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August 29, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 29 August 2026

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

New Zealanders have become used to flying the world at the drop of a hat, but it was not always so. Up to about 1960, virtually all travel from here was by ship, which few could afford. Coming here was a one way trip. Certainly, my grandparents (born 1880s -1910s) once here never left NZ.

I propose that all those who preach the good climate fight should renounce air travel for good, no exceptions. Not to see family, not for work, not for surgery (cosmetic or life saving), not for holidays and certainly not for parliamentary junkets or climate change jamborees.

It’s not impossible to do this. Our forebears demonstrated the reality to us. Hells teeth, we have Zoom calls and satellite TV. They had letters and Pathe newsreels (or just letters).

Little NZ can lead the world once again. I call upon Chloe and Marama to be the first to take the pledge.

If they did, I would at least acknowledge the courage of their convictions.
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August 29, 2026 8:01am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I have often thought it contradictory that politicians promote tourism to northern hemisphere residents. The best thing they could do for climate change would be to run ads in Europe and north America promoting the virtues of holidaying closer to home.
  
  Yes that would be absurd economic sabotage. But no more absurd than many other ideas that have been pursued.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:17am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    Another absurdity is that a large chunk of that extreme command & control (I.e., the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand) party’s support comes from a sector of young people who would never be told what to do and who happily thumb their nose at authority…
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:02pm
  - kowtow
    
    The absurdest idea is that humans have changed the climate.
    The planet was in a mini ice age from about 1300 AD to roughly the end of the 19th C when the earth started to warm again , in one of many many climate cycles .
    Causing glaciers to retreat here and in the Himalayas , to cite a recent case. At the beginning of the 1900’s Nepal had a population of about 5 mil ( and likely no tourists ) now it’s some 30 mil . No doubt tens of thousands have built homes (and tourist industry) in the remotest of places where once barely a shepherd stepped foot.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:45pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      In an area of high precipitation, incredible steepness and altitude, much erosion, and earthquakes.
      
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      August 29, 2026 8:14pm
    - KH
      
      Auckland much the same.
      
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      August 29, 2026 10:05pm
- Flossie
  
  I am not signing up to that. Personal hugs from my family simply cannot be replaced by Zoom etc.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:27am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I agree but the connectivity we have now compared to just 20 years ago is amazing. You only need to go back 20, and certainly 30 years to the times of unaffordable calls to the Northern hemisphere. Now they are free with video. I am grateful.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:29pm
- MCōs
  
  I knew people who immigrated out here from the UK in the seventies paid for by the taxpayer. Terms and conditions applied.
  My first wife and I flew to the UK in 1972 by plane. From memory it was $700 each one way and by ship was much the same
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:59am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The big switch over from ships to airplanes happened between about 1970 and 1976. The Boeing 747 and the DC 10 dramatically lowered seat mile costs. Politicians never saw it coming. They opened the Wellington Overseas Passenger Terminal in 1970. Precisely the year in which the sharp decline in passenger ships began.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:32pm
- David Garrett
  
  Nevermind: Not quite. When my sister went to the UK in 1970 ships were significantly cheaper than flying. When I followed her footsteps six years later, the reverse was the case.
  
  That ship voyage is a cherished memory of mine: six weeks of debauchery with three squares a day, and a place to crash.
  
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  August 29, 2026 12:11pm
- Southern Raider
  
  Will never happen. Imagine COP47 with no private jets and all the wannabes dialling in on Zoom instead of parading around in front of the media
  
  It’s akin to those who call for BDS of Israel. Yes they make all the lovely and easy virtue signally of not buying Israeli hummus or Israeli dates, but then proceed to post about it on devices where the tech is developed in Israel. Also watch once they need a scan from an Israeli invented CT or MRI for cancer how quickly the BDS is pushed into the back corner.
  
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  August 29, 2026 1:18pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Southern. You must be struggling to find a good Israeli news story. eg
    
    Israeli invented CT or MRI ….
    
    first commercial CT scanner were developed independently by Godfrey Hounsfield BAllan Cormack
    Hounsfield and Cormack shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the invention of computer-assisted tomography.
    Neither worked in Israel
    
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    August 29, 2026 2:04pm
CJames

People don’t realise how close NZ came to a nationwide blackout last Sunday when it looks like lightning took out a big substation in Southland, tripping Manapouri and a lot of power consumers including half of Tiwai. The official notice of the event is on the Transpower SO website here: https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/notices-and-reporting/excursion-notices as the frequency excursion is couched in very minimalist terms. No indication yet as to whether there will be a significant report on the event but I suspect not.

The event must have given a real shock to those running the grid. About 14% of the nation’s generation was gone in an instant, but fortunately, there was about 10% of the load lost at same time to help counterbalance it. Luckily, the situation was kept from disaster by the inertia of the synchronous units on the grid at the time, mainly steam turbines in the North Island. As is usual, wind and solar provided no support and the batteries were only minor contributors.

It is events like this that show why the System Operator has set minimum inertia limits on the grid, keeping even gas or coal units on while shutting down the unreliables. The policy is to keep the system secure for protection against these types of events. Wind and solar can’t do that despite what their proponents say. Batteries can do some of it, but they have to be kept charged up so can’t be used for peak lopping – they can’t do both.

With the new solar farms coming on, the risk of a nationwide blackout increases. Shutting Huntly down to use a wind or solar farm’s uncontrollable output is not a prudent practice. On a minute by minute basis, the solar farms can have a greater than 50% change in output on the frequent cloudy days like that Sunday. Their rapidly changing variability makes control of voltage and frequency very hard, and expensive. It also damages other assets on the grid (plus distribution networks), expending their life so they will need premature replacement. Conventional plant is limited to a fraction of this generation fluctuation without risking being fined, but the unreliables get a free pass. Even Transpower has noted the variability of solar generation on a day to day basis – over 50% variation and that is just the maximums. It is worse when one dives into the details.

Our brave new world could end up very dark – the Iberian experience. And the politicians can’t claim that they weren’t warned this could happen. Though when it does occur, we will be Nett Zero which I don’t think even our Watermelons will like.
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August 29, 2026 8:02am
- judith8409121
  
  yes a very important point that gets overlooked by zealotry. Kathryn Porter talks about this often and if NZ goes down the road of unreliables we will be facing a very expensive and dark future.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c73G3mbuhdE&t=2s
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:36am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Good post, CJ. It’s a shame that our media don’t bring this sort of information to the attention of the wider public.
  
  On a side note, I had not appreciated how the intermittency of the unreliables prematurely wears out other kit on the grid.
  
  I doubt the additional wear & tear features in the CBA for adding unreliables to the grid. It’s a good example of how, in the virtue-signalling rush to Net Zero, how unreliables are valued at marginal cost rather than actual cost. Perhaps, like developer contributions, anyone looking to add unreliables should have to pay a fee to reflect their impact on the grid. As things are, all of us pay the cost through higher line charges etc.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:42am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    What does the “net” mean in net zero? What is the zero “net” of? It has become a great slogan. However how many journalists could explain what the “net” means? Maybe Chloe knows?
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:23am
    - kowtow
      
      In Britain it’s called “nut zero”.
      
      Destroying their industry , livelihoods , savings ( as pensioners get hit with huge power bills) and indeed society itself .
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:53pm
    - Phronesis
      
      AI tells me that net zero means we are putting as much carbon into the atmosphere as we are taking out. The problem is that NZ has always removed far more carbon from the atmosphere than we emit. Our relatively low population density and large areas of ocean / bush / forest / farmland mean that we have always been a net absorber of carbon.
      
      If we were to take net zero seriously in NZ we would need to emit more carbon…
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:58pm
      - AitchW
        
        Do the carbon commissars take into account our millions of hectares of bush and pasture into account when calculating our carbon sinks? Our orchards, vineyards and arable crops?
        Or the millions of lawns and gardens?
        If not, why not?
        
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        August 29, 2026 1:56pm
    - Paul
      
      Some emissions; some absorption (e.g. by growing forests). Net = emissions minus absorption = zero.
      
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      August 29, 2026 1:55pm
  - CJames
    
    Never Mind
    ” our media don’t bring this sort of information to the attention of the wider public.” In my dealings with journalists, I haven’t met one yet who understood at even a simplistic level how the grid works. Even academics who haven’t come out of the industry have comprehension issues. It is scary how something so critical to our civilisation is so opaque. They will miss it when it’s gone though.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:39pm
    - kowtow
      
      They choose not to . it’s deliberate.
      Same with ETS etc politicians .”our trade partners insist”
      
      Where will Nestle ,the EU and Co be when the grid goes down.Where are they now as we deindustrialise.
      
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      August 29, 2026 1:00pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  A democratically elected Government has the right to set policy and expect the Public Service to carry this out. In the case of Labout led Governments this is the case. Not so in the case of National led Governments. Why? Well like the MSM the senior Public Service is made up of woke lanyard wearing Lefties. As we have seen this term these Sir Humphries led by the chief Sir Humphrey Roche have done all they can to thwart the Government.
  I say its time of root and branch reform. Scrap the Public Service Commission. Ministers to hire and fire the CEOs and oversee the appointment of the next tier that reports to the CEO. Ministers to work inside their Department with one Minister to one Department not like the shambles with MBIE where 20 plus Ministers are involved. The days of political neutrality of the Public Service ended several decades ago and many of us could see this. The reaction by the Priviledges Committee last week showed either they are out of touch with reality or unwilling to face reality.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:46am
  - imalwaysright
    
    A cynic would think that the Government and the Public Service have an understanding where the PS do their own thing and the Government pretends to be in control…
    
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    August 29, 2026 9:21am
- peterwn
  
  The best thing the politicians can do is not to interfere in the workings of the industry, especially any move that breaks the generation to retail link.
  The substation CJ referred to (I assume North Makarewa) was designed in two halves so something like lightning would only knock out one half which seemed to be the case here. So in this instance the system did what it was designed to do with some generation and load being sacrificed to keep the rest going. The smelter operator would rather lose some power (for no more than two hours) than see the SI system collapse.
  The industry understands the inerta issues although may not be moving on this as much as some people would like. The problem as I see it is if the Government brute force regulates on this and other matters such as requiring extra generation reserves it has to be prepared to put its money where its mouth is. The whole idea behind the Rogernomics reforms was to transfer electricity risks from the Crown to the industry stakeholders as they could manage the risks more efficiently and more economically. Left wingers and consumer advocates (including major consumers) would like to see the risk be moved back towards the Crown and would like to see the taxpayer subsidise or at least underwrite the industry.
  There is another little thing playing out. The ‘fifth’ Huntly machine is a large ‘combined cycle’ unit designed to operate on gas which is in short supply. Being ‘combined cycle’ it is more efficient than the Huntly coal fired units. That unit is potentially useful if there is a shortfall in renewables but can only be used sparingly. Genesis has laid down the gauntlet that if it is to remain available to the system then those who potentially benefit (the other gentailers and the system) need to underwrite its continued existence. This is especially as there are long wait times for similar plants around the world and Genesis could get a good second hand price for it if Genesis puts it on the market. Genesis has got pretty commercially smart by putting the EA and other industry players over a barrel to ensure its shareholders (including Nicola at 51%) benefit from the value of its assets.
  
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  August 29, 2026 9:05am
  - CJames
    
    Peter
    You are right about the sub but it took out all of Manapouri plus all the lines out of it (both of the Tiwai ones and to 3 Mile Hill) and both stepdown transformers so more serious than a single sided trip.
    Tiwai was kept going by the circuits (and power) coming down from Roxburgh then through just the one circuit (#2) from Invercargill sub.
    And yes Tiwai stayed on at half load then ramped up over next couple of hours but people don’t how important they are to stabilise the grid
    
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    August 29, 2026 9:29am
- O C Smith
  
  Well stated CJ. As I’ve been staying for years we need to be planning NOW for a nuclear future,
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:17am
- Benedict Yu
  
  It is scary. How many politicians could explain how an electricity grid works? David Seymour certainly. Chloe? Not even sure about the PM.
  
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  August 29, 2026 12:36pm
  - CJames
    
    Yes David qualified as an electrical engineer from memory, but that doesn’t necessarily let them understand the workings of the grid. The degree has a very wide field and many engineers are doing HVAC or low voltage systems. But he would understand the basics.
    On the other hand, I doubt that Chloe can tell you even what voltage is.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:51pm
    - judith8409121
      
      I doubt whether Chloe could even say the word ‘voltage’ without help let alone know what it means. I was amazed once, some years back, when RNZ presenter could not say the word ‘integer’ – it was remarkable to me how numerically illiterate she was.
      
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      August 29, 2026 5:10pm
Yvette

Why the Maori Party may not submit a Party List

Electoral Act 1993:
Section 191 deals with the allocation of list seats using the Sainte-Laguë calculation. Subsection 191(8) says that where an elected electorate member is:
– an independent, or
– a member of a political party that did not appear on the party-vote list,
the Electoral Commission must deduct that person from 120 when determining the number of seats available in the Sainte-Laguë allocation.

Suppose, hypothetically:
– Te Pāti Māori wins all 7 Māori electorates;
– it submits no party list and therefore does not participate in the party-vote allocation;
– the seven successful electorate candidates are members of Te Pāti Māori.
Then those seven MPs fall into the category contemplated by s191(8).
The Sainte-Laguë calculation would therefore effectively be made against:
120 − 7 = 113 seats
rather than 120.

The bit I cannot quite understand, but include in case anyone else does:
If seven electorate MPs belonged to a party that did not submit a party list, the Sainte-Laguë allocation would stop at the 113th highest quotient rather than the 120th. The seven quotients which would otherwise have occupied positions 114–120 would not receive seats. Which parties lost those seats could not be known until the party votes were counted.

Sainte-Laguë is a mathematical queue: parties take turns receiving seats according to the strength of their party vote, with the calculation becoming progressively harder each time a party receives another seat.

Normally the queue runs until 120 seats have been filled. If seven electorate MPs belong to parties outside the party-list system, the queue stops at 113, because those seven seats have already been filled.

So if the Maori Party doesn’t submit a Party List, what does that do to the allocation of seats for other parties?

Over-hang seats are a solution when certain result circumstances occur.
However if those circumstances are engineered as a party agenda it is something else:
a tack-on to the general mantra – “No Mana For Maori”

________________
“No mana for Māori” is a political phrase used in New Zealand to criticize political parties or arrangements that fail to respect or empower Māori interests.The phrase was famously used in a February 2017 Scoop News statement by politician Kelvin Davis targeting the then Māori Party’s relationship with the National Party. It argues that aligning with certain political agendas strips away the dignity, influence, and self-determination (mana) of Māori communities.
https://m.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1702/S00255/no-mana-for-maori.htm

And, as has been suggested before, Kelvin Davis besmirched his own people for supposed simple political gain – not unlike the Maori Party, through President John Tamihere, saying everything in TPM is tikanga-based, is not really endearing ancient Maori wisdom and ways to New Zealanders’ respect.

AI and can make mistakes. Yvette is not AI, but can also make mistakes. Check it out
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August 29, 2026 8:04am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  In this hypothesis, Te Partly Maori would hold 7 of 120 seats, which gives them more power than 7 of 127 seats.
  
  Moreover, the missing Party votes would undoubtedly surface among the parties of the Left, further boosting that hydra headed monster’s chances.
  
  Steve Todd will be along presently to tell us that 7 seats for TPM are unlikely, but I believe that the principle stands.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:30am
  - Don Beckett
    
    You are correct, but the beauty is that there will only be 120 bludgeing off the taxpayers largesse rather the 127.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:36pm
- pdm
  
  `AI and can make mistakes.’
  
  I don’t trust AI vecause of the old Computer Mantra Yvette:
  
  “Garbage in equals Garbage Out”
  
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  August 29, 2026 9:31am
  - Yvette
    
    Pdm, your distrust of AI correctly equates to “garbage in, garbage out” but, being an old computer mantra, hasn’t stopped the use of computers :o) – with AI it has just become more acute.
    One aspect of this may be that AI tries to steer you away from being critical of the Treaty, and I suspect that is due to there being far more material AI has ‘learnt from’ that is pro-Treaty, than anti.
    
    Also, as an algorithm to rope you into further use, and increased payed for upgrades, AI can be extremely flattering of the input of the user, praising the astuteness of questions or statements you make, and whereas a setting can cut some of this bovine stuff out and make answers utterly precise and business-like, I have not changed any settings so my interaction with AI continually reminds me of what we are dealing with.
    
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    August 29, 2026 9:56am
- David Lenny
  
  “… President John Tamihere, saying everything in TPM is tikanga-based, is not really endearing ancient Maori wisdom and ways to New Zealanders’ respect…”
  
  When Hindu priests complained about the British prohibition against suttee, the army commander, Charles Napier, famously replied, “ When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.”
  
  Of course, specific tikanga practices aren’t necessarily as vile as suttee, but the general notion – customary practices can be incompatible for both individuals and the state remains; choose one.
  
  Presumably the city of Napier, suffering under the oppressive stigma of its colonial name, should be decolonized immediately.
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:05am
  - AitchW
    
    Don’t give the de colonisers ideas. No doubt someone will now pop up with a multi-syllabic te Reo name for Napier.
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:41am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Hastings. Clive. Someone was bingeing on Indian colonisers
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:31pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    As I understood it, Suttee was the widow throwing herself on her deceased husband’s funeral pyre???
    
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    August 29, 2026 2:17pm
- Steve Todd
  
  @Yvette @ 8:04AM
  
  So if the Maori Party doesn’t submit a Party List, what does that do to the allocation of seats for other parties?
  
  I set this question to the 2023 general election, using the MMP seat calculator.
  
  The 71 Electorate seats (excluding Port Waikato) were won, as follows: National 43, Labour 17, Greens 3, ACT NZ 2, NZF 0, and Te Pāti Māori 6.
  
  According to my calculations, the 43 List seats (down from 51) would have been allocated, as follows:
  
  National 2 + 43 =45, down 3
  Labour 15 + 17 = 32, down 2
  Greens 11 + 3 = 14, down 1
  ACT NZ 8 + 2 = 10, down 1
  NZ First 7 + 0 = 7, down 1
  Te Pāti Māori 0 + 6 = 6, no change.
  
  National, ACT NZ and NZ First would have won 62 seats; Labour, The Greens and Te Pāti Māori 52 seats.
  
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  August 29, 2026 5:15pm
CJames

I see Trump in his latest self-destructive petulance against his neighbours has renamed Lake Ontario, like he did for Gulf of Mexico. We can be grateful that he didn’t try to name them after himself (yet). I can’t see the new names sticking and in three years time, they will quietly revert to the original.
Before the literati get too far up on their high horses about it, where do they stand on the renaming of Mount Egmont, our country New Zealand, or the spelling of its towns and cities? Or is that, as always when their side does it, different?
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August 29, 2026 8:07am
- artemisia
  
  Also street names changed. Waripori Street in Welly is now Te Wharepouri Street.
  
  The proposal to change Petone to Pita-One was declined by Minister Penk. Well done that man.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:16am
  - lifesgood
    
    Hundreds of instances in Auckland too. Britomart Station, QE2 Square, ridiculously unpronounceable train stations. All the mountains. It’s an absolute travesty. Who are the morons doing this?
    
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    August 29, 2026 9:15am
  - waripori
    
    I used to live in Waripori Street. I thought it had Indian origin as many of the streets in Berhampore had Indian names as part of the suburb. Turns out it was named after a Maori Chief whose name was Te Wharepouri and had been spelled wrong for 150 years. No harm in correcting an error even if it is a bit confusing when someone changes your address for you.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:35pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I see you have yet to update your nom de plume
      
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      August 29, 2026 6:31pm
- mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  So, you’d be okay with Lake America reverting to Lake Ontario, but have a problem with Egmont reverting to Taranaki?
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:17am
  - Cassandra
    
    The problem, mike, is what we see in Auckland where the Queen Street rail station is named after a subterranean river which nobody has ever heard of and even less can pronounce. Egmont was perfectly okay for a hundred years. Leave it alone. Trump can do what he likes. It has no effect on us. He’ll be history in January 2028. Or earlier.
    
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    August 29, 2026 8:23am
    - mike
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Egmont was ok for you, you mean.
      
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      August 29, 2026 9:14am
      - lifesgood
        
        Yes and for 90% of New Zealanders
        
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        August 29, 2026 9:16am
      - pdm
        
        Egmont is quite okay with me.
        
        So is the small village of National Park between Ohakune and Taumarunui.
        
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        August 29, 2026 9:34am
      - CJames
        
        pdm
        The name change of National Park back to Waimarino makes sense. It was only changed in the late 1920s so passengers on the trains knew where to get off for their ski holiday.
        However, being named after the big swamp there may not sit well with locals.
        
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        August 29, 2026 9:44am
      - Inandout
        
        I have family in Hawera and they have always referred to the mountain as Egmont. When we visit them the mountain is invariably cloud covered, or as the locals say it is being ‘shy’. When there is talk of Mt Egmont being ‘alive with feelings’ it is usually met with ridicule.
        
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        August 29, 2026 10:07am
      - Cassandra
        
        Way before my time, mike. I quite like Taranaki.
        
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        August 29, 2026 10:18am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: The name of “Eggie” was officially changed in the early 80’s to “Mt Egmont/Taranaki” – in that order.
      
      Over years Egmont was quietly dropped…and that is exactly what will happen to the name of the country. ” Aotearoa- New Zealand” for a while – perhaps fewer than 10 years – and then New Zealand will be gone forever.
      
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      August 29, 2026 11:30am
      - pdm
        
        Only if we sit back and let New Zealands name be changed DG.
        
        Hopefully it won’t be in my time – then again that is limited but hoping for more than another 10 years.
        
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        August 29, 2026 12:20pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Pdm: I have tried to get Don Brash interested in pushing for a CIR on the name of the country…Old Don says they have “other priorities ” for Hobson’s Pledges “limited resources”.
        
        For me, NOTHING can be more important than the name of our country…the name thousands of New Zealanders – both Maori and pakeha- are buried under in Europe.
        
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        August 29, 2026 12:56pm
      - Paul
        
        Actually, I quite like Aotearoa – if it were put to a referendum I would vote for Aotearoa in preference to New Zealand. (Although Aotearoa-New Zealand is an abomination.)
        
        The present name was assigned by the scoundrel Tasman and honours an unimportant district in Holland with no relevance here (no mountains, to start with). And yes, the name Aotearoa is not traditional, and was made up in the nineteenth century. But it is distinctive and local.
        
        Let the downticks begin!
        
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        August 29, 2026 1:46pm
- Cassandra
  
  Cartoon in The Times this morning has T renaming Niagara after himself. Subtle. Say it out loud.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:18am
- Ghost
  
  You can see the difference between a country that has full legal rights to a piece of land changing the name, and a demented bully trying to change the name of a lake that less than 50% is in their territory. I’d also think most here are against New Zealand’s name change. The job of president is not for a bully who is going around destroying the relations with his allies. The next elected president will have one hell of a mess to clean up. If biden did this, people would be outraged, but some here just drop to their knees in front of trump, no matter what he does.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:26am
  - Cassandra
    
    Ghost: best to look at the bigger picture. Getting NATO to wake up is a biggie. “Take Trump seriously but not literally “. Rubio will be a great president.
    
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    August 29, 2026 8:41am
    - Scott
      
      Cassandra, I agree with you. Let’s look at the big picture and I would add the general direction of travel. Trump came into office with a country overrun by illegal aliens and a porous southern border. He’s closed the border.
      
      Around 2m illegals have self deported or been deported.
      He’s battered Iran and his economic campaign may well be decisive.
      
      He’s got jobs back to America and billions of dollars of investment into American jobs for American workers. The tariffs were part of that.
      
      He’s the only president that cares about persecution of Christians in places like Nigeria and he’s brought attention to their plight.
      Venezuela has fallen.
      Cuba may fall.
      Iran may fall.
      
      He’s the only politician in the west who doesn’t want to manage decline. He wants to make his country great again.
      
      So I’ll take his mercurial personality and mean tweets. That’s priced in. He cares about Western civilisation.
      No one else does. Not the guys running NZ. Not the guy running Australia. Certainly not the guy running the UK.
      
      So Trump is doing lots and lots of good things and if he renames some place the Gulf of America or whatever that’s a price I’m willing to pay. 😎
      
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      August 29, 2026 9:12am
      - Ghost
        
        You are paying no price, you are just some old man in nz who has no idea what damage has been done in the USA, and sit here rabbeting on bullshit about trump day after day. In reality you are so far detached from reality you are in the same ball park as the demented old git running the usa
        
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        August 29, 2026 1:52pm
      - Scott
        
        Ghost thanks for that considered and thoughtful reply. 🤔
        
        It amazes me that your comments, which are both personal and insulting, get through moderation? But that’s you every day.
        
        The fact of the matter is I support trump and anyone else that stands up for western civilisation. So I support him because of his direction of travel rather than his every utterance.
        
        You on the other hand seemingly have never a positive thing to say about anyone?
        
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        August 29, 2026 3:28pm
      - Notsofast
        
        Exactly Scott and
        He hasn’t lost the midterms yet either.
        
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        August 29, 2026 4:21pm
    - mike
      
      ‘Wake up’ NATO by threatening Denmark and Canada?
      
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      August 29, 2026 9:38am
      - Gussy
        
        Putting aside rapidly evolving strategic significance in and around the Artic, and associated requirement for increased US protection, it was worth it to hear the normies declare ‘Greenland is for the Greenlanders!’ (or even for Denmark).
        Britain (and territories), notsomuch.
        
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        August 29, 2026 10:05am
      - Inandout
        
        mike, you left leaners are so literal in your thinking, so black and white. Trump is in his element playing games with those who instantly rise to the occasion. A US President traditionally has been wary of stepping off the well trodden path of politics. Trump relishes controversy.
        
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        August 29, 2026 10:14am
      - Cassandra
        
        No, mike, by getting most of NATO to accept that the time for bludging off the US is over. [Mod – do that again and it will be an instant ban].
        
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        August 29, 2026 10:20am
    - virtualmark
      
      I think Russia invading Ukraine woke NATO up more than Trump did.
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:13pm
      - kowtow
        
        By how much have NATO countries increased their defence budgets since that invasion.
        
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        August 29, 2026 4:29pm
  - Notsofast
    
    Would Kamala Harris have closed the southern border?
    Would she have stopped children being told they are born in the wrong body?
    These are very big things, even if achieved by a clown.
    The democrats are offering Islamism in Zhoran Mamdani, Hasan Piker, Abdul El-Sayed. These people are deadly serious, and campaigning with the biggest democrats.
    Give me Trump in any shape or flavor before this treachery against western life.
    
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    August 29, 2026 10:42am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Outrageous!
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:00pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Trump is the master of misdirection.!!
    
    The media is going nuts over the Lake America thing, meanwhile not covering the fiasco with Iran and the bowing to Netanyahu, etc., etc., etc
    
    Oh and should I mention the booming $40 trillion debt and cost of living in the US of A.
    
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    August 29, 2026 2:25pm
- MCōs
  
  News flash in the NYT
  “Trump Administration Live Updates: Proposal Would Give Part of Yosemite to a Developer”
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:57am
  - Cassandra
    
    This is mischievous, MCos. The proposal is that the developer gets a small strip to allow access to his land outside the park and in return he’ll give land to add to the park. NYT=TDS.
    
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    August 29, 2026 10:36am
  - CJames
    
    From “The Hill”, probably not a pro-Trump news organisation
    “The proposed land swap was first reported by NOTUS. The news outlet reported that the Trump administration was looking to give the land to a company operated by real-estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital.
    
    The Hill has attempted to reach Kingsbarn for comment. Lanny Davis told NOTUS that he was an attorney for Kingsbarn and said the company was seeking the land exchange.
    
    “It wasn’t Donald Trump; it was me, liberal Democrat Lanny Davis, former counsel to President Clinton, went to the Department of Interior, and we made the argument that this is a pro-environmental decision to allow this road to be directly built to allow the residents of this privately owned property to gain entrance or exit to the park,” Davis told the news outlet. “The road we’re building is a direct pathway that does not endanger any endangered species, and is simply a road.”
    https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/6058556-yosemite-national-park-trump-nps-interior/
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:05am
- Handyman
  
  Lake Ontario is between Canada and USA. Who has naming rights?
  The Canadians call it one thing and the Americans another. What is the “real” name?
  The answer is there is no “real” name; it is just what people say.
  
  The “English Channel” is called by the French “La Manche” and the world gets by.
  
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  August 29, 2026 9:00am
- Charlotte Wells
  
  It’s an interesting bit of history to understand why that border is so odd.
  
  Notice it follows the lines of the 13 colonies quite nicely then it gets weird around the lakes.
  
  After that it takes off in a nice straight line to the west coast.
  
  It’s all down to what the maps were in those days when they decided the border. The explored and mapped regions follow the colonial boundary.
  
  When the tried to set the border around the lakes they had the wrong lake on the map so the map goes askew.
  
  After that they had no idea of what was from there to the coast as it hadn’t been explored or mapped so they just drew a line across.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:52am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘After that they had no idea of what was from there to the coast as it hadn’t been explored or mapped so they just drew a line across’
    
    Are you being serious.
    
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    August 29, 2026 3:12pm
- Interested Party
  
  You seem like a smart guy CJ, but after 10 years of Trump being on the political scene you still don’t get him. The post of him at the presidental desk was hilarious
  
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  August 29, 2026 12:16pm
- judith8409121
  
  or, in New Zealand, the never ending woke game of changing the name of the country – maybe thats a bit closer to home and in the same camp to what Trump is doing?
  
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  August 29, 2026 5:24pm
artemisia

Herald today. Labour is promising to invest more than $20 million a year in a dedicated trades training scheme for Maori if elected in November. … Labour’s scheme would include a contestable, grant-based fund for Maori providers who would then design their own training based on the demand for skills from local employers. The party expects up to 3000 Maori to benefit each year from the scheme.

That sounds like about $7k a year for each attendee. Would I be correct to assume that at least initially the funding will go to create employment for those discussing skills needed and then designing culturally relevant courses located in Maori premises? And that attendees will continue on Jobseeker?

Apparently this is necessary as part-Maori have twice the unemployed rate. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said “too many Maori” were missing out on the security, better pay and opportunities that came with skilled work.

Has Labour asked why this is the case? And exactly what outcome they expect. And perhaps asked themselves whether that $20 mill a year might be better in educating part-Maori parents in why their part-Maori offspring should show up to school.

Alternatively. A few days ago there was a lengthy RNZ article about shortage of plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers, and that this will get worse as despite demand for apprenticeships few employers offer them. Not financially worth it to them. Probably some other trades are in the same situation. Does Labour know? What say that $7000 a year per is offered to businesses willing and able to take on apprentices with an additional subsidy, regardless of race, using training on and off job actually already available. Because the policy Labour proposes is a $20 mill a year grifting wonderfulness opportunity. And that may well be the carefully unstated purpose.
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August 29, 2026 8:07am
- Cassandra
  
  “Show up at school”. Nailed it. With lunch.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:25am
  - Gravelroad
    
    My grandchildren show up at school.
    With lunch.
    Both their parents work at full time, high energy/stress jobs.
    I have seen the packed lunches these kids get every day to take to school, made by their mum or dad.
    They are very good lunches indeed.
    If they can do this every school day for their kids, why can’t others?
    Maybe just get out of bed a little earlier?
    Lay off the booze, drugs and smokes one day a week to save some money?
    No? Why not?
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:00am
    - David Garrett
      
      Gravel: It’s all down to colonization mate…that’s the thing that’s made a significant proportion of the Maori population fat dumb and lazy…and with a propensity for criminal behavior.
      
      Colonization: the only catastrophe the effects of which get worse the more time which passes since the catastrophic event.
      
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      August 29, 2026 11:41am
      - pdm
        
        Seldom do I like to be on the same page as Winston Peters but, I believe it was Sir Apirana Ngata who said (roughly this):
        
        `Welfare will be the downfall of Maori”
        
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        August 29, 2026 12:32pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Funny 😂. Japan colonised Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. Not only do the effects not get worse but nobody mentions it. If a parent, even one who lost forebears to Japanese violence, blamed the Japanese for their current ife difficulties, they would be regarded as mad.
        
        I say with sincerity that much of what we see and hear in New Zealand would be regarded by other peoples as insane. I think that for Chinese people who come to New Zealand, all the angst they hear about the Treaty and colonisation is just a slightly annoying buzzing noise while they make money and send their children to school and violin lessons.
        
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        August 29, 2026 12:48pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        I agree with your sarcasm DG.
        
        But many of todays “”welfare”‘ woes are IMHO, caused by
        Piss Poor Politician panderinering to
        The poor things brigade.
        
        ie Oh look, the poor things don’t have nice houses.
        Lets get the government to steal the money from the productive workers to give the poor things a nice house on the cheap.
        
        Oh, the poor things (a very small percentage of school kids) are turning up to school without lunch.
        Let’s use millions of stolen money to give every kid a crap lunch, so the poor things don’t feel bad.
        
        Treat a section of society as victims, and then they will believe and act as victims.
        
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        August 29, 2026 2:34pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Why only $20m? Why not $30m? How did Labour come up with that number?
  
  Me, I think that they just make it up.
  
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  August 29, 2026 8:33am
- AitchW
  
  “Grant based fund for Maori providers”.
  Ford dealers will be delighted.
  
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  August 29, 2026 9:01am
- mandk
  
  Would there be any work for those apprentices after Hipkins has canceled $2 billion-worth of infrastructure projects to avoid raising fuel excise duties?
  
  Join the dots, Chippy.
  
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  August 29, 2026 9:47am
- I remember when
  
  With the amount of marae maintenance and resiting work, as well as Maori housing being proposed, there would seem to be plenty of opportunity at present.
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:11am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  Reverse racism is still racism. Committing injustice against others to attempt to right a perceived wrong still creates injustice.
  Labour continuing to practice racism.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:07am
- Dougal10
  
  Eventually they are going to have to come up with a definitive description of what a modern Maori is , with this huge handing out taxpayers money . The airy fairy ,you are if you think you are , or the wrong kind or right kind of Maori needs an overhaul .
  
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  August 29, 2026 4:00pm
- judith8409121
  
  racist government funding – all new zealanders should be offered this help
  
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  August 29, 2026 5:26pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

500 more invaders hit the beach in the UK on Thursday. But hey, it’s good news that “only” (my emphasis) 16,391 have turned up uninvited so far this year, and that’s down 43% on last year.

Somewhere in Hades, Hitler must be gnashing his teeth at how his generals overcomplicated their proposal for Operation Sealion.

http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvez80v1pno
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August 29, 2026 8:19am
- kowtow
  
  NMTB
  
  As you know, in 1940 there was an effective RAF , with cutting edge mod cons like “chain home” and one of the most powerful navies in the world.
  
  Today ex RAF fliers are in China training them for future war and the RN literally has to borrow escorts from the Old Foe , Froggies , for carrier duty ( when they do manage to leave port) .
  
  And a govt obsessed with Nut Zero.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:35am
- David Garrett
  
  Nevermind: Well yes…but in 1940 Adolf had the Royal Navy – and Dad’s Army to contend with.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:48am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Time to roll out Dad’s Army? I think I qualify. Where do I sign up?
    
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    August 29, 2026 6:38pm
Simon

South Africa bench looks strong. Not sure how NZ counters. NZ needs to be up by a bit early in second half.
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August 29, 2026 8:54am
- Manu-Rau
  
  Simple. We pull off both props with ‘neck injuries’ early in the game, thereby forcing a move to uncontested scrums. Then watch those hulking Yarpie tight forwards get run off their feet.
  
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  August 29, 2026 1:14pm
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    Do you know the rule that when a team forces uncontested scrums they have to lose a player.
    
    I doubt the AB’s with 14 will beat the Bokkie with 15.
    
    Didn’t Sam Cane test that in the last world cup?
    
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    August 29, 2026 5:06pm
Jack5

The Communist state of Vietnam is damaging New Zealand in more ways than flooding NZ with drugs, as highlighted by the recent case in Rotorua.

Some of our industrial remnants are under pressure to Vietnamese cheap labour. For example, manufacturing merino. The Vietnamese are taking it to Vietnam to manufacture. A local industry figure tells me that this wool’s becoming harder to get for NZ manufacture.

The Communist state of China has done much the same with wool. Even most (if not all) of early-stage manufacture like scouring has gone to China.

Just as American shipbuilding has been gutted, other Western manufacturing is being wiped out by low-wage Third World countries. Europe’s car industry is the latest target. It’s near-buggered.

Free trade economics has been re-ordering world manufacturing since at least the end of World War 2, when Japan and West Germany manipulated their currencies’ exchange rates down to make their prices more competitive than foreigners’.

Free trade theory’s flawed. In the long term it may be closer to working, but by that time a country’s industry might well be lost — like American shipbuilding. Or like NZ vegetable processing, under early pressure from Australian competition but soon to be swamped by imports under McClay and MFAT Unlimited’s gift to NZ – the India FTA.
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August 29, 2026 9:00am
- kowtow
  
  At the risk of triggering the TDS crowd here , the MAGA crowd do get it .And that’s what , as has been said here so many times , what the big picture is when it comes down to the basics of this Republican Party “nuttiness” as the msm , progressives etc want us to believe.
  
  Meanwhile and very frighteningly this week just gone , while everyone obsesses about the name of a lake and a deceased country and w singer , Putin has been making nuclear threats against Kiev and bellicose towards Britain.
  Re tactic nuke against Kiev ;China and India have told him don’t be nuts . The CIA director has visited Moscow , possibly to tell the Ivans same.
  
  The EU and NATO keep talking about Putin threats etc and yet everyone of them , bar the US is absolutely committed to nut zero , human rights , etc when they should be preparing , properly, for future (or imminent) war.On at least two major fronts .The Baltic and the Pacific.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:47am
- MCōs
  
  My dining room table was manufactured in Asia from wood exported from NZ.
  I could have bought a far better product manufactured in NZ, but at a far higher price.
  The difference in quality came from the type of wood used. Our table is a softer wood and has some marks, but who cares? This isn’t the Ritz.
  
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  August 29, 2026 12:16pm
  - Jack5
    
    Cossie, that’s surprising.
    
    NZ exports overwhelmingly Pinus radiata logs and they overshelmingly go into stuff like packing crates.
    
    Asian furniture’s usually from the hard woods as the forests of Borneo, Sumatra, and Myanmar cleared.
    
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    August 29, 2026 1:45pm
KKNZ2025

The UK shows our future when the judiciary wilfully ignores Parliaments intent

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/soft-justice-blamed-for-gangs-running-the-streets-after-police-deaths/QRMSSVQFHBGGVPYVQNBUGIDR4Q/
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August 29, 2026 9:16am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our new religion

Act has identified Treatyism as “New Zealand’s new religion” with particular requirements for salvation. In a recent newsletter, it wrote: “Colonisation was the original sin, but if you wear the adornments around your neck, practise the rituals before your meetings, and smite non-believers as ‘racist’ then, maybe, you will be saved.”

https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/graham-adams-m%C4%81ori-gods-rule-the-crl-underworld
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August 29, 2026 9:24am
- graham
  
  Hard to disagree. Maori spirituality is indeed “New Zealand’s new religion”. Anyone who thinks New Zealand is a secular society is kidding themselves.
  
  Consider the meetings that start with karakia; the new buildings that are “blessed” and names “gifted” by mana whenua; the Cultural Impact Assessments that are now considered as technical advice, much like any other technical report such as ecological or hydrological assessments – and the councils that find themselves in hot water if they ignore them; the rahuis that are enacted when tragedies befall us, that everybody is expected to abide by.
  
  Welcome to your new state religion, people.
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:03am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And is there a ~~mountain~~ maunga in NZ that is not sacred?
    
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    August 29, 2026 10:48am
  - Paulus
    
    And did not the owners of Mount Maunganui (also known as Mauao) which is owned by local Māori iwi (tribes)—specifically Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, and Ngāti Pūkenga—through the Mauao Trust have any knowledgeof the possible problems and failures of their hill ?
    Did they not get any reports ?
    No, Damn Pakeha members of the Tauranga City Council staff only !
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:40am
    - David Garrett
      
      Paulus: Perhaps 10 years ago – when “Mauao” first appeared, I happened to be in what used to be “The Mount”. Being a curious sort of chap, I enquired at the Information Centre regarding what this new name meant, and why it was necessary when The Mount” already have a Maori name.
      
      Cue much confusion, and consultation with the two Maori staff members. Neither of them had a clue – one was brave enough to say “We’ve always just called it the Mount”.
      
      I assume that young man has now been purged and re-educated.
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:01pm
      - pdm
        
        Paulus is right DG.
        
        It is a hill.
        
        Sure a prominent hill due to its location but, a hill never the less
        
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        August 29, 2026 12:42pm
      - Colville
        
        pdm.
        Our brown brothers were very keen on hills as they put sentinel pa on them to watch out for “visitors” who might pop over for an impromptu feed!
        
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        August 29, 2026 3:39pm
  - kowtow
    
    Very oddly and perhaps even blasphemously , the major Christian denominations have also adopted Maori spiritualism as part of their schtick too.
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:49am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    ” spirituality is indeed “New Zealand’s new religion”.”
    
    That is fine so long as the adherents don’t force it on others or worse demand that it be equated with science.
    
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    August 29, 2026 12:50pm
- Yvette
  
  – hence ACT’s policy on emphatically reasserting that Government and all its services be secular.
  Many civil servants obviously identify with “New Zealand’s new religion” and along with a lot in society, smite non-believers as ‘racist’.
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:04am
  - Cassandra
    
    It’s bizarre, isn’t it? Most of them have rejected Christianity (and it doesn’t stand up to critical examination) yet accept this ill-defined mumbo jumbo.
    
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    August 29, 2026 10:24am
    - R
      
      The ill-definded mumbo jumbo sounds kinder; besides it doesn’t come with 10 Comandments of Social Behaviour.
      
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      August 29, 2026 10:42am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        I would rather have those than none at all, or what some of the others are offering.
        
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        August 29, 2026 5:07pm
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      Two wrongs don’t make a right.
      
      Jason Arday
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:05pm
    - Gussy
      
      Replacement.
      It seems Voltaire was right – if God did not exist (and I don’t believe he does, at least not in the manner many assume) man would find it necessary invent him.
      
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      August 29, 2026 12:54pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Its not a religious movement, its a political movement.
    
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    August 29, 2026 11:00am
Swifty

To be a great nation, we need to be importing these people in far greater numbers.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1KAvweKdC3

It’s clear they’ve got much to teach us.
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August 29, 2026 9:36am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Five legged cows?
  
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  August 29, 2026 6:42pm
I remember when

Young driver finishes driving licence test and is asked by the assessor how they think they went.
Driver thinks they drove well and the assessor agrees that they had driven well.
And, do they think they have passed – they had not.
When driver asked why, assessor referred them to a change of lane required during test.
They stated that the merging took place when there was insufficient room and driver behind was forced to react.
Driver disagreed stating that they had looked in their rear vision mirror and there was a large enough gap.
Assessor disagreed, and as evidence noted that the driver behind had given them a ‘look’ when she passed them.
Makes you wonder who was doing, getting paid for the assessment – the driver behind?
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August 29, 2026 9:56am
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/why-new-zealands-shameful-legacy-of-shoddy-and-leaky-building-is-not-over-yet/premium/JQTXPGZILJH6FHDE4YQBJ5QEJE/

This is frightening. How does one know a house is built correctly, when you have reputable builders building leakers, and , noone knows due to confidentiality clauses.
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August 29, 2026 10:17am
- Don Beckett
  
  It’s relatively easy to assess whether or not a house is a Leaker.
  Check cladding used, if sheet cladding does it have a cavity (easy to check).
  If it has no soffits (roof overhangs) could b suspect.
  Does it have internal guttering – fascia gutter
  and a number of other more detailed tasks.
  
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  August 29, 2026 12:49pm
  - Southern Raider
    
    And just avoid buying anything built between about 1990 to 2010.
    
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    August 29, 2026 1:27pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      No, I built about 50 houses in the Tauranga/Mt.Maunganui/Papamoa district during that time & all of them are fine. Have heard that quite a number have changed hands once or twice from the odd R/E agent I know, and all is well.
      
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      August 29, 2026 4:12pm
  - AitchW
    
    It’s relatively easy if you have the skill set of someone with experience in the construction industry. The rest of us rely on building inspections carried out by practitioners who put lots of disclaimers in their reports.
    
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    August 29, 2026 5:46pm
I remember when

A fifteen year old driver injures constable while fleeing police.
Car, said to be fleeing, demolishes brick fence and wall of house, in street fifteen year old’s chase started from.
Spectator injured at illegal boy racer meeting.
Another avoided spikes as they led police on a chase across the city. Crashed into barrier and was later abandoned.
All in one week.

Does anyone stop for the police nowadays?
Are the penalties for failing to do so sufficient?
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August 29, 2026 10:27am
- R
  
  Penalties are adequate; but the judicial findings in court are too WOKE. Besides there is also too much public sympathy, many of whom may have sired the young criminals for a special segment of the criminal class, particularly by the woke element of the public. Many of whom may have sired the young ‘crims’
  
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  August 29, 2026 10:48am
- kowtow
  
  Tip of the iceberg re driving conditions .
  
  When it comes to youf offending though , it is the state itself that has created the problem in the sense that there is no longer any meaningful punishment meted out , so there’s no deterence.Other than the laws of physics .
  
  See the two cases in Ireland and England.
  
  12 dead . Two of them police in the UK case.
  
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  August 29, 2026 11:55am
- Prince
  
  Some years ago it was decided Police should not give chase.
  How’s that working out ?
  
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  August 29, 2026 1:10pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Couldn’t all this be stopped easily? Anyone fleeing police sent to prison for ten years. Anyone fleeing police causing death sent to prison for life without parole. Surely the problem would be eliminated?
  
  I just looked up the data via AI. Annual cases of drivers refusing to stop for police in New Zealand. 4,800 to 5,000. In Singapore in recent years the number ranges from 6 to 8. No that is not a typo.
  
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  August 29, 2026 3:33pm
  - Colville
    
    and how many teens own cars in Singapore? 1%?
    
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    August 29, 2026 3:42pm
  - OlderChas
    
    I believe a lot of the problem is that many of those “fleeing” police are youngsters – i.e. only suffer a “Family Conference” or whatever it’s called – as “punishment”. The kids know that will be the only consequence, so steal a car and act out the thrills that they see on their gaming screens and laugh their way out of the “courtroom” that the conference is held in – very often a wharenui.
    
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    August 29, 2026 6:06pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      10 years max is burglary or assault – joy-riding – “conversion” – has never been “theft”. Causing death is a different league – I would think manslaughter might be on the cards for this one if the officer dies. But “fleeing from police” is basically a traffic offense.
      
      That’s the trouble with sentence escalation – if you think that fleeing from police is worth the same sentence as assault fair enough ….
      
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      August 29, 2026 6:14pm
cas

Further to yesterday’s stuff on the Mount, readers may be interested in this.

https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/384677-surf-club-to-return-home–build-container-wall.html

And the Mauao trust seems to be distancing themselves from any culpability.
https://www.facebook.com/mauaotrust/
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August 29, 2026 3:43pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361026509/city-fossil-forest-you-may-have-already-walked-through-heres-what-look
Good grief, I knew about this back in 1967 when I moved from Whangarei to Auckland. This “reporter” must be all of 12 years old.
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August 29, 2026 6:40pm
KKNZ2025

Labour, racist as ever
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1171950/labour-pledges-21m-for-maori-led-trades-training

“Jackson said Labour had run the programme in government, but it had been cut back under the current coalition government.” That’s disappointing: why has the Coalition not eliminated it entirely as incompatible with an colourblind democracy.
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August 29, 2026 7:38pm

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