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March 21, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 21 March 2025

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Prof Bev Lawton is named New Zealander of the year. While I’m sure she’s a worthy woman, I note that none of her accomplishments cited are outcomes.

More worthy of the award, in my opinion, are Sir Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood. Although named as the Legacy Award winners, surely they should have been awarded the top gong. Recall that they donated Wellington’s new Children’s hospital, I see they have just announced that they will build Wellington’s new Charity Hospital.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360623166/go-out-and-build-generous-couple-fund-wellington-charity-hospital

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/545489/professor-bev-lawton-named-the-new-zealander-of-the-year
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March 21, 2025 8:01am
- pdm
  
  Lawton is Ngati something.
  
  Dunajtschick and Spotwood appear to not have any Ngati bloodlines.
  
  An easy decision for the judges.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:42am
  - Tarquin North
    
    Have a look at the young New Zealander of the year. Is this the best we can do?
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:44am
    - Ghost
      
      What’s wrong with her?
      
      https://pmn.co.nz/read/news/samoan-innovator-crowned-young-new-zealander-of-the-year
      
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      March 21, 2025 9:56am
      - Tarquin North
        
        Morbidly obese? Diabetes? Heart disease? Nothing to aspire to there.
        
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        March 21, 2025 10:55am
      - Ghost
        
        Got it, we are so shallow we focus on her health and weight instead of her accomplishments.
        
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        March 21, 2025 10:59am
      - Paulus
        
        Sadly Obese !
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:40am
    - pdm
      
      May be more worthy than the overall winner.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:33am
      - Paulus
        
        Winners must be a women though !
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:41am
      - Dave
        
        Lafaele joins a distinguished list of past winners, including Fijian activist Shaneel Lal and Sāmoan choreographer Parris Goebel. (My bold)
        
        Uh huh. Lafaele has achieved something, but Lal – opinions might vary. Some are more distinguished than others.
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:08pm
    - Anthony Melchett
      
      Lafaele joins a distinguished list of past winners, including Fijian activist Shaneel Lal…
      
      Tells you all you need to know.
      
      [Mod – deleted]
      
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      March 21, 2025 2:15pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Whether that is the case or not, in the current racist environment that is Aotearoa you have to suspect that is the case.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:51am
- imalwaysright
  
  Never,
  I agree about Mrs Spotswood and Sir Mark Dunajtschik, they are truly kind people who have helped many kiwis.
  
  I thought Professor Lawton developed the test but it turns out she got the award for advocating the use of it.
  
  The tatooed lady on tv1 this morning gushed that the test is so important for “wahine maori and…other women”. Yes there was a perceptible pause.
  Classy.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:47am
  - NothingLeft
    
    All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
    
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    March 21, 2025 11:06am
  - R
    
    What class? THIS is TV1.
    
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    March 21, 2025 12:06pm
- Paulus
  
  But, But, the three finalists were all Ladies, and all Maori so don’t forget.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:39am
NeverMindTheBollocks

The Chinese have executed four of their citizens (who also have Canadian citizenship), for drug smuggling. The Chinese do not recognise dual citizenship, which is an object lesson for our newer New Zealanders.

It never ceases to amaze me how many immigrant-citizens return to their home country and think that their new passport will save them – Ahmed Zaoui and various Iranian-Brits spring to mind.

The bottom line is that we should be very careful about who is given the huge privilege of NZ citizenship, and we should retain far greater rights to withdraw it than we do now. And if that creates two classes of citizens – nope, we already have that, we need to reinforce it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c204ywyl4kvo
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March 21, 2025 8:02am
- peterwn
  
  Well, the Algerians did not recognize Zaoui’s dual citizenship when they checked him in jail where he still is AFAIK
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:58am
  - David Garrett
    
    Peter: So they haven’t shot him then? I was under the impression he fled Algeria in fear for his life. And then that lovely Deborah Manning did hundreds of hours of legal work for him, all for free…
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:07am
    - imalwaysright
      
      She used to get a free Doner every time she was in Palmy…
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:24am
    - igm
      
      He shot through from Palmerston evidently owing heaps to creditors . . . real nice bastard.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:31am
      - NothingLeft
        
        Just pay the Jizya you silly infidel.
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:08am
      - kowtow
        
        Couldn’t be true .
        
        Our te meedia paahti would have covered that , seeing they gave him so much exposure ……..
        
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        March 21, 2025 1:16pm
    - Paulus
      
      Heavily assisted by the media if I remember, against the Government, which of course the media love as they know best.
      
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      March 21, 2025 11:45am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      David, it brings a wry smile to my face to think that Zaoui preferred to return to the country he fled where he was in danger, rather than stay in Palmerston North!
      I have only been to Palmerston North once many years ago and I’m sure it has improved.
      
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      March 21, 2025 12:05pm
    - peterwn
      
      Yup. They suckered in the judiciary. Judges should have recognised that anyone who flushed his passport down the dunny on the plane was up to no good. The worst he faced was a crappy jail cell, not death.
      
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      March 21, 2025 6:24pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  It doesn’t matter which other country you come from/
  
  If you are a dual UK/NZ citizen you cannot play your NZ citizenship against your UK one if you break the law.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:24am
  - James Stephenson
    
    I’m still waiting for a reason to spend the $$ to add NZ citizenship to my UK, as far as I can see the only benefit would be to make it easier to go to Australia…
    
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    March 21, 2025 12:41pm
- Paulus
  
  Isn’t Zaoui in Jail in his homeland – and how many of his family are still here ?
  18 people were believed to come in with him.
  I suspect most are still here.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:44am
Scott

The Greenpeace organisation could go out of business after sabotaging an oil pipeline and slandering the company building the pipeline.

https://pjmedia.com/athena-thorne/2025/03/19/jury-reaches-verdict-in-case-that-could-end-greenpeace-n4938024

Environmental organisations have long held any development to ransom and their demise cannot come soon enough IMHO.

The JFK files are being released and we are finally getting full transparency as to how president Kennedy was assassinated. It sounds like there were two shooters and multiple international plots even involving the CIA?

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/03/19/this-might-be-the-most-interesting-find-in-the-jfk-files-so-far-n4938086

The two astronauts have been rescued thanks to President Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk and his Space X rockets.

https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2025/03/18/watch-dolphins-greet-astronauts-at-splashdown-n4938047

The department of education is being eliminated by executive order and returned to the states:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/incoming-president-trump-sign-executive-order-eliminate-department/

Trump is fulfilling all of his promises and more. President Trump promised:
“You’ll have so much winning you may get tired of winning. Please Mr president, it’s too much winning, we just can’t take it anymore.”

This looks like winning to me.
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March 21, 2025 8:02am
- Lance
  
  Astronauts being rotated out, yes, their stay was longer than expected, but hardly ‘rescued’. This after Musk throwing a tanty because the launch wasn’t scheduled much earlier, mainly because it wasn’t needed earlier, and these launches are very expensive.
  JFK files that told us nothing new (yawn)
  
  So, hum drum, standard events are winning bigly now?
  How is inflation and the economy going under Trump, is that winning bigly?
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:45am
  - Interested Party
    
    It’s relative progress, compared to previous practices- take the wins even if some wish to minimise them
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:53am
  - Conservatarian
    
    The Dept of Education was established in 1979 under the disastrous Carter administration (until the “Biden administration”, the worst administration in US history).
    
    It has expended many trillions of dollars – its 2024 budget was USD 268b (original budget was USD 14b in 1979). In 2025, its budget was 4% of the US federal spend.
    
    Its net outcome was the drastic worsening of American children’s test scores.
    
    Much of that sweet sweet cash was distributed to teacher unions and its funding programmes used to indoctrinate children into gender and race communism by adopting wholesale the views of the Brazilian communist Paolo Freire.
    
    Goodbye to this cancer.
    
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    March 21, 2025 1:14pm
  - Local Miller
    
    Rescued is the right word. Astronauts shouldn’t spend more than about 3 months in space at any one time, and 6 months is considered the absolute maximum. Their back elongates because there’s no compression from standing upright, which gives them major back problems, their eyesight deteriorates as the eyeball changes shape, again due to the lack of gravitational effect. They lose bone mass and become mor susceptible to osteoporosis. Just to mention a few problems caused by their extended stay.
    SpaceX could have gone and fetched them, and it could have been charged back to Boing since the defaulted on their contract, but Biden refused to use Musk because he was linked to Trump and it was the runup to the election. He didn’t want to give Trump & Musk any good publicity.
    Go Trump and Musk!
    
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    March 21, 2025 4:51pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    There is still no Boeing vehicle capable of bringing them home. NASA stranded their astronauts on the space station. It’s not really that hard to understand is it?
    
    The JFK files seem to show us that Deep State is a real thing, and Kennedy was offed because he wanted to disestablish the CIA, so nothing to see there either.
    
    Yawn indeed.
    
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    March 21, 2025 6:35pm
- Jethrod
  
  Wow…. the news in brief!
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:48am
- Ghost
  
  Not really. The plan put forward by nasa under Biden was for their return in February. In December there were issues with the new crew capsule and the crew 10 mission was delayed. Late February or March it was decided to use an old crew capsule. So the delay in the rescue was because of SpaceX. The new mission was two weeks sooner than the new time frame after the delays with the new capsule
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:49am
  - Scott
    
    If Kamala was president :
    
    – Greenpeace would get way with anything they wanted.
    – The dept of education would be fully funded and growing.
    – the astronauts would still be stranded
    -the JFK files would still be hidden.
    
    Plus the endless war in the Ukraine would continue for years, inflation would increase, the border would be open, DEI would flourish, all things trans would be mandatory and Hamas would be flourishing.
    
    Trump is doing what he said he would do. And that’s all anyone can reasonably expect.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:06am
    - Ghost
      
      The astronauts wouldn’t still be stranded, they never were stranded. There is always a plan to bring them home when there are delays in the launches. As has happened before. Sorry but with this issue it is just all political bullshittery
      
      Btw, in case you don’t follow the jfk story, a lot of the files that were released under Biden, trump rereleased.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:32am
      - Scott
        
        Ghost, they were stranded. For goodness sake. Everyone knows that. Even Al Jazeera, hardly a pro Trump outlet, acknowledges they were stranded:
        
        https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/3/18/nasa-astronauts-stuck-in-space-to-return-to-earth-all-you-need-to-know
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:00am
      - Ghost
        
        There were issues with their capsule, that then meant plans were put into place to bring them home. You cannot just send up a mission to bring them home it takes time and money, they were never going to be left there, and they wouldn’t be left there under Kamala. The plan to bring them home was created under the previous administration, it was delayed due to issues with the new crew capsule in December, they would be home last month if not for those spacex issues. This is political bullshittery.
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:09am
      - Ghost
        
        Btw, if there was a reason for them to come home, an emergency they would have been able to get on the docked capsule and come back. There wasn’t, instead they became part of crew 9 and carried out work up there. Really is a nothing story blown up by the media and politicians
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:33am
      - Lance
        
        Oh no, you can’t possibly infer Musk is a trougher.
        Oh, the humanity, oh the conspiracy from far left nutters!
        /sarc/
        
        Better watch out, Musk might call you a ‘Podophile’ if you disagree with him (yes, he has form on that)
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:44am
      - MCōs
        
        Scott of the Antarctic was stranded!
        
        The US Education Department is nothing like ours and was only setup relatively recently recently by President Carter. The various states already have their own departments that set curricula, organize funding and ban books etc
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:04pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yeah, stranded now apparently means stuck on a space station with capsules on it if needed to leave, but instead staying and working until an appropriate mission arrives with a few empty seats on board. Next we will be told that a person who misses their bus ride is stranded despite another bus being along shortly. NASA never once called them stranded because they’re weren’t.
        
        Btw lance, your comment is absolutely vile
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:12pm
      - Lance
        
        @Ghost
        You do know that is exactly what Musk said to an expert cave diver in the process of rescuing trapped boys in Thailand, when Musk offered a mini-sub that wouldn’t actually fit in the submerged cave and the cave diver politely said that wouldn’t work?
        
        These were Musk’s words. Extremely obnoxious but I guess that’s just Musk, no big deal now he is in favour.
        
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        March 21, 2025 3:37pm
      - Lance
        
        @Ghost
        Actually, I was googling the reference link and entering “Musk’s insults” turned up a vast plethora of obnoxious insults Musk hurtles to anybody he doesn’t like.
        Like I said, Musk has form.
        
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        March 21, 2025 3:45pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Ghost, image you go on a ten day business trip spending 10 days in cramped hotel room.
        
        But the airline has technical difficulties and you have to stay for 9 months, during which time you undergo physiological changes. You can’t come home, you can’t even leave the hotel room
        
        You are away from your spouse, your children, and friends.
        
        You would be stranded. During lock down lots of people could not return home. They were stranded.
        
        Or perhaps your spouse drops you off to a remote cabin in the woods, to pick you up in 10 days. But she doesn’t return for 9 months because of car trouble. With no way home you would be stranded.
        
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        March 21, 2025 6:14pm
      - Ghost
        
        Nope, and even nasa admit, not stranded. So, they win, as the experts
        
        https://phys.org/news/2025-03-nasa-defends-decisions-astronauts-stranded.html
        
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        March 21, 2025 7:36pm
- sungsamning
  
  So, what’s the down side. My fave reality tv show is the Trump presidency. Truth trumps fiction.
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:00am
- kowtow
  
  Another very big corruption story in the US at the moment is the amount of money funnelled into green bollocks by Biden and Co under cover of the Inflation Reduction Act .
  
  But of course because it is Dem corruption our media , just not interested in doing the hype .
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:29am
  - sungsamning
    
    I begin to wonder just how much of the US budget was graft, and corruption?
    
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    March 21, 2025 4:27pm
- judith8409121
  
  and fantastically he’s going to start coal power stations which will be great for energy production
  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/19/media-advisory-president-trumps-embrace-of-coal-powered-energy-is-the-right-thing-for-america/
  
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  March 21, 2025 12:42pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Turning to the Greenpeace case. How, exactly, does the President get to take the credit for that?
  
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  March 21, 2025 12:51pm
  - kowtow
    
    Who gives a f@#k.
    
    It’s a greatly , bigly story .
    
    One to enjoy .
    
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    March 21, 2025 1:25pm
  - Scott
    
    Dudley, I would suggest that Greenpeace and other environmental groups are on the back foot because of the Trump agenda. Trump is championing oil and gas and coal. He’s withdrawn America from the Paris climate accords and Net zero.
    
    So Trump has moved the Overton window as to what’s acceptable on climate change and radical environmental groups like Greenpeace. So I would say it’s an indirect contribution to this particular case but a massive direct contribution to commonsense thinking about environmental issues.
    
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    March 21, 2025 1:50pm
Cassandra

Richard Prebble: “We will have regular attendance only when the Minister of Education is courageous enough to pay schools based on the number of students they teach, not the number they enrol.”

Preb’s lunch plan: pay schools $3 a day for every child actually at school that day. Schools can then decide who gets lunch and any surplus they can use for other things. Needy kids are fed. Schools are incentivised to get children to come to school. Win/win.
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March 21, 2025 8:04am
- rouppe
  
  pay schools $3 a day for every child actually at school that day. Schools can then decide who gets lunch and any surplus they can use for other things. Needy kids are fed. Schools are incentivised to get children to come to school. Win/win.
  
  Sounds reasonable. Until you realise that Labour aligned principals will start fudging attendance data.
  
  Don’t think they won’t.
  
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  March 21, 2025 8:08am
  - Cassandra
    
    Of course they will and of course there should be audits and penalties. Last time I looked fraud was a crime. Ignore the howls of protest from the 3rd sex.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:44am
    - PeeJay
      
      Ha. Fraud’s a crime you say? You obviously don’t work in construction then!
      
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      March 21, 2025 1:06pm
  - Paulus
    
    What about School Holidays and such as Maori Matariki for many thousnds of years called Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45, is a prominent open star cluster in the constellation Taurus, approximately 440 light-years from Earth, containing over 1,000 stars, with six or seven visible to the naked eye.
    No School lunches for as long as Maori want !
    
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    March 21, 2025 11:50am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Known to the Japanese as Subaru.
      
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      March 21, 2025 1:34pm
      - sungsamning
        
        Yeah, I call it Subaru day. They should sue.
        
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        March 21, 2025 4:28pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Isn’t it sad that schools need to be incentivised to do their job. Forget the $3/day, that’s the thin edge of a very expensive wedge.
  
  Funding proportional to attendance is the correct way. Lunch is BYO.
  
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  March 21, 2025 8:13am
- sirknz
  
  But this will affect kids in poor areas the most.
  
  – The Greens and Labour probably
  
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  March 21, 2025 8:35am
- CJames
  
  That is far too sensible to be adopted. Can you imagine the uproar from Ministry of Education, the teachers’ unions and academics? I don’t need to tag the last named as left wing, as invariably they all are.
  It would make a great campaign for ACT though, just to continue to remind the public about the true colours of those groups.
  
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  March 21, 2025 8:46am
- Ian Boag
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  So each day the school working money will be decided by how many kids are attending today. If there is a bug circulating in the community, some (regular) teachers will be told they might not be needed today.
  
  If there were too many teachers yesterday we’ll just knock the numbers back today. If there is a teacher shortage today just roll with it.
  
  Looney tunes stuff.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:00am
  - Cassandra
    
    Nonsense Ian, this is dedicated lunch money, not the operating grant. To be used locally, by the school, to best effect. It’s extra! None so blind…………
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:07am
  - Fender
    
    woosh comment of the week, theres been some purlers this week from the war office brigade but I think you win
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:14am
    - Cassandra
      
      Sorry, you’ll have to translate. What’s woosh?
      
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      March 21, 2025 9:46am
      - Don Beckett
        
        The comment went right over his head – he didn’t get it, & preferred to put his own spin on things.
        Whoosh – over the head.
        
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        March 21, 2025 10:09am
  - Greenheart
    
    How do these children survive during the two months of their summer vacation. Presumably they eat something .
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:39am
    - sungsamning
      
      No, they hibernate until the first slow news day of the first term if there’s a National led gummint.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:03am
  - cmm
    
    I think this should be taken further than school lunches and further than just $3.
    
    Make $10 per day dependent on kids turning up at school. The school is plugged in to their community better than some centrally placed ivory-tower bureaucrats in Wellington. The school can understand incentives better.
    
    If the school wants to, say, offer $25 a week in KFC vouchers for each kid that attends school regularly and turns up with lunch then let them.
    
    If the school wants to, say, hold a celebration/party if they reach 80% regular attendance for a term then let them.
    
    Let the schools solve problems. It is way, way, better than making a one-size-fits all solution and trying to make that work from Wellington.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:50am
    - AitchW
      
      If schools are paid a bounty of $10 for every kid who turns up to class you’re handing activist parents a financial club with which to bludgeon the school.
      Let’s say a cultural group with 50 kids wants to travel to a competition which takes place during term time and lasts a week. The group asks for permission to attend said competition and is turned down.
      Nek minnit 50 kids go on strike costing the school $500 a day. By now the school is addicted to the fix of the daily bounty so caves to the demands of the group.
      Here’s a novel idea, parents take responsibility for getting kids to school every day, fed, and with lunch, having completed their homework .
      Use the cash that was being spent on lunches to hire an effective truancy service.
      
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      March 21, 2025 2:21pm
- cmm
  
  Why not just pay $5 to the family if the kid shows up at school on time – with a sandwich?
  
  As much as it galls me to think you need to bribe people and schools to look after the kids, this is probably where we are now and this is possibly the most pragmatic approach in the short term.
  
  In the long time I expect it would backfire though. eg. parents demanding a cut of the money if their kids turn up.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:08am
  - Phronesis
    
    We bribed the same people to take a vaccine that had marginal benefits for most people. The precedent has been set now. If the government really believes X is in my best interests, they will bribe me to do X. If they are not offering a bribe then clearly it is not that important to them or me.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:22am
    - cmm
      
      Well yes, census too.
      
      The precedence has been established. Don’t take your kids to get childhood vaccinations yet. Hold out a bit and wait for $50 KFC vouchers.
      
      If this is reality, then this is reality. Just paying the bribes is probably cheaper in the end than making posters and running TV ads.
      
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      March 21, 2025 9:53am
      - Paulus
        
        Blimey – I though that some special “people” were given $100 to do the census form as given.
        One woman took 8 for her whanau – but do she complete the forms.
        As she probably cannot read and write be a product of truancy, I doubt it.
        Great free Kai though.
        
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        March 21, 2025 11:55am
    - imalwaysright
      
      How about if you don’t send your kid to school properly equipped, dressed and fed, you get an infringement notice.
      Three notices gets a court appointment at a night court where mum and dad can choose which one of them go to jail for a week.
      
      The infantilism has to stop.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:03am
      - cmm
        
        Certainly there is the option of the carrot or the stick. In theory.
        
        With our dudges defaulting to the position of any punishment being cruel and unusual, good luck imposing sanctions.
        
        If you were able to fine them it would end up being ignored. Nobody is going to be sent to jail for failing to pay a school fine.
        
        The real word suggests that hand outs work better. In the short term anyway.
        
        8 0
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        March 21, 2025 10:59am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Handouts are the material form of infantilism.
        The next step will be to introduce school breakfasts, and then school dinners.
        All three will probably occur within the current school day leaving no time for actual education.
        Then again, maybe that is preferable to the current scheme which involves a group of marxist, ill-educated morons interacting with our children.
        A cleft stick
        
        9 1
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        March 21, 2025 11:09am
      - Paulus
        
        Bexause nobody would take any notice anyway.
        This is Aotearoa after all.
        
        7 0
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        March 21, 2025 11:56am
      - Flossie
        
        Don’t forget about the kids who don’t have warm pyjamas – or even a proper bed to sleep in.
        Perhaps we ought to just have government homes that feed, clothe, and educate all the children in government buildings. That also come with live-in loving carers and onsite medical facilities.
        Really no need for parents at all is there!
        
        6 0
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        March 21, 2025 2:17pm
      - cmm
        
        “Handouts are the material form of infantilism”
        
        Well, yes, but we are surrounded by practical infants.
        
        3 2
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        March 21, 2025 4:52pm
  - Fender
    
    stop paying cash would solve that, give food vouchers,We need to stop welfare cash fullstop and start food stamps and penalties for not supplying food to children.
    
    There is more protection from the SPCA and condemnation from the general public over starving animals than there is over supposed starving kids.
    The govt doesn’t send pet supplies home so why does it feed children.
    Also most food banks are usually desperate to give away food and there’s more than enough charities ready to supply food to the genuine needy. No more excuses.
    You own it or bring it into the world , you feed it, or get penalised.
    
    Food stamps seem the obvious answer to me and I would vote for such a party.
    
    8 1
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    March 21, 2025 12:20pm
    - AitchW
      
      There will be a ready black market for food stamps.
      Tinnie of dope? Cash, $50. Food stamps $100.
      (Forgive me if the cash price is wildly inaccurate, I’m not, and never have been, a dope buyer! )
      
      8 1
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      March 21, 2025 2:25pm
      - Fender
        
        not so sure how the tinny dealer is going to use all those food stamps, they are not cash and would be considered worthless in reality, is he going to trade them for petrol and booze,no, would it pay for anything in his lifestyle? they are completely worthless except if you are hungry
        perhaps you could buy $100 of food stamps for $30 cash but a dealer isn’t going to be wasting his days peddling foodstamps back to cash is he.
        bartering can work on a small scale but to call it a black market is a stretch
        
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        March 21, 2025 4:04pm
- kowtow
  
  We will have regular school attendance only when parents give a shit.
  
  btw the majoridy do , it’s the growing underclass that’s the problem that needs fixing.
  
  18 1
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  March 21, 2025 9:09am
  - imalwaysright
    
    My better half works in a college. She says more and more of the kids are showing signs of being fed up with ill-prepared teachers and being indoctrinated.
    Schools aren’t what they used to be, kids don’t see any upside, in fact I would say they are more hungry for knowledge than they are for a dish of butter chicken.
    But knowledge isn’t on the menu.
    
    17 2
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    March 21, 2025 9:33am
    - kowtow
      
      Interesting , but that’s back to the parents again and who they’re voting for .
      
      This is literally a societal issue .
      
      7 1
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      March 21, 2025 11:32am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Yes, the parents are responsible for preparing and motivating their kids for school, but teaching college must surely instruct their students on how to provide a welcoming, non judgemental, instructive haven for pupils who are at a parental disadvantage.
        This problem isn’t new.
        
        7 1
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        March 21, 2025 12:35pm
  - pdm
    
    majoridy – an ardernisim or a typo kowtow?
    
    9 1
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    March 21, 2025 9:48am
    - kowtow
      
      Ardernism .
      
      Lest we forget !
      
      12 2
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      March 21, 2025 10:17am
      - Graham Sharpe
        
        Tut tut! “Lest we for-ged.” Accuracy please.
        
        1 1
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        March 21, 2025 10:25pm
  - cmm
    
    Do the majority really give a shit?
    
    40% of kids attend school regularly.
    For Maori it is about 20%.
    
    For high school the numbers are worse.
    https://www.infometrics.co.nz/article/2022-11-school-attendance-an-uphill-battle
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:04am
- Grunter
  
  Imagine if we had an open and free-market approach to schools, freedom to choose and pay for what you want…… along with massive tax cuts so families could afford it.
  
  Nah, instead we have a central Govt monopoly, Soviet-style (no choice) stuffed down our throats and open to ideological changes and indoctrination. Endless and pointless debate and years of arguing…..(Yawn) All funded by sky-high tax. Run by a bloated blob in Wellington.
  
  I agree with much of what Richard Preeble says, but that’s not what EVERYONE wants. Fair enough, we are all different. So let’s have an open and diversified portfolio of schools run by education companies that have nothing to do with central government. The good ones thrive. The crap ones get what they deserve and die.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:37am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Over 4000 ministry of “education” staff.
    Minister is looking overseas for a method to test pupils.
    
    What’s wrong with this picture?
    
    8 1
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    March 21, 2025 11:13am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  A school’s costs are not reduced if a few children don’t attend. The food has already been ordered, the teacher’s pay is the same, utilities bills are the same, maintenance costs are the same, but now the school has less money to manage it all. This actually penalizes the children who do attend and leaves less resource available to reach out to and re-incentivise those who don’t
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:49am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I understand your point D, but what has to happen is we have to take this dog back to puppy school.
    It isn’t hard to run a school. What we are seeing in our education system is wilful disobedience.
    The government has chosen to try to work with these people rather than sack them.
    Big mistake.
    
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    March 21, 2025 11:22am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Free lunches should be the exception, not the rule. Like if a kid forgot to take his lunch, not a catering services.
    
    Microwaved super snack meals should be the limit. Keep them in freezers.
    
    If more than a few need free meals in a day, then parents should be hauled into a parent teacher meeting and reminded of their responsibilities.
    
    It should be treated as a serious issue, instead of just handing out freebees. In my day, if we turned up to school with no lunch, parents got phoned.
    
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    March 21, 2025 6:31pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Look I know it’s de rigeur to hate school teachers on this blog, but seriously – school teachers are responsible for truancy? How are teachers supposed to get kids to attend school? They’re trained to teach (admittedly rather poorly trained in this country, you might say), not to act as truancy officers. In France, parents can be fined if their kids are frequently truant, and surely that’s where the responsibility lies.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:51am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Kudos to Richard Prebble, the full article is a worthwhile read. He comments that the MSM are focusing on a trivial ‘news’ item, when poor attendance and poor learning outcomes are of far greater importance. And don’t tell me that good nutrition helps, of course it does, but feeding children is parents’ responsibility, not the state’s responsibility.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:56am
- sungsamning
  
  Another good idea from Prebs.
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:00am
Simon

An example: yesterday I bought a British made product in a British store Marks and Spencer. I paid Tax on it. But I’d already been taxed on that money when I earned it. Worse, it was from my pension which is already taxed twice! When I earned the contribution and when I got it back as a pension. I filled up my car, a huge portion of the cost was tax. I watched television and had to pay tax to the BBC though I wasn’t watching the BBC and never do. I was only out a couple of hours and was robbed by the government twice and again when I got home.

https://x.com/georgegalloway/status/1902656347457397215

Genuine left.

As opposed to the Gweens NZ who are just so useless surely must be creatures of international capital. Nat / Lab Neo-Lib Clown Show must be very happy with the Gweens.
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March 21, 2025 8:04am
- Jethrod
  
  So what is your answer then? Are you going to line the walls of your cave with mud or what?
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:56am
Simon

Virus escapes from a Chinese lab kills millions and the Clown Show West is meh. But China says no to Drag Time Story hour and by God this means war!
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March 21, 2025 8:18am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.34am, null bikes.

A cool, calm, dry morning in the Capital, ideal for cycling.
24 3
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March 21, 2025 8:34am
- RoboRob
  
  Its a Friday. The council workers who bike are ‘working’ from home today.
  
  18 0
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  March 21, 2025 9:45am
- Bridgenag
  
  But it is the weekend………starts Friday
  
  15 1
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  March 21, 2025 9:46am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Wed 3.30 pm
    
    5 0
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    March 21, 2025 10:05am
    - sirknz
      
      Look at this guy, in the office, ‘checking’ their emails for more than 50% of the week…
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:41am
- pdm
  
  Sorry for accidental downtick.
  
  5 1
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  March 21, 2025 9:53am
- AitchW
  
  I assume this is the $250k bike rack? It would have been cheaper to send Ubers for the guy who uses it!
  
  8 0
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  March 21, 2025 2:30pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Excuse me! This is no run-of-the-mill $250k bike rack, no siree! No, this is the $587k bike rack.
    
    3 0
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    March 21, 2025 9:05pm
Gussy Fink-Nottle

Ukrainian ICBMs:
In the complex ‘who started it’ debate on the Ukraine conflict, the voluntary surrender of Ukraine’s nuclear missiles is referenced, from time-to-time.

AFAIK, these weapons were installed and controlled by Russia, and the world at large didn’t want them left lying about post ’91, to be cannibalised and sold to the highest bidder.
It seems the argument that Ukraine valiantly surrendered ‘their’ nuclear deterrent could be a little disingenuous.

Happy to be educated otherwise by reasoned argument.
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March 21, 2025 8:49am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  There was a whole post and discussion thread about this yesterday.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:51am
  - Gussy Fink-Nottle
    
    Thanks Dudley, I’ll check it out.
    Apologies for the repeat.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:20am
    - Gussy Fink-Nottle
      
      …If I can find it DQ.
      There’s your praise of Trump’s handling of Putin (satire, I presume) in yesterdays’ GD, and a couple of links to the wider argument, but not much else on this.
      Are you referring to the earlier Truth About NATO post??
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:36am
    - kowtow
      
      Don’t apologise to these self appointed hall monitors.
      
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      March 21, 2025 11:33am
- slijmbal
  
  @Gussy
  
  going to be a bit lazy and not dig up the many discussions\info about who had\controlled what in relation to Ukrainian nukes but …
  
  There appears to be plenty of info supporting that they had effective control and if they did not have effective control they would easily\probably end up with it. So not an unreasonable belief.
  
  The agreement they signed behaved like they had control, which implies everybody else signing it thought so too. That includes other major powers.
  
  An agreement Putin broke … as usual for him.
  
  I suspect this has become a two camps issue and, as such, I look for behaviours and not the various assertions of biased observers.
  
  The idea that Russia is less corrupt than Ukraine and doesn’t have exactly the same risks of nuclear arms ending up on the market is laughable. I’m not asserting Ukraine is not corrupt rather that surrendering the nuclear arms would make no appreciable difference to such risks.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:21am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    And in any case – so what?
    
    Nothing said, thought, understood, agreed, signed, believed, undertaken or intended at any point by any of Ukraine, Russia, the US, the EU or NATO makes it all right for Russia to invade Ukraine, occupy Ukrainian territory, rape and murder Ukrainians and steal Ukrainian stuff.
    
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    March 21, 2025 12:56pm
imalwaysright

Another doctor deregistered and fined for questioning the jab and its promoters.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/545488/doctor-and-former-tvnz-presenter-samantha-bailey-has-medical-registration-cancelled
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March 21, 2025 8:52am
- Bridgenag
  
  Not allowed her opinion………
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:29am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  The Centrist has a post on it:
  
  https://centrist.nz/tvnz-doctor-struck-off-after-covid-misinformation-videos/?
  
  “Note that there is no reason to think the Medical Council has any more medical knowledge than the doctors they regulate, since they are not chosen for their knowledge.”
  Interesting.
  
  17 1
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  March 21, 2025 10:22am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Therefore do we assume she is being punished for making the Health Department, Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Dr Bryan Betty, and every other “participant” look stupid and potentially corrupt?
    
    It looks like the method of examination of evidence was to compare what she published with what the government published.
    Because she has a different opinion she is therefore wrong and guilty???
    This is bizarre .
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:41am
    - JackRabbit
      
      look stupid and ~~potentially~~ corrupt!
      
      2 0
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      March 21, 2025 6:33pm
- Scooter
  
  At the same time Jacinda, Bloomfield, Wiles etc should be held to account for saying the jab was safe and effective.
  
  15 1
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  March 21, 2025 10:30am
- pb
  
  We are ruled by the bureaucracy. Doctors serve mammon, they failed the Covid test.
  
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  March 21, 2025 2:40pm
Bridgenag

An Expats’ View of South Africa (Part 1)
Cry, the Beloved Country

“The only real achievement of the ANC’s kleptocracy has been to reverse the flow of time in the country. First-world infrastructure crumbles to rubble, global corporations flee the country, historic buildings fall into decay, roads disintegrate and civility is replaced with rapacious greed and savagery.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/an-expats-view-of-south-africa-part?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 21, 2025 9:07am
- cmm
  
  What is really more telling is that when the voter support for the ANC dropped to the extent that they no longer had an outright majority, the DA (previous the rational ones – the opposition) formed an coalition to provide stability and propped them up.
  
  That coalition has over 60% support at present.
  
  That just enables ANC, but I guess it gives the DA a bite at the cherry so it makes them happy too.
  
  Imagine the same happening in NZ: Labour and National forming a coalition.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:15am
  - kowtow
    
    Entirely feasible.
    
    Happens in Germany and Ireland. In Canada I think the equivalent of their labour party kept Trudeau in power until that fell apart in Dec .
    
    Speaking of political shenanigans.
    And happy to be corrected ;
    
    In Canada Trudeau prorogued parliament ( to avoid a motion of no confidence ) and it hasn’t sat since . They even have a new PM who does not have the confidence of the House who is making major financial and international relations decisions ( that goes against constitutional convention)
    
    Germany is introducing new spending rules , a major change in their constitutional arrangements, based on the seats in the previous parliament ( happy to be corrected there , as the new govt hasn’t been agreed)
    
    And in Ireland there’s a bit of a constitutional stoush over speaking rights in the lower house , again in order to keep the minor party who is supporting the two major parties in coalition.
    
    So while the media internationally engage in Trump bashing consumers of “news” are kept in the dark over the dark machinations of supposed leading “democracies” .
    
    Chuck the UK in there where the govt , with an extreme radical agenda ,have a massive parliamentary majoridy based on minority polling ( due to FFP)
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:31am
    - AitchW
      
      Initially my response to Labour being installed by a small minority due to FPP was that they need to install proportional representation.
      Then I remembered that here it was MMP which allowed the Maori and Green parties into the house and potentially government some time in the future.
      The UK would inevitably have an Islam controlled party which could easily hold the balance of power at a future election . My blood runs cold at the thought to be honest.
      
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      March 21, 2025 2:39pm
  - RoboRob
    
    I think if national and labour formed a coalition, voters on both sides would flee to Act and the Greens.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:46am
    - cmm
      
      Can you imagine a Green/Act coalition trying to work together to oppose Labour/National? No, me neither.
      
      I don’t think people would flee – not enough anyway. Labour and National policies are more closely aligned than any other parties and it actually makes pretty good sense.
      
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      March 21, 2025 10:14am
      - Quail
        
        CMM,
        A National/ Labour coalition would be absolute disaster.
        It is simply would be a Communist Dictatorship and all that is wrong with that . Individual New Zealanders would be forced to tow the party line and Bureaucracy would rule .
        MMP is a long way down that track now.The same bureaucracy works for all parties and half of all politicians are appointed anyway.
        Your major party coalition would mean there is no point in individual voters bothering to vote, and there would be even less regard for the values and aspirations of individual New Zealanders!
        Your suggestion is nonsense not good sense!
        
        8 3
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        March 21, 2025 10:37am
      - RoboRob
        
        Im not saying there would be a Green/Act coaltion I am saying that a decent percentage of Nat voters would start voting Act and a decent percentage of Labour voters would start voting Green.
        
        Would that be enough to stop the Nat/Lab coalition, probably not. There is the possibility that NZF might also grab enough additional vote that it could form a coaltiion government with Act or the Greens.
        
        Longer term new National and Labour parties would probably form.
        
        8 0
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        March 21, 2025 10:47am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Nats-Labour coalition is a nightmare scenario. Co-governance, DEI, Maori wards, groomers back in schools – all Labour policies that would find support from the dominant liberal faction of the Nats.
        
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        March 21, 2025 12:32pm
      - cmm
        
        Quall. I am in no way saying I would like such an outcome, just that it is logically entirely feasible.
        
        Look at where Luxon is now. ACT and NZF are a royal pain in his arse. He would feel far more comfortable setting up shop with Labour.
        
        Bottom line is that are closer to eachother’s policies than anyone else.
        
        Ok, maybe Maori and Green are closer to being bedfellows, but National and Labour are bloody close in policy.
        
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        March 21, 2025 4:58pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    “Imagine the same happening in NZ: Labour and National forming a coalition.”
    
    The reason we’re in the mess we’re in is precisely because over a couple of decades, where it really matters, Labour and National have effectively sung from the same song sheet.
    
    The Grand Coalition is real and it stinks. That’s why Trump exists, why the AfD have risen in Germany, and why Farage looks increasingly like the next UK PM.
    
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    March 21, 2025 11:01am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Imagine as much as you like. Luxon stated clearly right at the beginning of taking the leadership of Nats that there would never ever be a coalition between Nats and Labour, it’s simply a waste of time even posting that crap
    
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    March 21, 2025 11:28am
    - Fender
      
      crap? because he has such a long history of politics , he would obviously know the parties future.
      thirteenstars is correct and anything is possible longterm.
      I would offer, probably because there will be such low turnout and interest by the public they will all just agree to actually form something that works and to keep themselves in the trough.
      
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      March 21, 2025 12:28pm
    - cmm
      
      We’ve seen this happen in many countries. Why not NZ.
      
      5 years ago nobody would have thought ANC and DA would have jumped in the sack in South Africa.
      
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      March 21, 2025 4:59pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  The following quote is telling because it’s an accurate depiction not just of what has happened recently but how it will devolve in the future as the ANC continues to fail its own voters on employment, housing, healthcare and everything else in making life better:
  
  When the ANC failed to maintain their two-thirds majority in the 2024 election and had to align with the Democratic Alliance to stay in power, it was a shot across their bows that their rule was vulnerable. I believe this is why they accelerated their “Revolution”.
  
  This parallels with Zimbabwe. When Mugabe’s power weakened with the rise of the Movement for Democratic Change under Morgan Tsvangirai in 2000, Mugabe commenced total war on Zimbabwe’s white farmers. Hundreds of land invasions destroyed the “bread basket” of the continent. Highly productive agricultural land was seized violently and handed out to ZANU-PF supporters who, knowing nothing of farming, let the land fall into ruin.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:22am
  - Bridgenag
    
    A familiar edge here too
    
    12 3
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    March 21, 2025 9:31am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Mmmm……..familiar.
      Local highly productive farm land, whose lease has expired, handed back to “indigenous” owners.
      Now unused, covered in gorse.
      
      17 1
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      March 21, 2025 10:16am
      - pdm
        
        DB and blackberries.
        
        6 0
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        March 21, 2025 10:37am
  - kowtow
    
    Prior to that Mugabe engaged in genocide against the Ndebele tribe .
    Largely ignored by the media , who love any communist who sticks it to honkey.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:35am
Bridgenag

cognitive breakage
why everyone is going so wild all of a sudden

“they will seek to cast trump and musk as lawless while vandalizing and destroying teslas and swatting conservatives podcasters.“

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/cognitive-breakage?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 21, 2025 9:18am
Bridgenag

Unmasking the Great Avian Influenza Scam
Exploring the simple but forgotten treatments for colds, flus and animal pandemics

“Story at a Glance:
A massive industry exists to prevent pandemics, but despite receiving billions each year, it routinely fails to prevent pandemics or provide viable ways to address those which emerge.
This industry rests upon the lie that viral diseases cannot be treated, when in reality there are many effective over-the-counter, and unpatentable treatments for viral illnesses.
The industry engages in cruel and unnecessary animal experimentation, which wastes billions each year and repeatedly creates the pandemics it is supposed to prevent due to how frequently lab leaks occur.
The “war against bird flu” highlights key issues within the pandemic prevention industry, where billions have now been spent killing over 100 million birds, yet all that has accomplished is raising egg prices.
This article explores how many forgotten therapies can treat both severe viral illnesses and rapidly address common conditions like colds and flus.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/amidwesterndoctor/p/unmasking-the-great-avian-influenza?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 21, 2025 9:23am
- David Garrett
  
  Do you also believe there are capped oil wells at various secret locations around the country?
  
  9 5
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  March 21, 2025 9:43am
  - Jethrod
    
    The Great South basin …. all exploratory wells capped , waiting for the right financial time to exploit it.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:01am
    - David Garrett
      
      Jethrod: You right about the GSB, but you miss my point – in short Hunt Petroleum, which drilled those wells in the 80’s, no longer has any proprietory interest in the area. They lost that when their permit expired.
      
      It’s exactly the same on land – once an explorer fails to renew a permit, they lose the right to exploit any discovery they have made.
      
      But there are ignorant people with no knowledge of the law relating to oil exploration who think a company which drilled some wells can cap them, and then return years later when the price is right, and produce from them. Total nonsense.
      
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      March 21, 2025 11:17am
    - Bridgenag
      
      It was an attack of a message DG won’t even read….
      
      3 3
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      March 21, 2025 1:28pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Of course i wont read it! My time is worth $450 an hour…I dont waste it lightly. If I read every article on some raging conspiracy theory I’d go broke!
        
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        March 21, 2025 1:57pm
  - David Garrett
    
    What about carburettors which will allow a car to run 100 ks on a litre of gas? The oil companies bought up the patents…apparently. And any inventor who didnt want to sell disappeared or had a mysterious accident…
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:01am
    - kowtow
      
      There’s apparently technology for engines to run on air.
      
      Compressed air.
      
      Maybe someone here techy knows a bit more .
      
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      March 21, 2025 11:26am
      - David Garrett
        
        Kowtow: The energy produced by such an engine would, at best, be exactly equal to that expended on compressing the air…and it wouldn’t even exactly be equal because of friction losses etc.
        
        But perhaps you were being sarcastic?
        
        3 1
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        March 21, 2025 11:59am
      - kowtow
        
        DG
        
        No I recall reading about it years ago .It really is a thing .
        
        “Motor Development International SA (MDI) is a Luxembourg-French based company designing products in both mobility and energy storage using a compressed air engine.”
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Development_International
        
        tata , big Indian company seems interested. A scam , not sure .
        
        That’s why I genuinely pose the question , if any techy types know the truth.
        
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        March 21, 2025 12:21pm
      - cmm
        
        The engine does not “run on air”. It runs on compressed air. The energy is coming from the pressure in the compressed air – not the air itself.
        
        Using compressed air for storage is extremely wasteful – mainly because of all the heat lost in the compression process. All that lost heat is energy – energy that is no longer available for motive power.
        
        You might have experienced with with a bike pump. Pumping up a tyre results in a hot pump. Whenever something gets hot, that is a sure sign of significant waste.
        
        Yes, Tata motors made some noise about this many years ago, but it went nowhere and the laws of physics are not in its favour (let alone safety etc). Using batteries and electricity is way more efficient.
        
        So how much energy is available in something like a SCUBA tank (10 litres, 200 atmospheres)? A back of the envelope calculation suggest that would be around 1MJ. Realistic – due to heat loss etc you’d be lucky to get half that. Call it 500kJ. That is about 0.15kWh. Or about as much energy as in 1 tablespoon of petrol.
        
        That is not even enough to propel a car 1km.
        
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        March 21, 2025 1:13pm
      - kowtow
        
        cmm
        
        ‘Yes, Tata motors made some noise about this many years ago,’
        
        Ah so , that might explain why wiki has no progress reported on that since 2017 ……….
        
        ………that , or Big Oil got to them . ( just kidding)
        
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        March 21, 2025 3:59pm
    - Lance
      
      Not to mention water powered cars (nod nod, wink wink)
      //
      
      None of this physics crap, we believe, therefore it is so
      
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      March 21, 2025 11:51am
      - kowtow
        
        Water powered ?
        
        Just add heat and voila , steam power .
        
        Isn’t that what Boris The PM apologised for ; the Industrial Revolution.
        
        Nudge nudge wink wink .
        
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        March 21, 2025 12:45pm
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Now lets do “green energy”! Add expensive fossil inputs, and convert it to lower density “green” energy! Voila! We’re all going to get rich, or at least until the subsidies run out…
        
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        March 21, 2025 6:45pm
Chuck Bird

I spoke to Luxon about vaccine side effects and he walked away from me. People died from a vaccine that people were forced to take.

TVNZ doctor struck off after COVID ‘misinformation’ videos

https://centrist.nz/tvnz-doctor-struck-off-after-covid-misinformation-videos/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=21-3-2025&_kx=TSv6VCyKHjhT3-e8xydqmlpQ_i0xYQ63EyJPNNqwnu0.VYfxNg
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March 21, 2025 9:24am
- Bridgenag
  
  No matter how many FACTS are presented!….. Can only follow the money like the Climate Crisis……// BTW The &%$%& Fauci is in Italy advising the government about the mandated Vax for children.
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:35am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    The covid inquiry will be interesting.
    
    The initial Labour Luvvie inquiry findings were fairly critical of the Clark, Ardern, Little, Robertson and Hipkins axis of evil.
    
    An independent inquiry must address the following points:
    
    – how did the nz government get hold of the early deadly Pfizer batches when we were so late to order the jab?
    
    – why was the nz governments prepared pandemic plan (similar to Swedens successful covid strategy) discarded?
    
    – why was the medsafe finding that the jab was neither safe nor effective ignored?
    
    – How did Ardern emass enough wealth during her time as prime minister to go on a permanent overseas holiday?
    
    I live in hope my submission is considered.
    
    I’m looking forward to Chucks presis of the Dr Bailey interview.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:34am
    - cmm
      
      “The covid inquiry will be interesting.”
      
      No it won’t. It is a whitewash.
      
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      March 21, 2025 1:17pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        You could be right CMM.
        
        Then again, you could be wrong!
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:19pm
    - Ghost
      
      People have moved on, most won’t care what the inquiry finds.
      
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      March 21, 2025 1:27pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        i guess that depends on what the inquiry reports.
        
        My gut feel is whitewash, but I’m open to being pleasantly surprised.
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:21pm
      - Ghost
        
        It will find nothing because it is not a New Zealand story. The origins of Covid now greatly believed and reported didn’t stir much of a global unrest, it was more of a meh, we knew that anyway. Anything of interest in the Covid story won’t come from New Zealand inquiry. The first phase report was released last year, it was a nothing burger.
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:37pm
      - kowtow
        
        B/S .
        
        Our society was smashed by the draconian lockdowns .
        
        Still reeling from the effects .
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:33pm
      - Ghost
        
        And the world turns, people have moved on. I know there are some, especially on this blog who will still be ranting off about the lockdowns and Covid on their deathbeds. Kiwibloggers live in a closed off echo chamber to what is really going on outside of it.
        
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        March 21, 2025 2:57pm
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Probably not, the entire secretariat leadership resigned and walked out. Wonder why?
      
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      March 21, 2025 6:45pm
  - MCōs
    
    Italy has had compulsory vaccination for kids for a range of diseases since before covid
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47536981
    
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    March 21, 2025 3:52pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  This is Dr Samantha Bailey being interviewed by Peter Williams.
  
  https://realitycheck.radio/replay/dr-sam-bailey-corruption-in-nz-medical-establishment-the-health-practitioners-disciplinary-tribunal-charges/
  
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  March 21, 2025 9:42am
  - David Garrett
    
    Chuck: 52 minutes long…fine if ur retired, as you are! How about you summarize the main points for us
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:47am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      I am still listening.
      
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      March 21, 2025 9:54am
  - Mod88
    
    Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal populated by Lawyers. Not a Health Professional among them. Like the majority of talking heads during the Covid scam. Yet Dr Sam Bailey is punished for telling the Truth. There is something very stinky in Health NZ and the Whistle-blower, Barry Young, case is another shining example of the duplicitous nature and tendencies of the whole ramshackle organisation. Yet they wonder why Trust in them is at an all time low. It is Deserved, that is why.
    
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    March 21, 2025 9:59am
Tom Barker

“I spoke to Luxon about vaccine side effects and he walked away from me.”
The PM is smarter than I thought. He declines to listen to misinformation.
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March 21, 2025 9:33am
Random T Person

I turned 49 yesterday. My wife is leaving me because I’m a worthless person. My work has disappeared thanks to AI and quite honestly I was never particularly good at it anyway. In 30 years of experience I’ve learned nothing achieved nothing and become nothing. Why am I even writing this.
9 1
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March 21, 2025 9:52am
- David Garrett
  
  Random: I do hope that comment isn’t serious..s
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:03am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Ditto. Maybe a mod could look up his details. Cops will go around and do a welfare check.
    Dial 111, St Johns deal with this very well.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:10am
    - Blog-aholic
      
      That’s Hato Hone now//
      
      8 1
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      March 21, 2025 11:56am
      - kowtow
        
        And if they truely “honoured the treaty” they wouldn’t answer the call , phones being a settler colonial construct.
        
        6 3
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        March 21, 2025 12:41pm
  - Mark Hanley
    
    Random. When I’m feeling a bit down in the mouth I listen to monty pythons Mrs Brown song… they remind us how lucky we are to be alve.
    
    Ps I hear online dating is great fun.
    
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    March 21, 2025 10:17am
- Jethrod
  
  Condolences to you.
  Just briefly…. don’t sell anything, get exercise… walking minimum, avoid bottles and smoky things.
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:12am
- cmm
  
  Bummer.
  
  You have problem solving skills. Those are quite general skills. AI can’t really solve problems – just looks stuff up (ie. does pattern matching).
  
  49 is still young. Winston Churchill only hit his straps in his late 60s and that was a long time ago.
  
  An AI girlfriend is probably a reasonable replacement. It will probably be better at core functions than the ex-wife is too.
  
  There is really nothing magic in AI vs any other technology change.
  
  When trains and bus transport etc became cheap, then people walked less and thousands of cobblers were put out of business. People making riding crops and saddles too.
  
  Automatic phones put plugboard operators on the street, etc etc.
  
  The only difference here is that many in IT space etc have been quite smug that they are immune, but that really is not so. Even back in the 1980s a whole lot of COBOL programmers who used to write and maintain report generating got replaced by spreadsheets.
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:35am
- NothingLeft
  
  Chin up. Don’t take it personally, female partner love/loyalty is, for a high proportion (and particularly in these social media benighted days of reprogramming women to focus on immediate personal gratification), transactional – many will only love you if they perceive you are winning, it’s mostly just down to luck what they turn out to be. In a year or two you will likely be enjoying your life more without the requirement to appease her demands – doing your own thing.
  
  Pare back your lifestyle to the minimum you need to survive and retrain in something that can keep you employed for the next few decades. I’d suggest moving to a thriving rural area where there are so many good jobs for people with brains and a work ethic, and cost of living is way lower than cities – plus you get more community with better general levels of camaraderie and support than what anonymous cities offer.
  
  Perhaps figure out how to get into Fly in Fly out mine work in Australia – high pay, with lots of time for hobbies.
  
  Or alternatively sell up and go sit on a beach in Thailand or Phillipines for a few months to enjoy yourself, clear your head and figure out your next move.
  
  But whatever you do find something you enjoy that puts a smile on your face for a t least a few minutes a day to keep you sane.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:42am
  - NothingLeft
    
    If it’s really getting you down just take a longer view, it’s quite natural for the transition to suck, our brains can’t adjust to big change overnight, you’ll have bad days and challenges and set backs, but in a year or two life will be good again in a new normal, likely better than before, but you need to manage the struggle and bad days and shock of adjustment in the meantime.
    
    Make sure you don’t spend too much time ruminating and looking backwards, wallowing in self pity is always destructive and unhelpful – and social media algorithms will pick up on it and drag you into a vortex of self-reinforcing funk. It’s sunk cost, don’t dwell on it or it will eat up the energy you need to make your tomorrows better.
    
    Keep mind on future, if you find yourself spinning out distract yourself with books, tv or whatever to keep things positive, and focus on finding things you enjoy when you are feeling down.
    
    Find yourself a social activity, anything really to get you out of your cave and talking to people for a few hours a week.
    
    Keep in mind also that in general happiness bottoms out at 50 and then climbs again all the way through to basically death. So you are at the life-time low, but it gets better. https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101218_xjc736.gif
    
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    March 21, 2025 3:45pm
- BananaLlama
  
  Stand up for yourself if no one else will T, it’s self-love, don’t let the world make you feel worthless and grind you down.
  
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  March 21, 2025 2:24pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Buy a sportscar, get a pad with a view in a new suburb, get a dog, keep your hifi, and books. You aren’t worthless and AI is a decision support tool that is hopeless at choosing what actually matters.
  
  Become an AI wrangler, wear jeans, drink beer, write a list of bucket list experiences/hobbies, join a club, cook great meals, have fun.
  
  This Deity has been restructured 7 times, laid off 3 times, been in numerous failed relationships, had a massive heart attack and now has a firm “no dickheads” policy.
  
  I’m serious about the dog. A man by himself is weird, a guy with a dog is a man who can handle commitment!
  
  I could die tomorrow. But I could also take the dogs for a run, smoke some pork, and lie on the couch watching a cool movie with a glass of good pinot.
  
  Seriously mate, take care!
  
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  March 21, 2025 7:01pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTFAsD2pSrU
Keith Wilson: Alberta separatism is ‘off the scales’.
Alberta has overtaken Quebec as the part of Canada most interested in a post-Canadian future. [I guess it’d be a Republican leaning one.]
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March 21, 2025 9:57am
sungsamning

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/elon-musk-says-doge-discovered-14-magic-money/
Magic Money Computers.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and now self-proclaimed advocate for government efficiency, has revealed a stunning financial scandal hidden within the depths of our government.
Speaking on Senator Ted Cruz’s Verdict podcast, Musk disclosed the existence of what he calls “magic money computers.”
During the explosive interview, Musk explained how these government computers can conjure up trillions of dollars out of thin air—completely detached from a synchronized network.
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March 21, 2025 9:57am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360623524/straitnz-upgrades-cook-strait-ferry-fleet-new-ship

NZ Rail, please take note. This is how to run a ferry business.
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March 21, 2025 10:33am
- RoboRob
  
  No0000, say it aint so.
  
  How could they afford this ship without the government giving them money? They must charge outrageous fares to be able to afford this. No? Perhaps their safety is worse, surely they have accidents and breakdowns more then the tax payer funded service. No?
  
  How can this be possible, it must be fake news.
  
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  March 21, 2025 10:57am
- sirknz
  
  Precisley zero tax payer dollars put into it too.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:01am
- AitchW
  
  And, believe it or not, the new ferry doesn’t need billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on new infrastructure!
  Or tens of thousands spent on consultants and koha.
  Time to sell the Interislander. Or whatever KiwiRail (another dumb cutesy pie name) calls its ferry company.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:32am
- SoloView
  
  @ greybeard
  
  Their last new ship (Connemara) broke down after a couple of weeks service.
  Let’s hope the new 17 year old ship has a better run…
  
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  March 21, 2025 1:25pm
Ghost

Interesting that all these issues were shit storms they inherited from labour

New Zealanders give National-led coalition lowest performance ranking for a government since 2017 in Ipsos issues monitor

The top five issues were inflation, healthcare/hospitals, the economy, housing, and crime/law and order.

Other noteworthy issues in the Ipsos poll

18% of respondents were concerned about poverty/inequality
15% were concerned about climate change
10% were concerned about unemployment
7% were concerned about household debt

Article

Full report https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2025-03/27th%20Ipsos%20Issues%20monitor%20February%202025_0.pdf
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March 21, 2025 11:15am
- BananaLlama
  
  Thanks Ghost, the state of the economy is really going to matter at the next election. Didn’t realise Healthcare was such an issue either but it makes sense given how long it takes to be seen whenever i visit the doctors. Could be a big reason why National is struggling with female voters.
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:31am
- cmm
  
  The inflation/cost of living one is obviously the big thing on everyone’s minds because that hits everyone daily.
  
  A lot of people don’t understand inflation though:
  
  Why does inflation go down, but the prices are not going down?
  
  It is quite amazing that they have a separate section for “the economy” (30%). Is this a way to split these issues?
  
  How is the “economy” anything other than a grab bag of different factors already mentioned” inflation, unemployment, infrastructure etc?
  
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  March 21, 2025 11:35am
  - Quail
    
    CMM
    This is the tax factor identified by Friedman.Inflation loss is permanent.
    It is how a currency is devalued by Governments so they can continue to print borrow and spend.
    Salaries and wages increase to cover this albeit with a lag .Councils rating is worse ,they have their own inflation measures.
    Productivity inevitably falls.
    The currency continues to decline in purchasing power.as inflation continues ,and as the NZD value falls there are mythical increased export returns. Value vs volume.
    In the last few years NZ has had grossed approx 25% inflation .Savers including Kiwi savers have all made a loss.
    The best/ only way to stop to stop internal inflation is for Government to stop deficit budgeting and borrowing and for the Reserve Bank to control ( restrain ) its money creation .
    That is balance the books. Imported inflation is with us but that is not NZ s problem.
    There will be no change while politicians want to be father Xmas.
    
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    March 21, 2025 8:04pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Supermarket prices seem to have stopped rocketing up.
  I get to keep a bit more of my salary due to the tax brackets being increased (s/ve been done long ago).
  My mortgage rate has decreased.
  Things are looking better.
  Whereas if Hipkins had got voted back into government, I do not think things would be as good.
  
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  March 21, 2025 12:21pm
  - Fender
    
    Power prices are going to destroy all that goodwill in a heartbeat, daily charges alone here increase 30c a day in letter this week from mercury.
    
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    March 21, 2025 12:49pm
    - kowtow
      
      Continued unrelenting rates rises will have a crippling effect on any “feel good ” news too .
      
      “Inflation under control” , my arse.
      
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      March 21, 2025 2:30pm
  - cmm
    
    Unfortunately the stupid people out there (of which there are far too many) expect that if inflation stops then prices should come down.
    
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    March 21, 2025 2:08pm
    - PeeJay
      
      If only it were stupid people that thought this way. I have been absolutely shocked at the type of people who actually believe that lower inflation equals prices dropping. I’ve been in meetings with construction folks, well qualified folks as well, and heard this kind of thing and actually laughed with them and said good joke only to realise they were fucking serious and just didn’t understand it! I wish I was joking about that! I then had to explain why this wasn’t the case and maybe 2/3rds got it and felt pretty sheepish but the remainder just said nothing but you could see they still didn’t get it. Again, I wish I was joking about that!
      
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      March 21, 2025 3:09pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  NZers are truly sheep. National inherited this clusterfuck, but of course are to blame, and Labour and its media enablers get a free pass.
  
  As usual.
  
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  March 21, 2025 7:05pm
Fender

why are the coalition so bad at messaging their wins, they need quick soundbites and graphs to go out on instagram and ticktock etc constantly, to catch the young and offset the racist drivel. People on here watching question time and reading the herald, listening to the platform isn’t going to cut it with the younger voters so uninformed of realities.
I don’t understand their weakness to attack the narrative, shut down and walk away from hostile interviews etc, their PR strategies are weak.
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March 21, 2025 12:46pm
- Swifty
  
  Agreed.
  
  Should have been doing this from Day 1.
  
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  March 21, 2025 2:23pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Chris Luxon is on Tiktok regularly. NZF often appear on The Platform.
    
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    March 21, 2025 4:44pm
- Ghost
  
  They’re not bad at it, they just they have a hostile media. All 3 parties use social media
  
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  March 21, 2025 5:23pm
info@cruzpro.com

Talk about how important it is for parents to take an interest in their kids education…

My dad never saw the inside of a high school. He started working full-time at age 15.

Every school day he would ask me if I had completed my school homework. Once I told him, “Yes I just finished my algebra homework. Would you like to check it?” His response was “Don’t be a wise ass!”.
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March 21, 2025 1:46pm
- NothingLeft
  
  AI tutors are starting to become available, and should be ubiquitous in a few years.
  
  They will be able to track children’s performance in minute detail, and should enhance their learning by a huge amount – rule of thumb for one on one tutoring is that it raises kids performance by 2 standard deviations compared to classroom teaching. Eg average => top 1%, but AI tutors should soon be better than best tutors given instant access to enormous range of lesson plans and ability to individualize teaching style for specific students etc.
  
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  March 21, 2025 3:07pm
Chuck Bird

Is NZ’s Climate Policy Economic Suicide?

By Duncan Garner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBjjPp8DVC8
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March 21, 2025 2:12pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Of course it is. Look at what’s happening to germany and the uk. These countries are suiciding out in search of “net zero” while China and India and most SE Asian countries are eating their lunch.
  
  It is truly weird that we fail to make the connection between cheap abundant energy, and wealth, jobs and growth.
  
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  March 21, 2025 7:12pm
cmm

It seems that the person who thinks he knows more about manufacturing than anyone else alive does not understand the concept of different materials having different expansion coefficients.

It would appear that gluing different non-flexible materials together fails at extreme temperatures. Huh, who would have thunked that?

Perhaps a spot wend would have been a better idea? Though that would have heat-blemished an unpainted surface.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360623620/latest-blow-tesla-regulators-recall-nearly-all-cybertrucks
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March 21, 2025 2:13pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/prison-hunger-strike-dean-wickliffe-tells-supporters-hes-prepared-to-die/66VNSRO3VJG3HMBFGD6LH3TYO4/

So Wickliffe has put conditions on whether he chooses to die … too bad he didn’t give his victim a choice.
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March 21, 2025 2:17pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  His terms are acceptable.
  
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  March 21, 2025 7:13pm
John Loveridge

I hear on Red Radio that NZME has been in discussion to buy websites and newspapers from Stuff. Flogging dead horses is one thing. But buying them?
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March 21, 2025 2:18pm
- sungsamning
  
  Does this mean that Stuff is almost a goner, and is having a fire sale?
  
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  March 21, 2025 4:46pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  This must prove that Stuff is on the bones of its derriere!!!!
  
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  March 21, 2025 5:16pm
NothingLeft

Scary thought of the day; what happens when criminals start using robots to do their dirty work? Anonymous Robbery, Extortion, Kidnapping, Murder can likely all be done with minor hacking of robot AI unless there is some really excellent safe-guards and cryptographic controls, and even then it will likely be possible to retrofit rogue AIs into common robot hardware.

Imagine what terrorists and other malevolent organisations or countries could do with all the talent and money at their disposal.

Asimovs ‘3-laws’ can’t be implemented in reality.
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March 21, 2025 3:01pm
Ghost

Beautiful day wrecked by the farmers burning their paddocks off. Can’t open the windows because of the smoke. But it’s OK, it will soon be winter and ECAN will be out harassing houses whose chimneys have too much smoke
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March 21, 2025 4:20pm
- kowtow
  
  You could always go on hunger strike .
  
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  March 21, 2025 5:54pm
Ghost

Damn

Heathrow airport closed today because of a substation fire

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/105081908
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March 21, 2025 4:22pm
cmm

There’s an interesting “study” that suggests the world population may have been under counted by billions.

There are definitely opportunities forcounts to be wrong. We can’t even get it right in little old NZ with bribes of KFC vouchers. Imagine how hard it must be in war-torn Congo or such.

Still, a claim like that needs data of its own – and a methodology.

And the validity of claims of undercounting are only as good as the methodology they used.

Their idea was to take resettlement data from dam projects and seeing if that matched the modelled data. They found the dam resettlement data indicated a higher population.

Of course, they might be correct. But equally, it could be that their methodology is flawed. Consider:
* The resettlement involves paying compensation. That immediately means that the resettled people are likely to over-count to get more compensation. People would turn up from 4 villages away to get counted and compensated. Likely this means there were more people showing up than really got displaced by the dam.
* What does the dam data tell you anyway? Generally, dams are built in more fertile areas with more water etc. People tend to live closer to rivers. Quite likely the population density is higher in the area than in the surrounding country. If you extrapolate numbers from dam relocations to the rest of the countryside you will likely end up with inflated numbers.

Still, accurate or not, it is an interesting slant on data gathering.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-population-billions-more-study-b2718787.html
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March 21, 2025 4:50pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360624387/high-court-rules-wellingtons-cuba-st-rainbow-crossing-can-stay
Just another example of how out of touch with real life are the courts. Idiots.
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March 21, 2025 7:20pm
- Steve Todd
  
  How are they “out of touch”? In what way are they “idiots”?
  
  Your comment is one of the more mindless I’ve read here for quite some time.
  
  (Oh, in case you’re wondering, I’m your down thumber.)
  
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  March 21, 2025 8:45pm

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