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June 10, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 10 June 2023

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General Debate

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Maggy Wassilieff

A scathing opinion piece from Thomas Cranmer on Dame Ardern

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/thomas-cranmer-from-comrade-to-dame-in-a-new-york-minute/
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June 10, 2023 8:03am
- alex Masterley
  
  I thought Cranmer pulled his punches!
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:07am
  - Nickc2
    
    He was being far too kind!
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:26am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Sec Gen of the UN comes up in a few years. She wants to follow in the footsteps of Dag Hammerschold, Kofi Annan and U Thant!!!!
  
  If Helen Clark didn’t “pass muster” for the job, airhead Jacinda certainly won’t.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:19am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Au Contraire comrade. Auntie Helen’s big point of failure is that she has her own mind, and will use it.
    
    Cindy will never be accused of bringing excess mental baggage to any role she take on. She will read her cue cards, do the tilty care-frown thing, and do exactly what she is told to by her handlers.
    
    A good choice, middle-aged women the world over will huddle round their candles thanking the good lord that Cindy has saved them!
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:31am
- Tricati
  
  Its OK, Ardern has secured a million dollar book deal for her biography. Apparently sought after overseas!!!
  She couldn’t see out her parliamentary term, and pulled the plug when it got tough, now swanning around the world telling everyone how good she is. The woman has no shame.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:27am
  - crikey
    
    Suggestions for the title of her book are sought. Following the line of Harry’s “Spare”, I suggest “Air”.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:26am
    - Gravelroad
      
      @Crikey:
      I suggest Mare – as in Nightmare
      (no offence to female horses intensed)
      
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      June 10, 2023 11:34am
      - Gravelroad
        
        Intended
        
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        June 10, 2023 12:32pm
    - stiff cheese
      
      “Nothing Left in the Bank: Following Zimbabwe off the Fiscal Cliff” by J. Ardern.
      
      With a foreword by Year Two pupils in Lower Hutt: ….”She smells nice!” …. “I really like her hair!”….
      
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      June 10, 2023 3:52pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    The book advance is the time-honoured way to reward ticket takers.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:32am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Unfortunately so it appears.
      Speaking engagements require you to speak off the cuff and not teleprompted.
      Old school.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:22pm
    - Paulus
      
      I will avoid wherever I can the Company who publishes it with great care.
      Hope the Libel Lawyers will be very circumspect.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:36pm
  - Akitio
    
    Lay down misère for Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:29pm
  - rouppe
    
    A million bucks. Who does she think she is? Meghan Markle-Windsor?
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:49pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    A good socialist comrade becomes an entitled capitalist pig in just a few short months.
    
    Jaxxie must be losing her stardust in the eyes of more than one Leftie.
    
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    June 10, 2023 7:04pm
- Paulus
  
  And someone is stupid enough to give the Dame a book contract for $1 million, I understand.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:31am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    Could book deals be an acceptable means of money laundering, and/or passing on bribes? What about the fees a speaker is paid on the international circuit?
    
    How would a nation protect itself from this form of corruption?
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:24am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Of course it is comrade! Wonder if she will take up “art”? Seemed quite a lucrative career move for young Hunter Biden…
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:33am
      - hullkiwi
        
        No, she’ll do it for charity, just like Helen.
        
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        June 10, 2023 9:09pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    $1 million is chickenfeed for doing nothing.
    There is a rumoured huge kickback for not allowing NZ to get Covid herd immunity. The google machine cache gets well scrubbed for anything saying so.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:11am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I wonder who is this ‘Thomas Cranmer’. Opinions vary on the worth of anonymous internet writings.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:31am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    If their identity was known those that disagree with them would attack on personal grounds. Now you attack on anonymity – that you see no hypocrisy in that is laughable.
    
    Most of us are happy to read and assess on the quality of the argument put forward. Perhaps you might try that – show us what you are passionate about and lean into putting your best case forward, rather than these constant, snide and trite meaningless nothings.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:03am
    - Mike
      
      Whoosh. Just reflecting on the many Kiwiblog comments attacking the anonymity of alleged ‘trolls’, etc. Fomenting happy mischief and all that.
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:30am
      - JimBobJoe
        
        If character assassination’s and trying to get people sacked from their jobs/destroy their businesses wasn’t such a common Leftie tactic for the last 10 years Mike, maybe people would be able to publish in their own name.
        
        instead we have leftie pile ons in every social media platform and bombarding employees with threats of boycotts etc to drive some out of work.
        
        And before you say ”Bud Light” – well you reap what you sow Mike, you reap what you sow….
        
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        June 10, 2023 10:41am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        What’s funny Mike is all the Labour foot soldiers that say they are ex Nat voters snd can’t vote cause $10 a year for contraception that they are paying now, all disappear in the weekend, you would almost think they were organised by rotten Labour for the 40 hour week
        
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        June 10, 2023 1:38pm
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Must be close to the bone if “Mike” is forced to pull a weekend shift again. Still I am sure his award gives him time and a half.
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:34am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Opinions vary on the worth of anonymous internet writings.
    
    Written without an ounce of irony by anon himself.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:03am
  - John Loveridge
    
    “Cranmer” has somewhere given a good explanation of why he writes under a pseudonym. I’ll see if I can find it again.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:25am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      There’s very likely a reason why he/she chose that particular nom de pen, but I think we all understand the reasons why he doesn’t write under his own name.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:53pm
  - Aquarius
    
    But opinions don’t vary on the value of your contributions to Kiwiblog, which probably match your contribution to society generally
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:20am
  - Cassandra
    
    Those by mike highly regarded by mike. DG has a different opinion.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:58am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      And the other Mike
      
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      June 10, 2023 7:05pm
- Opie
  
  “The mother of Chris Hipkins and the parents of Kelvin Davis have all received New Year’s Honours during this Government’s term when both Hipkins and Davis sat on the Appointments and Honours Committee…”
  
  Wait, what?
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:39am
  - Tempist
    
    It’s an interesting written paragraph, and clearly written by a lawyer… Next sentence is
    
    “No doubt the awards were well deserved and Hipkins and Davis excused themselves from the relevant decisions.”
    
    Is it no doubt (implying some doubt) the awards were well deserved *and* Chippie and Witless excused themselves or is the no doubt (implying some doubt) also extending to the fact that they excused themselves from mummy and daddy’s awards…?
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:36am
- Gravelroad
  
  @MW-
  Ms Ardern – a classic example of “do as I say, not as I do.”
  The NZ Labour Party- the socialist party happy to campaign against traditional values then accepts traditional honours based on values.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:44am
- cmm
  
  Full title:
  
  Comrade Dame The Right Honourable Doctor Cindy.
  
  Comrade comes first!
  Not bad for a chip shop girl from the wops.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:54am
  - Mike
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Musn’t be too jealous. Best to reflect that fame, fortune and fate can often be distributed quite randomly.
    
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    June 10, 2023 8:57am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Haha @Mike,
      Next you will be disclosing that you have been nominated for, and accepted, a Royal honour yourself.
      But no, I am sure you would be much more principled than that……………
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:31am
  - Swifty
    
    “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:12am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You’ve forgotten “King of Scotland (uncrowned)”
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:07am
    - Mike
      
      Died peacefully in his sleep after 25 years of comfortable exile.
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:31am
  - WestiepeteNZ
    
    The right horrible damned Jacinda Laurell Ardern.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:36pm
- Biscuit
  
  Maggy, when a person who stands up to pee gets knighted he becomes a ‘Sir’ and his female companion automatically becomes a ‘Dame’.
  
  Is there a similar convention for the male companion – Clarke, in ths case – of a sitting-down-urinator like Dame Cindy?
  
  Seems a bit sexist if not, especially these days, no?
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:55am
  - mandk
    
    Your statement is not correct.
    
    If Joe Bloggs becomes Sir Joe, his wife (and only his wife) becomes Ethel, Lady Bloggs.
    
    They would be announced as Sir Joe and Lady Bloggs.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:00am
    - Flossie
      
      I was informed by NZ Herald several years ago when I wrote on this that “not in NZ it isn’t. We call them Sir Jxxxx and Lady Bxxxxx”.
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:33am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    The female Partner becomes Lady if her bloke gets a K. Nothing the other way round.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:14am
    - Joe Banana
      
      In the case of That Woman, her partner (if she still has one) could be titled Lame
      
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      June 10, 2023 9:56am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    and his female companion automatically becomes a ‘Dame’.
    
    No…
    
    The wife, partner of a Knight may use the title “Lady”…as long as she’s using her hubby’s surname.
    
    https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/honours-lists-and-recipients/information-honours-recipients/titles-styles-knights-dames#
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:15am
    - Biscuit
      
      Ah, she’s dead now, but there used to be a golfing bigwig hereabouts who was known as Lady Meech.
      
      No mention of her Christian name (Rae) was ever made.
      
      Dunno what her hubby had done to be titled…
      
      Thanks for the clarification…
      
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      June 10, 2023 9:23am
      - Gaetano
        
        Apologies, I missed the similar reply from Maggy.
        
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        June 10, 2023 9:29am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I suspect her hubby was Sir John Valentine Meech, Public Servant (Head of DIA).
        
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        June 10, 2023 9:43am
    - septic skeptic
      
      What about Lady Gaga? Is her hubby a knight?
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:29am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        No, he’s gaga.
        
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        June 10, 2023 1:57pm
  - Gaetano
    
    No. If Fred Smith was knighted and had a wife named Mary, she would be titled “Mary, Lady Smith”.
    
    If she didn’t adopt her husband’s surname she would be nothing.
    
    The husband of a Dame, also nothing. 😅
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:28am
    - Biscuit
      
      Ta to you, too, Gaetano.
      
      {I dunno, Mod, I seem to be in a suspiciously-friendly mode today. Feel free to ban me for 24 hours for ‘Behaviour Unbecoming Of A Grumpy B*stard’!)
      
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      June 10, 2023 9:32am
    - Flossie
      
      Isn’t the operative word here “husband”? Dame J doesn’t appear to have one of those.
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:36am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I think the Honours system hasn’t kept up with the times..
        
        Consider if you are a male married to a Knight…
        https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2016/apr/05/titles-and-tiaras-what-should-we-call-the-husbands-of-knights
        
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        June 10, 2023 10:48am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        @Maggy: ask David Furnish
        
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        June 10, 2023 1:58pm
    - Mummy
      
      Pretty sure that’s not correct. The wife of a sir is simply Lady whoever. No first name included. Eg Sir Jim Bolger’s wife is Lady Bolger, not Joan, Lady Bolger.
      
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      June 10, 2023 4:34pm
  - Mike
    
    That inherent sexism was one of the very good reasons for dropping the absurd titles of ‘sir’ and ‘dame’.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:39am
    - Ehlana
      
      No need to drop sir and dame – those titles belong to the people who were awarded them. Just drop titles for partners, full stop. Then you have Sir John & Fiorella Kirwan, and Dame Lois & Murray Muir.
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:30pm
tedbear

Well here’s a turn up for the book.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018893771/spinning-a-yarn-refugees-meet-to-learn-english-and-sewing

How come these newcomers are being taught English instead of New Zealand’s official language Te Reo?
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June 10, 2023 8:08am
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: The Government makes a Bad Co-parent.

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-the-government-makes?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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June 10, 2023 8:18am
Tomtoddy

It is nice that the new motorway from Puhoi to Wellsford has a Māori name. Forget about getting it open. It’s more important to spend time finding a suitable Māori word that befits the project. We can worry about getting traffic on it later.

It is only running two years late. That’s not long for a big project. It doesn’t matter too much if there are a few more fatalities on the old rogue road. No one really worries about the traffic delays and inconvenience, the waste, the frustration on the existing road.

Don’t panic – we have a Māori name for the road.
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June 10, 2023 8:24am
- pdm
  
  `Don’t panic – we have a Māori name for the road.’
  
  Problem is 95% of the New Zealand populice have no idea what the name means or where the road is going to take them.
  
  Not to mention overseas visitors.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:27am
  - Paulus
    
    As it is believed Confucious said –
    “If you do not know where you are going any road will take you there”
    sounds appropriate !
    
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    June 10, 2023 8:33am
    - lifesgood
      
      I wouldn’t worry. Nobody will use the ridiculous long winded Maori name anyway as will be the case with all the renamed places in NZ. I still call the mountain Egmont.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:26pm
- Souvlaki
  
  The sooner David Seymour’s referendum comes to fruition the better!!!
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:28am
  - Mike
    
    Which of ACT’s policies would get traded away in any coalition negotiations? Do they rank their policies in order of seriousness?
    
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    June 10, 2023 8:33am
    - Albie
      
      The number of seats they attain will have a direct bearing on policy trade offs.
      Look out if they get 20% of the vote. We could be in for some “positive “ changes post election.
      
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      June 10, 2023 9:58am
      - Mike
        
        I’m looking forward to opportunities in the new Ministry for Regulation. I think they will need a large team of experienced bureaucrats.
        
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        June 10, 2023 10:34am
  - Yvette
    
    Here is a little mental exercise which may confirm myself to be biased or even a racist perhaps, but –
    
    Having not yet looked to see what the name for the highway is, can I predict it will have been “gifted” by an iwi or group or even just an individual who has “mana” but the word(s) will have a meaning additional to what a plain translation will give. Like The Pike River Recovery Agency (Māori: Te Kāhui Whakamana Rua Tekau mā Iwa) was a gifted name that means “Voice of the 29 men”.but Google Translate renders: The Twenty-Ninth Empowerment Group, which has now apparently been corrected in Google because it used to render it as something utterly meaningless.
    
    So does the new highway name translate directly or have a meaning beyond the vocabulary – my point being that Maori language seems to often have meaning that has to be learnt beyond mere words which so do not translate as Spanish does, or most other languages do.
    And has that always been so, or is it Maori mysticism that is relatively recent.
    But check the new name out …
    Am I a racist nut bar?
    
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    June 10, 2023 8:55am
    - Yvette
      
      ?Ara Tūhono” – Google Translate – “Link Path”
      Ara Tūhono means a connecting pathway and the name was gifted by our project treaty partners, Hōkai Nuku.
      
      So, I am wrong, I have screwed up – I am a racist biased pig
      
      But what about the next “gifted” name?
      
      And. further, in my defence, there is Kelvin Davis, who for simple political gain (he thought, obviously) he infamously said “Māori are more likely to be overweight, depressed, homeless, incarcerated and uneducated according to these disturbing statistics produced under National’s watch and you can now add, under his and Ardern ‘s and Hipkins’ watch, more likely to be unvaccinated, and most wonder, along with the rest of us, what exactly the Hell the weather girl at weekends really says in presenting the metrological situation on ONE.
      
      Many people have repeatedly hammered into my brain the racism that lurks there: that Maori are downtrodden having been told that so often and in the past four decades or so that it is because of colonialism, and they are captured by the same thoughts as I have, But more so, as subjects , so have colonised themselves a second time – mentally.
      
      But the Elite would now lead the Chosen people … into what?
      The mew Era or Error
      
      my medication is late this morning – so is the coffee – Bugger it
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:11am
      - Yvette
        
        Oh, I have repeated myself – as from the Archives of Kiwiblog (27 October 2019) –
        
        For example, the Pike River Recovery Agency, or Te Kahui Whakamana Rua Tekau ma Iwa – ‘The Empowering Voice for the Pike 29’ – which Google Translate mangles as meaning “Twelfth Judiciary Committee” when the Maori pasted-in has macrons, or “The Twenty-ninth Tribe”, without macrons.
        
        QED
        
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        June 10, 2023 10:56am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Seymour is spouting he will sit on the cross benches, if so he will not get anything
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:39pm
    - Paulus
      
      Silly Boy Seymour – do not threaten what you may not be able to fulfil it.
      Potential ACT voters do not like it.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:46pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Exactly, and many undecided voters will simply say we can’t trust him
        
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        June 10, 2023 9:45pm
- cmm
  
  Unfortunately it is entirely plausible that they would delay opening the road for an extra two months because they’re having delays redoing the signage in Maori.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:38am
  - mandk
    
    Actually it was because Waka Kotahi needed to organise 50 hui ( with lots of koha, of course) to consult Maori on the name.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:05am
  - Nickc2
    
    More Koha required eh?
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:31am
    - PeeJay
      
      Surely you jest – I mean, these names are “gifted” and we all know you don’t pay for a gift? Right?
      
      And yes……I am being sarcastic!
      
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      June 10, 2023 10:00am
      - cmm
        
        I’m not up on Maori culture, but when you are gifted something then isn’t a reciprocal gift expected?
        
        eg. Maori “gift” a name and a little koha, maybe just a million or two, is gifted back.
        
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        June 10, 2023 11:47am
      - Cassandra
        
        cmm has Maori culture to a T. Or should that be “to a $$$$$$$”?
        
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        June 10, 2023 12:04pm
- Inandout
  
  Tom, Maori will ‘grift’ a suitable name from that motorway. Meaning nothing for whitey but $$$$$$ for the iwi.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:40am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    If Nats do their infrastructure bill that will build great roads like the Auckland north motorway with a small toll and foreign owners, then you can be assured the road will have an English name like Auckland northern motorway
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:43pm
- Biscuit
  
  Tom, the equally-long-awaited Transmission Gully road has ben given a Maori name, too:
  
  Te Aranui o Te Rangihaeata
  
  Which, apparently, means “the big road of Te Rangihaeata.”
  
  Meh…
  
  All I remember is that the cost pf the bun-feast opening ceremony was $336,712…
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:46am
  - Mike
    
    It’s more like ‘Rangihaeata’s great path’, recalling the Ngāti Toa rangatira’s retreat after the British attacked him at Pauatahanui in 1846.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:02am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Can’t have been that great a path Mike, with Rangihaeata and the Ngati Toa being allowed to retreat to Horowhenua by the Government forces they had been fighting. And the road could equally have been called Rangihaeata’s Grift, since like his ancestors, payment was never enough. Even though Rangihaeata and the Ngati Toa received compensation for land they sold, he continued to encourgage, and participate in, attacks by the Ngati Rangatahi and Ngati Tama against settlers that have moved onto the purchased land.
      
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      June 10, 2023 11:12am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      And it wasn’t like Rangihaeata was sitting comfortably on the land the Ngati Toa had anyway. Ngati Toa had been driven off their land in Waikato, and in turn, had driven off some tribes down the Kapiti Coast (bloody colonists eh? who would have them?). Ngati Toa ended up even going down into the South Island before coming back and being sent packing by Government forces.
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:10pm
  - Gaetano
    
    Disgraceful that Steven Joyce was not invited to that opening of Transmission Gully. He deserved to be given the task of officially opening the motorway. Without him it never would have happened.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:36am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      To be fair, fo we know he wasn’t? I mean Nat transport spokesman was their
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:44pm
    - alwyn.a
      
      He tweeted this at the time.
      
      “Congrats to all involved in getting this excellent new highway built – pleased to have had the privilege to kick it all off in 2010/11. Unfortunately I have a prior commitment 2day in the Deep South – best wishes to everyone at the opening.”
      
      That looks as if he was in fact invited but couldn’t accept.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:42pm
  - pdm
    
    Biscuit – lets just keep calling it Transmission Gully!!!!
    
    Makes more sense to me and at least I will have a rough idea where I am going if I ever get to drive it again.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:12am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Even my Māori mongrel mob work mate went to Wellington and called it transmission gully, he didn’t even try snd spout the Māori part. He agreed we need more of these roads after he traveled on it
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:42pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Why Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeta are celebrated given their geocidal depredations on the original tribes of Mana/Kapiti/Horowhenua is beyond me.
    
    Great leaders for Ngati Toa both for sure, and Te Rauparahas life is an extraordinary saga of survival, cunning and leadership…
    
    But Rangitane, Muaupoko, Ngati Ira I am sure view them as colonial slaugtherers of the highest order. Especially Rangitane, Muaupoko who allow Ngati Toa and Te Atiawa shelter and sanctuary initially ….
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:50am
- Nerraw
  
  It doesn’t go to Wellsford. It stops just north of Warkworth. Labour cancelled the Warkworth to Wellsford section.
  
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  June 10, 2023 9:31am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Labour cancelled many other road upgrades – in National held Electorates.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:17am
    - Paulus
      
      Tauranga North in both National Elctorates.
      They will pay dearly for it.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:56pm
  - Sparrow
    
    Hardly north of Warkworth. Then the one lane through the Dome Valley with the so called upgrading taking longer than building the Great Wall. Mainly a one lane road the rest of the way to Whangarei. It’s a joke. All this talk about moving the Port of Auckland north is laughable. If you think the Brynderwyns are bad go and have a look at the rail tracks. It will cost zillions to upgrade the transport system.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:09am
- John Loveridge
  
  They’ll spend more on the catering for the Maori ceremonial opening than they did on the road.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:27am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Just one “suitable Maori word” TT?
  
  I haven’t looked it up but I’d be astonished if it were less than half a dozen.
  
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  June 10, 2023 2:28pm
- Mummy
  
  No doubt Transmission Gully (which was only 60 years late) has a Maori name but no one knows what it is. It’s still Transmission Gully or TG for short.
  
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  June 10, 2023 4:37pm
Bridgenag

A good read…….

Pandemic Impressions II: The Great Turning Inwards and The Great Opting Out
Pandemic restrictions have driven people away from the public sphere and the professional world, leaving millions to lead vastly more private, withdrawn lives.

“Preference falsification is a social phenomenon whereby people misrepresent their true preferences in the face of cultural pressure to adhere to artificial norms. It is pervasive in totalising and highly politicised societies, such as universities and, increasingly, the entire liberal democratic West”

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/pandemic-impressions-ii-the-great?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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June 10, 2023 8:33am
Swifty

I thought Tainui had already settled?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/300901075/auckland-airport-shares-tough-talking-mayor-and-iwi-leader-go-way-back

What’s the story? Was their previous settlement not full and final? Are their current claims separate and additional somehow?

Is New Zealander’s community wealth just being looted, for private benefit?
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June 10, 2023 8:35am
- PeeJay
  
  Must be another translation issue eh? “Full and final” in the English version must mean “for now” in the Maori version!
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:04am
- pdm
  
  Swifty – Tuku must need some more undies.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:13am
  - Burtland
    
    maori go commando – undies were a colonial invention
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:43am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Correct, big bare bums at Waitangi
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:46pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Tuku wants more. But he needs to be careful – the Greens will tax his ill-gotten uberwealth right back into the consolidated fund.
  
  By the way, is Wayne Brown aware that the scoundrel Morgan is his BBF?
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:29am
- Paulus
  
  Clearly Tainui will buy the Auckland City Airport shareas for some muskets and blankets – they want the holding to that which I am told they already have.
  And more when the rest are sold.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:58pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  They have Swifty, but have other claims, because of course, they moved all over the place and make a claim as if they were permanently in each of the places. There’s also Ngati Whatua Orakei who want a slice. But they will be shit out of luck. Another Iwi that have settled. In their case, they have a clause saying they get first dibs on Government assets for sale. Except the Government don’t own the shares. FYI, Tainui settled in 1995. The “final” deed has been amended 4 times since, 1995 (lol), 1996 and twice in 1997. Subsequent to that, Tainui under a “relativity” mechanism document, has squeezed an extra $101.5m from the suffering taxpayers in 2022. It’s a never ending gravy train that needs to be put to rest.
  
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  June 10, 2023 3:02pm
  - Swifty
    
    Thanks IVV.
    
    I’m aware of the relativity mechanism but wasn’t aware that they have additional claims.
    
    I’ve been a fan of the settlement process for what I think are good reasons about remedying harms etc but I’m also a big fan of getting it complete, closing the book and moving on.
    
    This sort of reportage gives me the chills for our future.
    
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    June 10, 2023 6:15pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Council. Protesters escorted out. There seems to be a huge Maori influence going on, in and around the Council.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/watch-protesters-removed-from-auckland-council-budget-meeting-after-outcry-against-airport-share-sale/ar-AA1cjK2o
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June 10, 2023 8:43am
- Swifty
  
  I’d really like to see those AAAP people interviewed in detail and invited to explain exactly what their thinking is here.
  
  I see that they are reported as saying that, rather than sell shares or reduce spending and limit rate increases, Council should just borrow more to fuel more or similar spending.
  
  I wonder if the AAAP people have a maximum borrowing figure in mind? Can the Council ever have too much debt? What limit would that be? Do they have any sympathy for pruning non-core costs? Or is any and all Council spending good spending? Are there nonCouncil activities that could be deemed as luxuries and stopped in these constrained times? Is there a prudent maximum of interest costs, in either dollar or %age terms the Council should not exceed? If so, what is that limit?
  
  I’d really like to hear their arguments. If they have any.
  
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  June 10, 2023 8:59am
  - John Loveridge
    
    There is no logic or rational thought behind their statements. They are the kind of people who, when given countries to run, simply print money to the point of hyperinflation, leading to economic and societal collapse, and then blame evil foreign influences. We all know the examples.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:52am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yep, then resign before their term ends and disappear.
      Someone did that recently.
      
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      June 11, 2023 9:02am
  - Hollyfield
    
    A councillor cried when the vote was to sell the shares. She was interviewed by HDPA yesterday. Under questioning, she said, in this order:
    * the people of Manukau do not want the shares sold
    * the majority of people in Manukau do not want the shares sold
    * 52% of people in Manukau do not want the shares sold
    * 34% of people in Manukau do not want the shares sold and another 18% said sell them but only if you have to, to reduce rates increases, so the majority of people don’t want the shares sold.
    
    Many people will have heard “the majority of people don’t want the shares sold”, and that’s complete rubbish by her own admissions. Like many on the left she talked a good talk but it was all rubbish.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:11pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      A good few Councillors are a bit like the quality of the current Labour cabinet. Some have apparently been saying that their constituents don’t mind rates increases. Laughably, there are constituencies in Auckland that have 80% home ownership, and others that have 20% home ownership. I wonder which Councillors have suggested that their constituents don’t mind increases?
      
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      June 10, 2023 3:04pm
    - GJM
      
      Te Media need to pin down the politicians, and the ratepayers survey replies.
      If it was sell the shares, and have 7% rates increase,or don’t sell them and have say 15% rates.
      Second part, would you, Auckland citizen be willing to pay the difference that translates to $10 per week in your rent?
      
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      June 10, 2023 7:06pm
  - Paulus
    
    These AAAP people do not pay rates anyway – Winz do it for them, as expected.
    
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    June 10, 2023 2:00pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  IMHO Councils should only be able to increase rates at the lesser of the rate of inflation or wage and salary increases over the 3 yr term of a Council. This would force them to concentrate on core infrastructure and core services instead of vanity projects.
  In addition Mayors and Councillors should only be allowed to serve 3 terms to ensure renewal and refreshment. Many treat it as a job for life.
  BTW did you note that Mrs Michael Wood said the Council should retain all the Airport shares and increase rates to cover the deficit. Well on her and hubbies income she can afford to say that. Pity about the majority of ratepayers who dont enjoy their incomes. And both of them profess to support the poor. Give me a break.
  
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  June 10, 2023 9:26am
  - Nickc2
    
    Hypocrites of the Ardern mould!
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:37am
    - Paulus
      
      Dame Jacinda please – where’s your manners ?
      
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      June 10, 2023 2:01pm
  - Gaetano
    
    A better way would be to legislate to prevent them doing anything but specified functions.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:38am
  - John Loveridge
    
    Yes, Mrs Wood the share-owning socialist couldn’t give a crap about the plebs having their already empty pockets turned inside out by a rapacious, wasteful council.
    
    Nothing makes me angrier than ivory Tower councillors blithely voting to raise rates.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:32am
  - PeeJay
    
    IMHO there are two glaring issues with Councils and most people, including the fine folks on this blog (with the greatest respect), often seem to misunderstand these two issues.
    
    The first is the term, often thrown around by folks on this blog like it means anything, ratepayers.
    
    Ratepayers are not the only people that vote. Nor are they the only ones Council has to provide services for. Ratepayers are not some special group in Council thinking – all they are is a revenue source. They are not organised as a unified voting block so can effectively be ignored. Sure, you hear the odd platitudes about limiting rate rises, but it’s really all background music. As this ‘ratepayer’ body isn’t likely to swing an election one way or the other, they are really just a revenue source to be squeezed – and as the ultimate sanction can be the forced sale of the ratepayers house (see Penny Bright), the squeeze is relentless. As most renters lack the basic grasp of economics to realise that increased rates mean increased rents, the left don’t care about them (see Mrs Wood in Auckland) and the right pay them lip service only. Therefore, nobody really cares about them. The term is virtually meaningless and they are nothing special in council thinking – they are just a revenue source, nothing more.
    
    The second misconception that most people have is in relation to ‘core infrastructure’. Councils are not just ‘roads, rubbish, libraries’. The local government act 2002 is, in my opinion, one of the worst pieces of legislation to happen to this country (up there with the RMA I’d say) – it’s a licence for Councils to do all sorts of non-core activities. If you look through the Act you will quickly realise that this Act doesn’t just allow councils to focus on the non-core infrastructure roles, the Act actively encourages it. The reason Council budgets are such a mess is this singular lack of focus – if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. That’s why budgets are such a mess – they try to please everyone, and end up pleasing nobody.
    
    Until the local government act 2002 is removed, Councils will be free to focus on rainbow crossings, cycle paths and other crap that so many folks on here despair about. It gets Councillors elected. Opening a shiny ‘thing’ gets a Councillor or local board member in the news and increases their chances of being re-elected. No newspaper or radio station does a story on pipes being fixed, or potholes being fixed. Therefore, elected representatives tend to focus, subconsciously or consciously, on shiny things with ribbons to cut. This creates short term thinking and is actively encouraged under the Act.
    
    Sorry for the rant!
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:08am
    - miltonF
      
      Don’t apologise. ‘‘Twas a good rant and you’ve made some good points. It does make one wonder if voting in local council elections should be restricted to ratepayers only. I understand the premise of universal voting. It’s nice for everyone to have a say. I just don’t see how it can be economically sustainable to have people voting on how other people’s money is spent. Obviously they will keep voting for “free” stuff. Why wouldn’t you? Rates will keep going up and up and up as long as this system remains in place, or until the socialists run out of other people’s money.
      
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      June 10, 2023 3:45pm
hmmokrightitis

Biggest and best lol I’ve had in ages.

Auckland Council: ok, let’s sell the shares…

Shares: increase sharply in value…

Mr M. Wood, after selling shares a day earlier…

The rest of us:🤣🤣🤣

Also liked that when Boris was found to mislead parliament he quits. Labour MPs here? Yeah, not so much.
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June 10, 2023 8:49am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YOeXKtvshk
A New Term.
Albo is PM in Australia. Things might not go as well as expected.
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June 10, 2023 8:51am
curry4me

Cornel West

If Cornel West runs on a woke, liberal ticket, Dems could be in trouble. It could siphon off enough votes from Biden for Trump to win.
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June 10, 2023 8:52am
cmm

In yesterday’s GD I expressed some shock at the 111 caller in Tauranga being told to call back later because they were between shifts.

One of the primary functions of a state is to provide a functioning police service, coupled to solid law and order. Indeed, that is their main role. If they can’t do that, then they’re really broken.

In a socialist, at least in part, country where the state has also taken on healthcare and education, the state responsibilities extend wider. But at least people can take on some of this themselves through private (or semi-private) healthcare and private education.

But self defence is all but outlawed in NZ. The cops have the monopoly on that space. If the cops are incapable of doing that job then it is time to loosen up and allow the good citizens of this country to defend themselves.
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June 10, 2023 9:07am
- PeeJay
  
  For those of us in the know, particularly those that have friends and extended family that come from South Africa, this path that NZ is on is well trodden and the end is depressingly well signposted for those that know how to look.
  
  In South Africa, the police service is riddled with corruption and is effectively useless and has been for a long time now. Folks long ago gave up on the SA Police and either protect themselves (farmers co-ops) or citizens having firearms in the house (and being taught to shoot to kill by the Police!!!). Then there are the private security armed response units (that are better trained and armed than the SA Police and frequently rescue police!!!). Anyone who can afford to do so, has private security armed response units. The rise in gated communities with high tech security, armed response and what not has been staggering.
  
  When citizens can no longer rely on the government to effectively provide things like police and security, folks tend to do what they can to protect themselves and their family.
  
  NZ is not yet doomed to follow the likes of South Africa and Zimbabwe, but when you mix failed government and bring in racial tensions, nothing good ever comes from that. We are on the same road, make no mistake – whether we wake up in time and reverse course is the great question.
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:34pm
  - Paulus
    
    Not sure our Police are corrupt at all, but am unsure that they have from the top their priorities right.
    Report – Can do better.
    
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    June 10, 2023 2:14pm
    - GJM
      
      Are the NZ Police corrupt? It may not be blatant shakedown at traffic stops yet, although that is coming. They are hopelessly corrupted politically and do what the Beehive tell them to do.
      I would trust a used car salesman more than the nz police. They have previous form for lying like a rug if it suits them, and the gardening squad are specialists at evidentiary horticulture.
      
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      June 10, 2023 7:16pm
  - GJM
    
    At least they are allowed to defend themselves, and own firearms to do so. Self defense is d3fact illegal i NZ, and the police actively prosecute cases of people committing self defense, unless they are police.
    In south Africa, you can own a handgun for self defense, but not in NZ. You cannot own or practically use any firearm, even a single barrel shotgun for self defense in NZ. The situation in NZ will be worse than SA.
    
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    June 10, 2023 7:13pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump and Bragg. This has been going on for some time, as has Leticia James’ charges against him. Bitchy Democrats of course, using their positions for a witch hunt on Trump.

https://buzzbombmedia.com/2023/06/09/is-braggs-case-on-trump-crumbling/
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June 10, 2023 9:24am
Tom Barker

Bye bye. Boris
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June 10, 2023 9:25am
Taieri

Watch your wallets, Chloe is going to fix its contents:

“(…)The Green Party’s revenue spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick said, “wealth in Aotearoa is concentrated in the back pockets of a wealthy few. It’s time we get on and fix this”.(…)”

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/rich-stash-470b-trusts-greens-promise-wealth-tax
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June 10, 2023 9:30am
- Nickc2
  
  Chloe must have been high on her Political Party’s favourite hallucinogenic.
  
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  June 10, 2023 9:43am
- marcw
  
  No mention in the link of Iwi oligarchs or Iwi “charities”. Will they be included Chloe?
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:07am
- John Loveridge
  
  She lost me at that hated A-word.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:34am
- cmm
  
  Chloe, herself, is surely in the 1%.
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:20pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  She is deluded, people that have built up huge business portfolios perhaps she is right, that’s envy, what classes for super rich these days? Bring mortgage free in Auckland perhaps, with decent salary that means you are extremely comfortable and never need a hand out? When people like Chloe spouts their shit, the 1000s of people that can fend for themselves feel like vomiting
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:54pm
- jonno1
  
  Has she forgotten Labour’s plan to increase the trust tax rate to 39% from 1 April 2024? This will adversely affect everyone on the 33% marginal tax rate who does not fully distribute trust income in the trust, to allow some net growth in the trust.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:05pm
- GJM
  
  That will go down well with the Grey Lynn soy latte sipping luvvies who a large part of the Green support.
  Maybe they will wake up, now the mask is off.
  
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  June 10, 2023 7:18pm
Pineapple Lumps

The Greens continue down the path of envy economics and pushing NZ further towards the failed political ideology of socialism.

Greens promise wealth tax as research reveals rich stash $470b in trusts

The Green Party’s revenue spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick said, “wealth in Aotearoa is concentrated in the back pockets of a wealthy few. It’s time we get on and fix this”.

What does the title “revenue” spokeswoman actually mean? Is Swarbrick working to improve the revenue of the Government, or NZers? Taxing wealth might ‘feel’ good on the basis of envy and fairness but it is a futile as it will not achieve a level playing field for all. It is really a prime example of tall poppy syndrome.

All the socialists will achieve is a dragging down of everyone, resulting in everyone being worse off – with the exception of which ruling class holds the power. Just look at our education system as an example of how driving equity doesn’t actually work and leads to a net overall decline in outcomes.

While capitalism is not perfect, those that grow the economy, increase the wealth of everyone. But you have to be prepared to accept that there will be some incredibly wealthy individuals and others with much less.

While I have empathy for fairness, the world isn’t fair. Some people are born with greater intelligence, others with more beauty, others with highly charismatic personalities etc. So life is not fair. But envy is only going to lead to greater poverty.
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June 10, 2023 9:31am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  I’m not sure if people like her are stupid, or just scum.
  They seem to imply that people with money have prevented people with less money from earning their own, or that wealthy people don’t deserve it, or that they’ve basically taken it from other people.
  They bleat about ‘fairness’, but there’s nothing ‘fair’ about taking money from people who happen to have some and giving it to people who haven’t earned it. How would she feel if I decided to empty her bulging wallet and filled my thin one with its contents, claiming that I need it more than her? I doubt she’d think that was very ‘fair’.
  If it’s time we get on and do something, it’s time we get on and rid ourselves of this socialist mentality that’s been plaguing us for decades.
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:09am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Envious mongrels, but they also spout to their activist base
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:54pm
PeeJay

On yesterdays article about the lack of health stats, I noted that a close friends daughter was in the Christchurch Women’s Hospital recently to give birth and there were severe staff shortages – apparently there was one anaesthetist on duty for the entire hospital!

Just got some more updates – they went in to visit the new arrival – transferred to another local facility – and my friend was struck by the fancy branding / signage everywhere. What he found really weird was a big white board in the new mothers room. Huge panel at the top to list any ‘cultural requirements’. Down the bottom of this board, other minor details were in separate boxes – you know, things like allergies, medicines on or allergic to etc.

So – cultural requirements are the most important priority.

Pesky things like health issues which are literally life and death, fine, we’ll list them but can’t you see how important it is we list the cultural requirements first?

My friend asked about this and the nurse doing the rounds said it was a complete joke – virtually every board had the same ‘not applicable’ note on them but this was ‘what was given to them’.

No wonder our health system is in such a state – wasting money on shit like this (and no doubt all the training required) and not spending the money on more doctors , nurses, medical staff, beds etc.

Why are we wasting money on this shit?
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June 10, 2023 9:36am
- Nickc2
  
  I suggest you address your concerns to Ayesha Verrall and be prepared for lies and obfuscation in response.
  
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  June 10, 2023 9:51am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    My missus has sent a complaint to ministry of health, in it she says her tumour has got worse, and for that they can jolly well pay for a private operation, she has received notification of her complaint and has been told she will hear within the next month.
    
    She has now had her second biopsy come back non carcinogenic, meaning not cancerous, but her doctor has had to tell her that but silence from surgeons, her complaint was because she was placed on the emergency list in December and it was supposed to be dealt with by Feb, but surgeons will be trying to work out what’s going on with two negative results
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:00pm
  - Paulus
    
    Ayesha Verrall MP FRACP is a New Zealand infectious-diseases physician, and researcher with expertise in tuberculosis and international health.
    She is totally wasted as a so called Politician and hopefully will return to Medical Research to the real benefit of New Zealand.
    
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    June 10, 2023 2:28pm
- Gaetano
  
  I can’t think of a “cultural requirement” that would be relevant to a hospital stay.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:27am
  - PeeJay
    
    I know – it’s utterly bizarre.
    
    What’s worse, this is going to increase. Seem to recall that ‘cultural awareness’ (eg Maori) is now going to be part of the licensing regime for new immigrants. Seem to recall something from Maggy Wassilieff (always a brilliant source) saying new immigrant nurses etc were going to have to pay up to $5k to get this tickbox before they could register.
    
    Meanwhile, Australia opens the door for health professionals, makes it easy to migrate and we throw yet more stupid hurdles in the way.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:13am
  - Matt Long
    
    In the Whangarei birthing facility the cultural requirement is to watch all your stuff constantly and make sure any fixtures like clocks are held securely or they are stolen.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:48am
    - I remember when
      
      Is it the Birth of Crime?
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:57pm
  - I remember when
    
    Calls to introduce ‘ethnicity criteria’ for all medications so Maori, Pacific patients can access….. :
    Newshub.
    A few thoughts –
    
    1. How is ethnicity identified.
    2. How much research has there been into the percentage at which the ethnicity effect becomes apparent.
    3. What is being done to prevent the incidence of these diseases.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:07pm
  - alwyn.a
    
    I can.
    My cultural requirement is that you don’t kill me.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:47pm
  - Scooter
    
    I can remember when I had my appendix out some 50 years ago at the children’s hospital before Starship, a Maori or Polynesian family brought in a huge feed of KFC. Maybe that’s what they mean by “cultural requirement”. Ps the hospital food was crap so don’t blame them.
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:45pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Friend of mine has a serious parasitic skin infection that has been affecting his hands and forearms for months. No dermatologist available in the South Island. He’s had referrals but can’t get an appointment. He is going to be forced to go to Oz for treatment at great expense.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:37am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    Could this possibly be related to GPs not prescribing Ivermectin?
    
    Apparently scabies outbreaks are quite a problem around the country at the moment. Scabies is well managed by Ivermectin.
    
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    June 10, 2023 4:20pm
- cmm
  
  ” there was one anaesthetist on duty for the entire hospital!”
  
  Yes, there are massive shortages, but one anaesthetist in the whole hospital is completely untrue.
  
  Maybe just on duty in the Chch Woman’s side, but there are more who can be drawn quickly from the main hospital (just one big building) and more who are on standby and can be paged within an hour.
  
  If there are no complications then mother and child shouldn’t be in hospital anyway. Far better to go home ASAP.
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:26pm
  - PeeJay
    
    Firstly, I don’t appreciate you calling me a liar. And don’t hide behind your ‘completely untrue’ is not calling me a liar.
    
    This was my friends words not mine. I was very clear on this. I passed on a story I heard. I didn’t stand at the pulpit of truth and declare this was the truth, the whole truth so help me god!
    
    To recap. My friend had been incredibly stressed for his daughter. He asked about a C-section as his daughter had been in labour for days and the baby’s heart rate was dropping. He was told, in very clear terms that there was there was one anaesthetist on duty for the entire hospital. He was told this by one of the senior nurses – he actually asked if she meant the women hospital and he was told no, the entire hospital. He was also told that under normal circumstances, this might be a circumstance in which a c-section would be carried out but they couldn’t even consider it at the moment.
    
    If I had heard this story a couple of years ago, I would similarly have been very sceptical. However, as I know this individual pretty well, and knowing how bad things have gotten in the old Canterbury DHB area, even though he was stressed at the time, he wouldn’t have any reason to lie. He actually voted for Jacinda in 2020 for goodness sake!
    
    Just remember the context here – the health system in Canterbury is in free fall. We have recently had leading surgeons actually go on the record to dispute the bureaucrats line that no operations were being cancelled. These weren’t off the record comments by nameless medical staff – leading surgeons went on record down here (possibly risking their careers), noting that massive cancellations were happening every day due to staff shortages (seem to recall they even mentioned the lack of anaesthetist’s). It wasn’t just elective surgery either – some surgeons were having to choose which cancer patients were going to get surgery and which weren’t. Literally life and death, all because of staff shortages. The Press (as left leaning as you can get) have slowly started to report on this but are still keeping this off the front pages down here. This is not heresy – it’s fact.
    
    So with the greatest of respect cmm, I’m not going to do a ‘lets agree to disagree’. I’ll trust my friend this time. He is infinitely more reliable than anything Te Whatu Ora could produce to refute this and I simply do not believe your stats – a few years ago, quite possibly. But not now – the bureaucrats in Te Whatu Ora have form for lying so I’ll take my friends story at face value.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:01pm
  - Ghost
    
    There have been problems there
    
    https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/131424179/the-whole-system-is-failing-five-anaesthetic-technicians-leave-christchurch-hospital-in-three-weeks
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:10pm
    - PeeJay
      
      Thanks Ghost – great link.
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

TRUMP FIRES BACK ON INDICTMENT WITH POWERFUL VIDEO.

The indictment of Donald Trump over a few irrelevant documents appears to be nothing more than an attempt to target and silence his supporters – something we have seen far too often from the Biden Administration’s so-called “justice system”.
Vid 4.02.

https://libertyonenews.com/119102-2/
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June 10, 2023 9:49am
- Stu2
  
  Have you read what he has been indicted for?
  Jail time.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300902212/donald-trump-took-secret-us-nuclear-programme-documents-indictment-says
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Stuff must have got that from CNN.
    So Trump goes to jail but Biden doesn’t, for doing the same thing?
    Anything to stop him running for POTUS. He can run for POTUS from jail – wins, then pardons himself? How’s them bananas?
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:31pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Trumps were in high security vault with secret service security still present, Bidens were scattered all around the country with secret stuff in a box by his corvette in da garage
      
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      June 10, 2023 1:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Different when the left do it – and that is World wide.
        
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        June 10, 2023 7:02pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Documents stored in a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. I suggest the FBI planted them there.
        
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        June 11, 2023 9:07am
    - Stu2
      
      No, not the same thing. The key part of the stuff post is:
      
      accusing him of wilfully defying Justice Department demands to return documents he had taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and even telling his lawyers that we wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored in his estate.
      “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes,” one of Trump’s lawyers described the former president saying, according to the indictment. He also asked if it would be better “if we just told them we don’t have anything here,” the indictment says.
      
      I doubt anyone else would have been so stupid. If he had turned over everything instantly none of this would be happening.
      
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      June 10, 2023 2:07pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Beat-up. He cooperated. They are, in desperation, scraping the bottom of the trivia barrel, again.
        
        0 1
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        June 10, 2023 10:01pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Pride Parade with a MAGA hat? It’s just a bloody hat, I have 6.
Wow, they get triggered so easily.

https://spreely.video/v/2317736605/WATCH–Woman-Harassed-and-Assaulted-for-Wearing-A-MAGA-Hat-To–Pride-Parade
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June 10, 2023 9:54am
- Mike
  
  Do you wear them all at the same time? Or a different one each day and something even more special on Sundays?
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:38am
  - PeterB
    
    I like wearing my Luftwaffe helmet but that does not make me a nazi.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:42am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not wearing any atm. Will start next year.
    Hey Mike, I fly the Stars and Stripes, Old Glory off may spa and BBQ deck.
    Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong Country.
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:34pm
thirteenstars

On your Google search page today you’ll see they are “celebrating scones”.

https://www.google.co.nz/

Wonderful. Refreshing, and not a rainbow to be seen anywhere.

A few years ago I had conversation with an Edmonds food technician and she gave me an important tip. Turns out simply using self-raising flour for scones is not enough. You still need to add extra baking powder. SRF contains 1tsp per cup of flour but scones call for 2tsp per cup, so add 1tsp per cup if using SRF or 2tsp if using plain flour.

I like a ratio of 5 to 1, flour to butter. My standard recipe is:

500gm plain flour
8 tsp baking powder
100gm butter
1tsp salt

Makes 12 scones. I like ’em round, and usually with some cheddar grated in and sprinkled on top.

Scones microwave beautifully. 15 seconds and they come out as if freshly baked.
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June 10, 2023 9:58am
- marcw
  
  You left out the milk. Also, if you add a tablespoon of whole milk powder to the flour it improves the texture.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:12am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  ?Milk…….
  
  250-300ml?
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:13am
  - thirteenstars
    
    The milk is a given, as is the method, but for completeness:
    
    heat oven to 200 or a little higher, but it hardly matters
    
    -sift the dry ingredients
    -grate the butter into the flour and rub in until you have a crumb
    -slosh in some milk and mix with a knife
    
    I like a stickier dough, certainly not dry.
    
    -form the dough into a ball and drop it onto a floured surface
    -you can use a roller but I just slap it down with my hand to get a 2cm thick slab
    -I like round scones: use a cookie cutter or floured glass to make the rounds
    
    Put scones onto a floured tray and stick it in the middle of the oven until baked. How long? This ain’t rocket science. Maybe 20 minutes. They will rise and take on some colour but I’m not a fan of heavily-browned scones. If you’re paranoid test a scone by smacking its bottom; it should sound a little hollow.
    
    Put the scones in a tea towel-lined bowl and cover.
    
    I like a savoury scone so I grate in some cheese and sprinkle some on top. Grating in some black pepper is pretty good, too.
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:39am
  - Bridgenag
    
    cups instead of gms & mls please
    
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    June 10, 2023 10:47am
    - thirteenstars
      
      Google is a wonderful tool. Just search: how many cups in 250ml, or any such conversion and you’ll get the answer.
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:01pm
      - cmm
        
        The problem with Google is you get American cups and not British cups.
        Real bakers use weight.
        
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        June 10, 2023 12:28pm
      - Bridgenag
        
        🤗
        
        2 1
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        June 10, 2023 12:29pm
      - thirteenstars
        
        “The problem with Google is you get American cups and not British cups.”
        
        That’s not correct. You get to make a choice between the units being converted.
        
        https://www.google.com/search?q=250mls+in+cups
        
        Note the dropdowns below each unit.
        
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        June 10, 2023 1:28pm
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        BTW, be wary of machine translations of Japanese recipes.
        One Japanese cup is 200 ml, not the 250 ml as used in the West.
        
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        June 10, 2023 4:46pm
- Joely Doe
  
  4 Cups Self raising flour
  300mL / 1 .25 Cups lemonade
  300mL / 1.25 Cups cream
  Mix
  Shape
  Bake
  Enjoy
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:26am
Master Mariner

Hymm, ok.

https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/us-navy-ship-operates-in-irish-eez-for-4-months-with-transmitter-off-reports-irish-times/

“While the US Navy hasn’t given clear explanations of the vessel’s operation, its activity has resulted in great confusion among Ireland’s defence officials and highlighted the Irish Naval Service’s incompetency in monitoring the security of the maritime region; military sources informed the Irish Times.”
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June 10, 2023 10:10am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  INS is in the same state as RNZN. Cannot get enough people to keep its ships at sea. Has just bought two RNZN inshore vessels at Bargain Basement prices.
  
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  June 10, 2023 10:34am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yeah got sent that. My understanding is that they are totally unsuitable.
    RNZ navy and all in fact over pay for all vessels.
    Charles Upham? Is a classic case in point.
    Latest case is RNZ psv.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:29pm
    - Paulus
      
      Believe that the two inshore vessels sold cheaply to Ireland were not designed for Southern waters, where they were of commercial (cheap) construction and not military, and the short southern seas made the crews so seasick that they were deemed useless.
      
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      June 10, 2023 2:33pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Its the type of vessel that caught my eye regarding the link Ftm.
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:31pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Pretty sure this one will be packed as well.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/picton-event-is-this-afternoon/
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June 10, 2023 10:18am
- rockape
  
  It was a noisey one in the Smugglers. About 100 demonstrators banging on the doors and windows and photographing people. Plus the please we’re breathalizing people on the way in and taking their details and photographing them. Labour must be getting worried.
  
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  June 10, 2023 2:11pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    More than worried rockape. Labour Elites are well in hand and hand with the Coup Maori Elite.
    So why do the demonstrators do this? What are they afraid of?
    “Plus the please we’re breathalizing people on the way in and taking their details and photographing them.”
    Yes the woke Police are doing that as they should do.//
    
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    June 10, 2023 7:07pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The demonstrators were not mentioned in the blog because Batchelor does not want to give them any oxygen. I see that as fair.
    
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    June 11, 2023 9:11am
Maggy Wassilieff

And if you can’t be bothered with rubbing butter into flour (and getting dough stuck under your fingernails and wedding ring,,,,)… or if you have no milk on hand…
I recommend Edmonds Scone Mix….
just add water… and the finished product is usually pretty good.
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June 10, 2023 10:19am
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/132275060/australia-deports-21yearold-with-70-convictions-to-nz-despite-only-living-in-aotearoa-as-a-monthold-baby

Mmmm- so this guy left NZ as a one month old baby and was raised in Australia.
Going by his name, as reported, I am guessing that he is of a certain Ethnic descent.
At age 21 he has 70 convictions, some involving violence.
If he had been brought up in NZ a lot of race based excuses would be made in his defence:
Colonisation, TofW deprivations, lack of access and equity to health and education services, racism etc etc.
But would same apply to essentially being an Australian?
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June 10, 2023 10:26am
Maggie Pie

$tuff is running the story this morn of a Russian man who was devoured by a huge shark just off a popular tourist beach in Egypt yesterday.
Even has a pic of the victim and a still shot of the actual attack.

If you missed it on Twitter, here’s the full vid…..

https://twitter.com/soy_eth/status/1666901287277846539

And people snigger when I only go in ankle-deep at Tindalls.
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June 10, 2023 10:43am
- JimBobJoe
  
  That is horrific viewing… I recommend you dont look.
  
  Like you Maggie I dont swim in the sea… read to much about shark attacks in my young years!
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:01am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    The only thing I ever worry about these days is crabs.
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:21am
    - JimBobJoe
      
      Know your partners Maggie, know your partners!!!
      
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      June 10, 2023 11:31am
    - Ghost
      
      Remuera swingers club got a crab outbreak?
      
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      June 10, 2023 11:44am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Sharks? Apparently you are more likely to be killed in a plane crash, and there are many many planes in the air.
    Check Flight Radar 24. There are thousands!
    
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    June 11, 2023 9:14am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

OKI BALLOT PRINTER COMPANY SENDS DAMNING “RESPONSE TO FACTUAL ERRORS IN MARICOPA COUNTY ELECTIONS REPORT” DEBUNKING MARICOPA COUNTY’S LIES ABOUT BALLOT PRINTER FAILURES.
This is far from over. Needs to be fixed before 2024.
This was not an investigation, it was a cover-up.

https://billingsreport.com/__trashed-80/
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June 10, 2023 10:43am
Chuck Bird

Did anyone see Newshub Nation this morning where some Yank was talking about UFOs and the American government was keeping it secret?

Does anyone here believe in UFOs and if so are the manned?
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June 10, 2023 10:51am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Is the person who downticked me an alian from a UFO?
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:29am
  - Gravelroad
    
    @ Chuck
    Yep
    
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    June 10, 2023 11:40am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    milkey 😀
    
    10 5
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    June 10, 2023 11:58am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      More than one from his many VPS setups.
      
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      June 11, 2023 9:18am
- Ghost
  
  Didn’t see it but is that the latest whistle blower who talked of recovered bodies?
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:42am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I think that is him but I think he does not claim to have seen them.
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:05pm
    - Ghost
      
      Yeah, he’s seen nothing, just claims from interviewing intelligence officers. I believe the senate is going to question him next week, but he has no evidence
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:08pm
- cmm
  
  Why I don’t believe in UFOs:
  * To build an interplanetary transport capability they’d have to be far more advanced in technology and intelligence than we are.
  * If they’re that bright they’d have the good sense to stay far away.
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:57am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    We have built interplanetary transport and will in 2 or 3 decades have manned transport. That is a lot different than intersteller travel.
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:08pm
    - cmm
      
      THanks for the correction. I meant to say interstellar.
      
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      June 10, 2023 12:30pm
  - RdM
    
    Why I don’t believe in UFOs:
    * To build an interplanetary transport capability they’d have to be far more advanced in technology and intelligence than we are.
    
    That’d be a given, at least for technology.
    
    * If they’re that bright they’d have the good sense to stay far away.
    
    Ha ha!
    But if they had come this far surely they’d be curious.
    What would they do differently?
    
    With the sprawls of satellites and junk around the earth, it’d certainly be noticeable.
    
    See
    https://sky.rogue.space/
    Hover over the Help button to see what you can do with it.
    You can search too, e.g. for Starlink
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:54pm
- Matt Long
  
  https://scottadams.locals.com/post/4127641/robots-read-news-about-the-trump-indictments
  UFOs are a great distraction.
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:12pm
- Inandout
  
  I smell Alien Collusion.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:04pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Regarding whether truthful or not, I find the timeing to be convenient.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:34pm
thirteenstars

Spiked reports:

Those concerned about the global erosion of free speech have been rightly shocked by Ireland’s Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill. Under its authoritarian provisions, anyone who offends someone with certain protected characteristics – such as race, religion and gender – could be imprisoned for up to five years.

This is deeply worrying. But it is nothing compared with what is being put forward by the government of the Dominican Republic. In 2021, the Ministry of Women, in alliance with a deputy from the left-wing Democratic Choice party, proposed an unbelievably draconian piece of hate-crime legislation. This law promises to penalise anyone who ‘incites hatred’ against a group or person due to their ‘gender identity’ or other protected characteristics, ‘with 30 years in prison and fines of up to one hundred [times the] minimum wage’.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/06/09/the-dominican-republic-a-world-leader-in-trans-tyranny
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June 10, 2023 10:53am
Tomtoddy

https://fb.watch/l3pCKEGQYb/ Tucker Carlson on Twitter. It is compulsory viewing. Very clear, very disturbing and clear encouragement.
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June 10, 2023 10:53am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Did you see Tucker’s twitter post yesterday where he inferred Obama was gay and his wife Michelle was actually a MAN?
  
  Over 19million views and counting!
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:26am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Does he say which one gave birth
    to the kids?
    
    10 2
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    June 10, 2023 11:42am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      They did point out that there have never been any photos of Michele pregnant. (A bit like we never saw any of Tamati either as I recall.)
      
      Then there’s this tweet this morning….remember comedian Joan Rivers?
      
      https://twitter.com/realstewpeters/status/1667175107142250497
      
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      June 10, 2023 11:55am
      - Inandout
        
        Maggie, well here are pics of Melania pregnant.
        https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/photos/melania-trump-pregnant
        
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        June 10, 2023 1:16pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        That’s because she IS a woman silly!
        Plenty of pics on the net when she worked as a stripper in Yugoslavia that leave you in no doubt 😛
        
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        June 10, 2023 2:10pm
  - Mike
    
    One of the morons on Kiwiblog years ago used to post comments claiming that: someone for whom the absurd birtherism saga wasn’t enough.
    
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    June 10, 2023 12:33pm
Hugh Jarse

Fran O’Sullivan has highlighted on Twitter this question to Willis from a Press Gallery repeater that she doesn’t name. “A press gallery journalist threw a question to Willis paralleling Hitler’s eugenics programme in relation to Luxon’s comment on babies: “Is Christopher Luxon aware of Lebensborn and Hitler’s experiment on this?”. Along with the repeater from Radio New Zealand changing a Reuters story on Ukraine is just more confirmation of the state and bias of New Zealand media.
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June 10, 2023 11:11am
- cmm
  
  If people are going to compare everything to hitler then:
  * Next time someone serves a vegetarian option at a restaurant, remind them that Hitler was a vegetarian. Might also remind the Greens who are pushing for less meat.
  * Any art gallery with water colours should be reminded that Hitler spent a lot of time behind a paint brush.
  * Ask why we are buying Skodas for our cops. Skoda is owned by the Hitler Motor Company (aka VW).
  * Labour’s teen programmes where kids can go to get fingered while MPs sleep instead of supervising (allegedly) sound remarkably like Hitler Youth.
  
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  June 10, 2023 11:53am
Jack5

With NZ’s Indian population rising quite quickly, is this something that may come up in NZ?

The California State Legislature is considering outlawing caste discrimination.

This follows Dalits – people from the bottom of India’s caste ladder – alleging discrimination against them by higher-caste Indians in the state.

The BBC reports:

Sukhjinder Kaur, a nurse at a hospital in California, works long and tiring hours serving patients. But whenever it’s break time, things become oppressive.

She is a Dalit (a community that is placed at the bottom of India’s deeply discriminatory caste hierarchy) and says she often faces casteist [sic] insults from her South Asian colleagues.

In February, Seattle became the first city outside South Asia to outlaw caste discrimination, generating momentum for the legislation in California.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65819688
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June 10, 2023 12:05pm
- cmm
  
  Probably not enough Indians in NZ to make this a huge issue (well certainly not in Chch anyway).
  
  If there is casteism, then they can just avoid eachother and sit with other colleagues (kinda like how I avoid anyone with facial tats).
  
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  June 10, 2023 12:18pm
  - Jack5
    
    Hooray for Indians not dithering around with euphemisms.
    
    The biggest social class in statistics is “other backward class”.
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Backward_Class
    
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    June 10, 2023 1:41pm
- Ehlana
  
  I did hear, on the BBC, that diabetes is a big problem on the Indian sub-continent.
  
  So I look forward to seeing health ads targeting Indian ethnicity New Zealanders for priority care in this area.
  
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  June 10, 2023 4:36pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump, stop rebuilding other Countries and rebuild America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpznfhXelfo
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June 10, 2023 12:15pm
- Che Guava
  
  When the goal is to parasitically extract everything you can and to loot the treasury while you’re doing it, anyone who wants to “Make America Great Again” is a threat to you. You’d think that MAGA would be the unspoken aim of every US politician, but they are all – except Trump – completely in the pocket of those who want to suck it dry. The constant campaign to discredit and handicap Trump all makes sense when this dynamic is understood.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:05pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yes – for decades, and Trump is taking their multi-million welfare. Fuck!
    
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    June 10, 2023 7:11pm
- tf78
  
  You can see what a genuine person he is, he’s always cared about America first.
  
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  June 10, 2023 6:39pm
thirteenstars

Latest Taxpayers’ Union poll:

National is unchanged from last month on 36% while Labour drops 1 point to 33%. ACT is also unchanged on 13% while the Greens are up 3 points to 10%.

National is unchanged on last month on 46 seats while Labour is down 2 seats to 42. ACT remains constant on 16 seats while the Greens pick up 3 seats to a total of 12. The Māori Party is down 1 seat on last month to 4.

The combined projected seats for the Centre Right of 62 seats is unchanged on last month and would allow them to form a government.

https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/taxpayer_update_230610

I suspect the wild ride the Greens are having must mirror the hysterical reporting by the media over climate-related everything.

Disaster porn has never been so lurid.
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June 10, 2023 12:36pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  But but but, hottest May ever, now we are having an extremely cold June, who would have thought hahahaha, you gotta love mother nature
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:56pm
- mogg
  
  I have just spoken to Chris Bishop at our local veggie market. I can see why National are not 20 points ahead of Labour in the polls.
  It’s not only Luxon who has no political instincts. At a time like this Hipkins and Labour are in a shambolic mess and National should be going in for the kill, but they continue to stand on the sidelines like passive observers.
  
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  June 10, 2023 2:17pm
  - Colville
    
    mogg.
    I believe Nats are going for a “dont scare the horses” campaign.
    They will sleepwalk to victory with Labour repeatedly shooting themselves in the feet…so why over promise or give the media ammunition that can be used against National later on.
    It may not be inspiring but it will win. 95% sure.
    
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    June 10, 2023 5:54pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Labour were down to 30% when Ardern ran, Hipkins got in and they went to 39% only 5 months ago, now in this poll they have dropped to 32.7% snd dinking every poll, if you can’t see that Labour will probably be in tgd 20s snd ACT getting such a chunk of support then you will understand that Nats will not be in the 40s, Nats ACT 8% more support than the coalition of chaos
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:56pm
  - hannity
    
    Yep, a walking superiority complex in a grubby T shirt.
    
    0 0
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    June 11, 2023 10:51am
- rockape
  
  I think people have forgotten how close elections were before 2020. A six seat majority as this poll reflects is not to be sneezed at under MMP. My opinion is post election we will see a 55/45 right left split. I am brave enough to say that will rise to a 60/40 split in 2029.
  
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  June 10, 2023 4:51pm
- cmm
  
  “National is unchanged from last month on 36% while Labour drops 1 point to 33%. ”
  
  So no statistically significant change.
  
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  June 10, 2023 6:38pm
  - Colville
    
    ….sure its not statistically significant but five more months of it and Labour are on 28% 🙂
    
    2 0
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    June 10, 2023 6:56pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Labour 32.7% well done on 39% when Hipkins hit a leadership bounce
    
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    June 10, 2023 9:58pm
I remember when

Sometimes logic just passes by.
I understand that this week was a rather big week for relief food parcels.
“So, you have been busy this week.
I thought you might have been with benefits being paid out on Friday instead of this week.”
Was one conversation a helper told me about.
Who ever thought there might be a ‘downside’ to paying benefits early?
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June 10, 2023 12:42pm
- jonno1
  
  Paying benefits early seems a bit odd now that banks have (finally!) moved to 7-day processing.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:35pm
cmm

Has anyone else noticed a general slackening of standards of service in NZ over the last few years?

Not just government services (which really have gone backwards), but other service too.

Banks, insurance companies and such used to fall over eachother trying to get your business. Now they put you on hold for half an hour, if they don’t just cut you off completely. If you do get through it’s borderline hostility.

Perhaps it comes down to staff shortages, or spending too much time getting woke. Whatever it is, service and efficiency seem to be dropping.
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June 10, 2023 12:59pm
- Che Guava
  
  It’s because, in general terms, we have devolved as a society. Things start to fall apart slowly, become more inefficient and it is harder to achieve things, simply because the people who comprise the society are of a lower standard generally. There is a higher level of apathy and incapacity than in the past.
  
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  June 10, 2023 1:42pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Speaking of woke, every time I go into my Westpac online banking I’m bombarded with a message to donate to their rescue helicopter. Except they’re too dopey to realise that as long as they refer in their headline to this country as ‘Aotearoa’ they’re not going to get a cent of my money. And I bet I’m not on my own.
  
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  June 10, 2023 3:21pm
Jack5

More fuel in Stuff today for conspiritards pondering whether owner-for-$1 Sinead Boucher has a secret backer.

If no backer, Boucher should write a book called “How to Start a Business with Bugger All.” A how-to on raising bank working capital for a business with staff of hundreds but with scarcely any tangible assets. No centre-city buildings, no printing plants, just the intangible assets of “mastheads”, or publication titles – the price someone would pay to own and use these.

Three years ago, Boucher bought the newspaper chain from its Australian owner, which surely was on the point of just walking away.

Today, Stuff features Laura Maxwell, the new chief executive of “Stuff Group,” following Boucher’s title upgrade to “executive chair and publisher”.

The report about Maxwell is offered in both Maori and English text. Maxwell’s background is given as “Te Atiawa and Ngati Mutunga,” and we learn that Otago University “she took a paper called Maoritanga.”

If Stuff were to close, Maori would miss its cultural support, which included, at the Christchurch Press, an apology for 160 years of coverage of Maori.

A Stuff spokesman said of the apology:

Our coverage of Maori issues over the past 160 years ranged from racist to blinkered. Seldom was it fair or balanced in terms of representing Maori.”

In parallel, Stuff announced a “pou tiaki” section to make more use of Maori language and to increasingly use “Aotearoa” as the country’s name.

New chief executive Maxwell says she wants promotion of the names of Stuff Maori reporters, and “Maori perspectives in general news stories”.

Company Office records show Boucher is sole owner of Stuff Ltd, though the sole fellow director, Dale Bridle, formerly of Sydney, rejoined Stuff as chief financial officer last year.

In announcing last week new management titles, Boucher talked of three “managing directors”, for parts of the Stuff business. This means Stuff will have a board of five directors.

If there were a secret backer, it would be at bank level. Given Stuff’s financial strength, a backer, if any, would be in the game for influence.
What has Stuff been pushing?
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June 10, 2023 1:31pm
- Jack5
  
  Media solidarity?
  
  Radio NZ web site this afternoon reports a Sydney Morning Herald apology for its coverage of a massacre of Aboriginal people in 1838.
  
  That is, a massacre 185 years ago!
  
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  June 10, 2023 2:31pm
Swifty

Efeso Collins, among many other lefty politicians, has said it – “we all know that the cause of crime is poverty….”

I wonder if he, and they, genuinely believe that. That when they see or hear of a criminal act their mind instantly goes to a scene of Dickensian waifs, totally ramshackle housing with bare cupboards and maybe a stale old crust on an otherwise empty kitchen table. Dad off working down the mines and Mum rocking on her chair bereft at the thought of how she’s going to feed the kids tomorrow and the next day….

Or, is it something else? Does Collins and others just look at societal issues and think how to best frame them to suit his political purposes? How to best benefit him and his political ambitions?

“Oh, let’s just label the cause of crime as poverty so that we can more easily gain support for our ‘anti-poverty’ measures, which suit us down to the ground because that reinforces our victimhood agenda and expansion of state services and control and serves to paint us as the cavalry coming to society’s rescue.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/491718/three-wheelchair-vans-stolen-from-christchurch-disability-service

So, is the cause of these crimes poverty? Or rather just obnoxious, anti-social, feral and entitled breakdowns in basic civil behaviour and respect for others?

Collins and others disgrace themselves and cruelly insult New Zealanders doing it hard who wouldn’t dream of victimising their fellow community members, irrespective of how little was in the cupboard.
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June 10, 2023 2:48pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Seems an own goal…
  
  He can’t use that argument against white-collar crime ….
  
  Rich folk doing dodgy deals can’t be criminals then.
  
  There’s a sucka born every minute and Efeso Collins must be dreaming if he thinks everyone is going to swallow his line.
  
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  June 10, 2023 4:38pm
  - fernglas
    
    Having spent many years working with the consequences of crime, I have come to the conclusion that poverty is indeed the cause of crime, but not financial poverty. It is moral poverty; the absence of a personal morality which says that it is wrong to steal the property of others, or to abuse children or to violently assault others. Not all financially poor people commit crime; in fact, most don’t. But amoral people frequently do. So perhaps schools and parents should devote more time to instilling notions of what is right and wrong into children rather than bothering with empowering gender dysmorphia or anti-colonial sentiment.
    
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    June 10, 2023 5:05pm
    - Swifty
      
      Poverty of character.
      
      Poverty of morals.
      
      Poverty of culture.
      
      Poverty of citizenship.
      
      Poverty of goodwill towards your fellows.
      
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      June 10, 2023 5:45pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Spot on
      
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      June 10, 2023 7:42pm
rouppe

Well, here’s a nice story, for a change.

Four children found in the jungle after 40 days.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/four-children-lost-in-the-jungle-for-40-days-after-a-plane-crash-are-found-alive-in-colombia/3D5IZF5UKVDFBCNRRI77BUOU3U/
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June 10, 2023 2:53pm
- Colville
  
  one of the kids is 11 months old!!
  
  so there has to be some local villagers type help there….
  
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  June 10, 2023 5:57pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There were no local villagers…
    
    Just a competent 13 year-old girl (and sensible siblings).
    
    7 0
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    June 10, 2023 6:25pm
    - info@cruzpro.com
      
      Apparently with some survival skills.
      
      Amazing results that brightened my day.
      
      5 0
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      June 10, 2023 6:42pm
      - Colville
        
        I assumed (wrongly) that Columbia had large beasties with sharp teeth roaming around… it seems not to have.. just snakes, leeches and lots of mosquitos !
        
        1 0
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        June 10, 2023 7:15pm
Swifty

Stuff asks, “What should be in Ardern’s book?”

How about some damn humility, some contrition and some fulsome apologies? That would make a good start.

Apologies and contrition for recklessly raising New Zealander’s hopes around homelessness, housing prices, child poverty, safety, health and education and them smashing those hopes into smithereens with hopeless, incompetent delivery.

Humility for advocating policies and regulation to improve the lives of New Zealanders which had the opposite practical effect.

Apologies for causing New Zealand to become less wealthy, more criminal, less safe and more divided than ever before.

Humility for smashing the educational aspirations for hundreds of thousands of New Zealand parents.

I could go on…..

Come on Ardern, will this book be a real unvarnished look at before and after – or will it just be another polish of the halo, just another PR exercise to burnish your credentials and image for future international posts?

I won’t be holding my breath.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/132286751/what-wed-like-to-see-in-a-dame-jacinda-ardern-memoir
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June 10, 2023 4:57pm
- greybeard
  
  Swifty, you are spot on.
  This book, if and when it surfaces, will be the front runner for the next Booker Prize for fiction.
  
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  June 10, 2023 5:18pm
  - Swifty
    
    I suspect it will be nauseating pap my dear greybeard, all about her challenges and hurdles as a young woman leader.
    
    And how so many people were mean to her.
    
    Still, I’m happy to be surprised. She may have the strength of character to apologise and be contrite for her ruinous years atop the country, but I doubt it, and especially as I suspect large parts of it will be written for her by someone else.
    
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    June 10, 2023 5:49pm
- kevn
  
  Just in time Christmas then off to the book shops price dropped dump table. By the harkles ‘Spare’ tome.
  
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  June 10, 2023 5:55pm
Moggy Cattermole

Sounds like a good opportunity for a new “turn Ardern” campaign.
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June 10, 2023 5:28pm
- Colville
  
  a great “secret santa” gift for someone you dont get on with…and it will be $2 from the bargain bin!
  
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  June 10, 2023 5:58pm
Maggie Pie

Fab to hear Kim Kardashian admit…. she’s a “lights off” girl in the bedroom.

Me too!
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June 10, 2023 7:31pm

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