra
        
        When I were a lad we lived in a cardboard box……..
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:13am
      - muzled
        
        The ‘shit’ cuts are the best.
        
        I’ve just started roasting topside, cook at 125 until int temp 53/54 and amazingly good.
        
        And brisket, mmmmmmmm brisket, oh how I love ye!
        
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        August 6, 2026 2:19pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Even the cheap meat is now expensive as people who previously never bought it migrate lower. I used to use Shin beef for slow cooker curries but now its often close to the price of rump steak, which itself used to be a cheaper steak.
    
    Inflation is bad. Thank you Labour.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:49am
    - Jimbo666
      
      Try buying fish fillets at $80 per kilo. Makes pork and chicken the go to meat!
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:44am
      - Taieri
        
        Hoki is currently about $16 per kilo. Monk about $30.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:10am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘Inflation is bad. Thank you Labour.’
      
      yep and the incumbents get the grief from the media and therefore the thicko swing voter.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:02am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Rr
      Good point about the low end price increasing as high end becomes less affordable.
      
      Apparently the big fast food companies did the same, as when people became less able to afford a real restaurant they would go to, or order from, Maccas etc.
      Therefore there was a bit of leeway to increase their prices outside the usual parameters of supply and demand.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:11am
  - R
    
    Yep. Raising the minimum wage, without any productivity increase was a great policy wasn’t it. Politically impossible to reduce said wage, consequence of which is higher cost of living for all incomes particularly the lower echelon.
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:57am
    - RoboRob
      
      True. The huge minimum wage jumps really hurt. Unfortunately the current government has also increased them, they kind of have to with inflation still high.
      
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      August 6, 2026 10:59am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Thomas Sowell spoke about the effect of increasing the minimum wage for American cotton farmers in the 1930’s.
        Within months hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost and black unemployment rose sharply.
        
        A farmers wife lamented that she wished the minimum wage was lowered as her husband would still have a job.
        
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        August 6, 2026 11:24am
  - Flossie
    
    Just another good reason not to eat those dreadful brussel sprouts!!
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:18am
    - nigel2010
      
      Flossie cut in half and roasted with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and garlic powder is heavenly you don’t know what you’re missing none of the boiled till it’s colourless in my household
      
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      August 6, 2026 12:27pm
      - RoboRob
        
        Yup, that’s pretty much how we do em, yummy. Surprising how many foods I grew up thinking were disgusting were just due to boiling them until they were colourless.
        
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        August 6, 2026 2:13pm
- MCōs
  
  Putting the word starving to one side would you live on porridge and milk to be able to pay for power and water and rent in God’s own country?
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:01am
  - Cassandra
    
    Add bread, weetbix, eggs, mince. Grow some veges.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:16am
    - OlderChas
      
      Mince at about $18 a kilo??? ( And I’ve seen it above $25!)
      
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      August 6, 2026 6:09pm
- leoj
  
  Don’t eat anything fatty.
  
  You mean, like pies and cakes?
  
  No, I mean: Don’t eat anything, fatty!
  
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  August 6, 2026 2:20pm
Scooter

So the person who attacked several in Epsom and killed a dog was known to police. What was his last crime and sentence, home P, oops home D? Given reduced sentence for having a tough up bringing? Maybe this happening in up market suburbs like Epsom might wake up the woke judges.
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August 6, 2026 9:01am
- Southern Raider
  
  They all live in Parnell and Herne Bay, not lower upper class areas like Epsom.
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:34am
- kowtow
  
  Occasionally we read of disorder in the courts themselves and environs .
  
  Judges fully aware . Don’t care .
  
  Broken social contract , things will only get worse.
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:06am
- Bobba Fret
  
  When are they going to release some more details about this scumbag?
  Surely, it’s in the public interest.
  
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  August 6, 2026 1:24pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    If he’s in the mental health category, we may discover that he’s not fit to stand trial…and he’ll disappear out of our ken.
    
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    August 6, 2026 4:25pm
Simon

Adern train wreck govt into gormless Luxon clown govt. Coming up to 10 yrs of active govt harm against general society. NZ can’t handle the body blows anymore. It’s pretty bad out there.
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August 6, 2026 9:02am
- Flossie
  
  So the answer is….?
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:21am
  - 2ic
    
    …not voting for them.
    
    A National-led coalition would be better having less influence from National. So vote NZ First, or ACT.
    
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    August 6, 2026 12:13pm
    - leoj
      
      Winston is an unreliable traitor.
      
      Two ticks ACT.
      
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      August 6, 2026 2:22pm
- ISeeRed
  
  I’ve always loved the word “gormless”. Dripping with so much contempt. Perfectly suits Luxon. He’s so bland, vanilla, insipid. Corporate cookie cutter personality. Globalist sock puppet.
  
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  August 6, 2026 12:56pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    True to form he’s wanting a referendum on first past the post because his party is becoming irrelevant.
    
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    August 6, 2026 1:33pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Do they not have any other policies other then tinkering with kiwisaver (again) and referendums?
      
      I am sure R promised me last year that National had a pile of brilliant and exciting policy that was going to fix their polling issues this year!
      
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      August 6, 2026 2:16pm
      - OlderChas
        
        A referendum on defining the principles would have been nice. (Can’t remember – was that part of National’s “promises”.?
        
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        August 6, 2026 6:12pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Up tick for ‘sock puppet’, one of my faves!
    
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    August 6, 2026 2:14pm
RoboRob

Goldsmith, the man of action, leaps into action and orders a ‘rapid review’ of the ministry of Justice.

Sounds exciting. What has spurred this ‘rapid review’, was it the Lotto presenter that got FIVE years pay while on gardening leave having worked for the ministry for days? No, its because the tax payers union has done his job for him and discovered multiple other similar cases still in progress.

The only reason he is doing anything is that, this looks bad. If he was serious he would have ordered the review weeks ago after the first case was discovered. If he was serious he wouldn’t have ‘accepted’ the CEOs apology and heads would have rolled. He is a joke and the ‘rapid’ review will be a joke. It is designed to keep the heat off until after the election, and lets face it, it will work. Nobody will remember this issue in a few weeks.

Goldsmith is apparently ‘furious’. I heard him talking about it this morning, sounded like a man reading from notes, hardly furious. A pathetic MP who deserves to lose his job.
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August 6, 2026 9:21am
- David Garrett
  
  Robo: I agree…and why the hell did they make him, a non lawyer, Justice Minister?
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:36am
  - Cassandra
    
    Want Cullen the AG?
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:49am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  You realise that the Minister does not employ the Chief Executive?
  
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  August 6, 2026 9:39am
  - RoboRob
    
    Did the CEO fire anyone? Has any head rolled? Someone is employed by someone at the ministry right?
    
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    August 6, 2026 9:51am
  - rouppe
    
    This is part of the problem. No one seems to be able to hold CE’s to account. His employer is some other faceless bureaucrat who you can’t fire for not firing the CE.
    
    Bloody ridiculous.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:14am
    - RoboRob
      
      It’s by design. National (in general) has worked really hard over the years to remove responsibility and control away from Ministers. All in the aid of ‘Government neutrality’.
      
      The best recent example is the fast track process. To avoid ministers being seen to pick a chose favourites, they implemented a system where a Minister can only submit like any other person. That lead to the fast track for Meridian allowing lake level rises, even though the minister of Energy was (supposedly) 100% opposed.
      
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      August 6, 2026 11:26am
- MCōs
  
  This boils down to wasted taxpayers money. Nobody would give a toss if he was on unpaid leave until his case was resolved.
  So as long as there’s a hue and cry about this guy getting money for nothing (I heard half a million). why should politicians get away with jiggery pokkery with regard to expense claims – and there’s been a lot come to light lately.
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The whole affair needs an investigation as to who had recommended Harrison for the Justice job.
  
  It seems incredible that Russell Harrison could pick up a position in the Justice Department without anyone noticing he had a very close relationship with the Comanchero gang.
  
  (You can’t convince me that the Comanchero leadership chose a random dude to carry loads of gold bars to Turkey for them).
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:41am
  - David Garrett
    
    Maggy: Now now…I represent a member of the Commanchero MOTORCYCLE CLUB and he’s a very amiable fellow…owes me lots of $ but still an amiable fellow …has a thing for large motorcycles
    
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    August 6, 2026 10:59am
    - Cassandra
      
      //
      
      5 0
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      August 6, 2026 11:18am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Amiable fellow?
      You must have a low bar of whom is amiable.
      How about him being described as a drug dealing scumbag who leaches the youth?
      Amiable?
      Fuck off.
      
      2 0
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      August 6, 2026 2:32pm
  - RoboRob
    
    I can see having someone on unpaid leave for a short period of time while legal proceedings take place if the person has been a valued staff member but this guy worked for the department for weeks before being put on leave.
    
    Oh and what exactly were his qualifications for a 120k + role at the department of justice? He sounded like a DEI hire.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:03am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      He was a “court navigator”, whatever that is.
      
      0 0
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      August 6, 2026 8:40pm
- kowtow
  
  Goldsmith is merely a symptom.
  
  The National Party is hopelessly compromised by wokery .
  
  7 1
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  August 6, 2026 11:07am
Paulus

I see that in todays BOP Times a half page Comment Article headed “Te Reo’s complex History” by Professor Moon of History at the Faculty of Maori Development.
This follows some young women Green MP in Parliament as English being a Bastardisation of other Languages.
Correct, it is over many hundreds if not some thousands of years to where it is now, as the most spoken language in the World.
Where does the Maori so called Language fit in in today’s world ?
Am I not correct that in the time of the so called Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 no more than something like eighty grunts were the norm language from different tribes, likewise the so called signatures thereon as a scratch.
So where is the derivation of this so called language found ?
In an Office in Wellington where every English word is taken by staff, and from which a committee derivation to something that was created earlier by the same people.
Am told that often the new creation represents crap in it so called translation anyway.
I do not condemn those who want to create and try and take it to a a level they believe in but do not expect very many others who do not wish to to find favour with it in current bastardisation use.
Will Maori ever grow up into today’s World ?
Not whilst Taxpayer pour money into the coffers of the so called part time Maori elite.
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August 6, 2026 9:50am
- MCōs
  
  “so called signatures thereon as a scratch.”
  Same as my great grandfather who arrived here in 1881 from Ireland. I’ve see a document he signed.
  His first language was Gaelic and he was probably illiterate. (I don’t think the British saw any use in the Irish being educated, quite the opposite)
  Do you reduce any language you don’t understand to a series of grunts?
  
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  August 6, 2026 10:29am
  - mike
    
    Only languages which scare him.
    
    4 18
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    August 6, 2026 10:59am
  - kowtow
    
    If you put aside your foolish biases and did more simple research , some might say educate yourself , you might learn a thing or two.
    
    From AI.
    
    ‘National schools in Ireland were established in 1831 following the famous Stanley Letter written by the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Edward Stanley. This system created state-supported primary education to give poor children of all religious denominations a basic education together’
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:10am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    All spoken language is a series of grunts.
    
    Your name is merely the sound we make to get your attention.
    
    5 1
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    August 6, 2026 12:33pm
    - Jack5
      
      If you define spoken language as a communications system without speech souns and distinct from written language, you have:
      
      – the whistling languages of the Canary Islands. the Greek island of Evia, and the Hmong.
      
      – the click languages of Africa’s Khoisan group.
      
      – drum languages of Africa.
      
      – Perhaps Morse code transmission, though its dots can be transmitted by sight as a written language.
      
      https://listverse.com/2018/08/10/10-extraordinary-languages-that-do-not-involve-speaking/
      
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      August 6, 2026 2:19pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And that bastardisation of English has been its great strength. It hasn’t stagnated into a language fit for few purposes and only used by an elite.
  
  English is the international language of diplomacy/ commerce/ science/ medicine/entertainment/ tourism, etc.
  
  As folks all over the world realise, if you want to give your children a future teach them English.
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:01am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “As folks all over the world realise, if you want to give your children a future teach them English.”
    
    It certainly saved the Irish and the Scots.
    There’s no point being bright if no one can understand what you’re saying.
    
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    August 6, 2026 11:32am
- Taieri
  
  English being a Bastardisation of other Languages
  ————
  
  And so is “Te Reo”. Most of it is a bastardisation of English.
  
  11 4
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  August 6, 2026 11:12am
  - mike
    
    No
    
    2 13
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    August 6, 2026 1:21pm
    - RichardF
      
      Serviced your motokā recently?
      
      4 0
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      August 6, 2026 5:14pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    No, most contemporary Maori vocab has Polynesian origins.
    
    6 2
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    August 6, 2026 1:50pm
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      Maori language went from about 6-8000 words to 24000 after European settlement.(AI)
      So yep it’s been borrowing most of its language.
      
      4 1
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      August 6, 2026 5:24pm
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Can you provide a source for those figures?
        
        0 0
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        August 6, 2026 8:55pm
- Handyman
  
  Hindi speakers often use an English word where there is no existing Hindi word.
  Maoris, on the other hand, invent new words, thereby bardardising both English and Maori.
  
  9 3
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  August 6, 2026 11:18am
  - Jack5
    
    Hindi and English are distant cousins, as members of the Indo-European family that spread from the steppes of what became Russia thousands of years ago.
    
    4 0
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    August 6, 2026 2:25pm
- Cassandra
  
  Paulus: the Maori language today is a local Esperanto.
  
  5 4
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  August 6, 2026 11:20am
  - Jack5
    
    How many people understand Esperanto?
    
    The guesses vary from 100,000 to 200,000 to one million to two million.
    
    There’s a stack of created languages, as you can see at the following site. It doesn’t include (yet) NZ Pidgin, which is now in full use on New Zealand’s State TV and State radio.
    
    When it comes to exotic, how about Enochian, said to be the language of angels?
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constructed_languages
    
    3 1
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    August 6, 2026 11:54am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  What is the point of gratuitously insulting Maori by describing their language as “no more than something like 80 grunts”? If you’ve learned any Maori, you must surely be aware that it has a rich vocabulary for kinship, genealogy, ritual, navigation – vocab that long predates colonization.
  
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  August 6, 2026 1:48pm
  - mike
    
    The point is that gratuitous racist insults garner many thumbs up on this blog. What this might say about the readers remains a mystery.
    
    4 11
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    August 6, 2026 2:13pm
mogg

Here is a gifted DT article on the fraudulent Jason Arday at Cambridge University, showing just how extreme this DEI nonsense has become, a top university protecting a blatant and childish liar. He has now resigned blaming “a racist witch hunt”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/ca76f154b492af52
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August 6, 2026 10:41am
- imalwaysright
  
  Graduates should sue Cambridge for devaluing their degree.
  
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  August 6, 2026 11:35am
I remember when

One News, last night, showed a visitor to parliament saying it isn’t immigrants making things worse, that it was Act, National and NZ First.
He was then shown being escorted out of the building.
Of course, they didn’t mention that he was a long-standing Palmerston North Union spokesperson.
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August 6, 2026 10:42am
Southern Raider

Maybe Winston should focus on the quality of immigrants we have brought in over the last 25 years.

2 decades ago we had large numbers of Sth Africans arrive who worked hard, raised their families and paid tax. Then we had the Filipinos who did the same. There will be lots of other examples, but this to me is positive immigration and a net win for NZ.

Over last decade though we have had massive arrivals from China and India which I think has changed the dynamic. A large amount of India’s have arrived somehow to work in low paying low productivity jobs like Uber and Domino’s. A large amount of Chinese are similar in low wage service industries and food shops. At the other end is a large group of Chinese who are extremely wealthy, buy the multiple million dollar house and BMW and either don’t work at all or the husband has gone back home and paying tax in China.

I think the first decade we had sustainable net positive growth, but for the last it’s been uncontrolled and had a substantially negative impact on all aspects of NZ.
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August 6, 2026 10:44am
- cas
  
  Did you see the names of those who won awards at the Pie of the year awards dinner? Virtually all were of Vietnamese or Cambodian extraction. Hard workers and risk takers.
  
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  August 6, 2026 1:39pm
  - Southern Raider
    
    Was I talking about them?
    
    I was raising about the large number of unskilled workers at one end who pay little or no tax, through to the ones who live here for high end lifestyle and pay no tax either.
    
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    August 6, 2026 2:21pm
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Agree Cas, as well the Vietnamese and Cambodians had a long history of French occupation and learnt many skills from them, baking being one.
    
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    August 6, 2026 4:56pm
Surely Knott

Remember the Marsden Fund gave $360k to Maja Zonjic for her “Big Things” Research.

The research “brings a critical gaze to the privileging of Pākehā-centred narratives in current research on ‘Big Things’ in Aotearoa to attend to the ways in which ‘Big Things’ can be an apparatus of forgetting settler-colonial histories. ”

Well it looks like we can now see what we got for our money. A southland art installation by her with 100 pictures and a video.

“The public is encouraged to contribute to the ongoing research by filling in a quick survey at the exhibition, and can even take home a pocketbook guide written by Maja for $22, which includes all 100 Big Things and a fold-out map.

Plus, they can feel good about buying the guidebooks, as the proceeds go towards the creation of scholarships for social sciences and humanities students in the country.”

https://southlandtribune.substack.com/p/focus-on-nzs-large-roadside-structures

https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2025/12/big-kiwiana-things-make-deep-impression
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August 6, 2026 10:46am
David Garrett

Maggy: When I were a lady we often had all the offline meats: liver kidneys even tripe.

At the Silverdale Pak n Save ox tongue hasn’t been available for years (one of my favorites) and now liver and kidneys are on the way out…rarely available now.
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August 6, 2026 10:55am
- Jethrod
  
  So what do you think happens to all that offal now David? It must be marketed somewhere .
  
  3 0
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  August 6, 2026 10:58am
  - David Garrett
    
    Jethrod: Lambs tongues haven’t been a available for donkeys years…the Arabs are fond of them I hear…as for rest I imagine it’s now made into pet food
    
    2 0
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    August 6, 2026 12:11pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Here you go
      https://www.farmlandfoods.nz/product/ox-tongue?
      
      0 0
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      August 6, 2026 2:45pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  When I were a lady
  
  Congrats on your successful transition, but a pity to lose you from the sisterhood.
  
  16 0
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  August 6, 2026 11:04am
  - David Garrett
    
    BUGGER!! See below for the embarrassed correction
    
    7 0
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    August 6, 2026 11:05am
- David Garrett
  
  FUCK!: I corrected lady to LAD…one thing I have never been is remotely confused about is my gender
  
  8 0
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  August 6, 2026 11:04am
  - imalwaysright
    
    In olde English laddie, or ladie/lady, was the name for a boy.
    
    4 0
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    August 6, 2026 11:38am
- Cassandra
  
  DG: when did you transition? It’s okay, bloody Autocorrect is the enemy.
  
  7 0
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  August 6, 2026 11:23am
- Paulus
  
  My Lambs Fry and Bacon with onions is still the tops along with my mild Curry Fishpie.
  Yes, I now sadly live alone and do all my own cooking.
  
  6 0
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  August 6, 2026 12:03pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    My Lambs Fry and Bacon with onions is still the tops along with my mild Curry Fishpie.
    
    Yummy!!!!!!!
    
    Alas, hubby was not raised to be an offal eater or a spice gourmet.
    It has been a life-times’ effort by me (and our daughters) to manouevre him from boring stodge to a variety of foods, tastes and textures.
    
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    August 6, 2026 1:54pm
    - Taieri
      
      Judging by the origin of last name, he’s of a Russian background(?).
      If so, it’s strange, because Russians eat offal – tripe, pork liver, kidneys, black pudding and so on. May be his family didn’t like it.
      BTW: dried and smoked pig’s ears are a great delicacy in Lithuania.
      
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      August 6, 2026 4:51pm
    - [email protected]
      
      Although I am a reasonable cook, my wife loves cooking so she does most of the cooking. She loves experimenting and I fully support that. The one time it all went south was when she made Szechuan. It was so hot/spicy neither of us could eat it. She cut the spices in half and tried again. Still couldn’t eat it. That was the last time she tried Szechuan.
      
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      August 6, 2026 8:01pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  Ox tongue, liver, kidneys. I could fix that for you but wrong Island.
  
  I do BBQ the liver and cut it into small chunks for dog treats.
  
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  August 6, 2026 12:36pm
- leoj
  
  I could never eat anything from an animal’s mouth.
  
  Give me eggs.
  
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  August 6, 2026 2:29pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  DG were you the young “lady” in Little Britain ?
  
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  August 6, 2026 4:59pm
I remember when

Does Tiaan Whelpton have a genuine case?
If Eddie Osei-Nketia had stayed in New Zealand Athletics would he have been selected for Glasgow?
As Whelpton states, if he doesn’t get funding that allows him to compete overseas, what chance does he have to improve.
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August 6, 2026 11:28am
DimChappie

Luxon is trying to fit his fat foot in his mouth again, promising a referendum on MMP if re-elected because “I don’t need some yahoo or numpty from some other party around that (Cabinet) table.” What about a referendum on Maori seats or the future of the Waitangi Tribunal? https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/903205/christopher-luxon-will-call-referendum-on-mmp-voting-system-if-elected-back-into-power
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August 6, 2026 12:05pm
- MCōs
  
  The Waitangi Tribunal was established by an Act of Parliament in 1975 and could be similarly disestablished. It doesn’t require a referendum
  The Tribunal issues reports and recommendations, but it is not a court and cannot force the Crown to act.
  Any government that tried to get rid of the Tribunal by whatever means would be asking for big trouble.
  
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  August 6, 2026 2:37pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  The man is a fool.
  
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  August 6, 2026 2:55pm
rouppe

Luxon has said that he’s like to hold a referendum on mmp so the party can avoid working with “some yahoo and numpty” in Cabinet.

The first electoral matter that should be dealt with is having two electoral rolls.

We saw what a return to fpp would look like with Jacinda Ardern. No thanks
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August 6, 2026 1:09pm
- Gravelroad
  
  On the other hand, MMP has allowed and encouraged joke political parties to stuff their candidate lists with activists and idiots who would never be voted for in a fpp election process.
  And we are paying for them – in more ways than one.
  
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  August 6, 2026 1:13pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Gravel: correct me if I’m wrong – but I don’t think I am – the McGillicuddy Serious Party regularly contested FPP elections; Meteria Turei was regularly a candidate – and joke parties such as the Monster Raving Looney party still regularly contest UK elections.
    
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    August 6, 2026 1:35pm
    - MCōs
      
      Then there’s that bloke standing against Farage on 13-August and likely to do rather well!
      
      2 4
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      August 6, 2026 2:42pm
      - MCōs
        
        According to this poll while Farage has 72%, Binface has 20%
        There are 34 candidates
        Who’d even waste good petrol driving to a polling booth?
        https://www.survation.com/clacton-by-election-poll-what-do-voters-say-the-election-is-about/
        
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        August 6, 2026 3:10pm
  - leoj
    
    New Zealand was more stable under FPP. It forced the radicals to mollify and join bigger tents where radical ideas die.
    
    The current system is poorly named. It is nowhere near proportional when a party gaining 5% of the vote can determine the government. Tail wagging dog.
    
    Luxon is a gutless, woke, maori sympathiser but he’s right about this. MMP has been a disaster for the country.
    
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    August 6, 2026 2:35pm
Tauhei Notts

Talk about “numpties in cabinet” but I have just seen Labour’s policy for small business. The present Minister For Small Business should get the heave-ho.
Labour’s policy is particularly well done which is surprising as I have almost all of their policies devoid of logic.
But I think there are some weird fish hooks in lifting the GST registration threshold to $80,000. Hopefully somebody better qualified than me can comment on that matter.
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August 6, 2026 3:34pm
- RoboRob
  
  If labour are putting out better policy for business thats a real problem for National. I thought the rest looked ok, even good.
  
  The GST is a bit of a nothing burger, there are some admin issues around it but that’s the only real cost. Most business want to be GST registered so they can claim back the GST they pay their suppliers. Businesses dont pay GST, the end consumer does.
  
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  August 6, 2026 3:41pm
Yvette

NZ First leader Winston Peters said removing MMP would shut down democratic representation. He called Luxon’s promise “inexplicable”, saying a change would be “a power grab and an ignorance for what it means to be a democracy”. [1]

In the 2017 Election,186,706 people cast their Party Vote for New Zealand First, 7.20% of the total party vote, securing the party 9 seats in Parliament, with Winston, after the Election result was known of course, deciding those votes should make Labour the Government.
One man, one Electorate Vote, one Party Votes – except for Winston: one Electorate Vote, 186,706 Party Votes.
Democracy?
________________
[1] https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361016593/christopher-luxon-says-hell-hold-referendum-mmp-if-re-elected
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August 6, 2026 4:04pm
surfing

Looks like Trump has left the world in turmoil, Iran and Oman seem to be agreeing on a shipping tax, paid to Iran.

If this happens, Iran will become very wealthy, and be able to build nukes and build up their weapons to levels never seen before.

Trump has no option but to go boots on the ground.
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August 6, 2026 10:05pm

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