General Debate 03 April 2025

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood are funding the build of a charity hospital in Wellington. This follows their building of the new Wellington Children’s Hospital.

A fortnight ago they received a legacy award in the NZer of the Year Awards. All very well, but what do they have to do to get the top gong?

I’m sure that the winner is a meritorious person, but frankly I cannot remember her name or accomplishments.

I bet Wānaka wishes that Sir Mark and Dorothy were local to them.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/healthcare-inequity-in-wanaka-long-travel-high-costs-burden-residents/AG46BRYFGNHALFT5WSYWQBVFJU/
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April 3, 2025 8:01am
- pdm
  
  Or Dunedin Bollocks.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:10am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    Trumps tarriffs are damaging conservative leaders and parties in the West. In Canada the conservative party looked a shoo in to win the election now Carney is looking more likely. Same in Australia. Dutton and the LNP are struggling against Albo and Labor. The Lefties are using the tarriffs as an opportunity to look strong and stand up to Orange Man and condemn the conservatives as being Orange Mans mates. Cant trust a Leftie. I wish Trump had’nt gobe down this route. Its going to back fire on him Bigly when his supporters wake up to higher prices and less choice. As I have always said a country cant tax or tarriff its way to prosperity. It dont work.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:40am
    - kowtow
      
      I stand to be corrected but ;
      
      a huge part of the swing back to the Liberals in Canada was the simple removal of Trudeau and much of the new support for Carney is at the expense of a collapse in the support for the NDP ( punishment for keeping Trudeau in power ? ) .
      
      It’s possibly more about Trudeau than Trump.
      
      As to the Oz situation the commentariat was always saying it would be close .
      
      Anyway , we’ll see on the day .
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:48am
    - Scott
      
      I’m very unpopular for saying this but every country that makes things has tariffs. China has become a manufacturing giant through tariffs and also unfair trade practices including stealing of intellectual property.
      
      We’re the pure ones on free trade which means that we now make nothing. It’s OK for liberal elites but for those in manufacturing it has been devastating.
      
      The liberal order is completely wrong on tariffs. Everything is made in China. We make nothing and are in a state of managed decline.
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:25am
      - NothingLeft
        
        But isn’t it interesting that these hyper-manufacturing focused countries are all dying demographically – far worse than countries that don’t have such focus.
        
        Female fertility of China 1.1 (but likely lying to hide even worse), Germany 1.3, Korea 0.7, Taiwan 0.8, Japan 1.2 are all on fast track to oblivion. Winning in manufacturing appears to mean losing with regard to cultural survival.
        
        Interesting kurgesagt video today on Korean collapse. Lots of comments that it’s no longer possible to stop from a policy perspective because of the dominant voting power of elderly trying to preserve their wealth and income regardless of cost to young – who are mostly looking to emmigrate.
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:26am
- imalwaysright
  
  Never,
  I think the lady who won the top award got it for “advocating” women take a medical test.
  Initially I assumed she invented it, but it was developed overseas.
  Odd choice!
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:44am
  - pdm
    
    Woman, Ngati Porou, gave her a good head start.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:34am
- Sacha
  
  It seems to me that people who choose to live in ‘remote’ areas, should also be prepared to fend for themselves if they need medical care. Most people move to more convenient localities when they need access to support.
  On the other hand, if the health services were functioning effectively, surely someone would be planning for care of the local residents.
  In my area, if one wants to see a doctor it’s a 3 month wait – and then it’s likely to be the Nurse Practitioner.
  Otherwise it’s an hours drive to the nearest hospital A&E , to sit and wait for several hours for attention.
  
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  April 3, 2025 11:14am
Mod88

Joke Of The Day…

We’ll Give Them One More Chance…
The “Powerful” Privileges Committee, Bwaahaahaaa.

They wonder why respect for the Law is at an all time low. Bwaahaahaa, it is patently obvious. Winston’s War On Woke should start at home. He sits on that “Committee”.
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April 3, 2025 8:11am
- pdm
  
  mod88 said.
  Winston’s War On Woke should start at home. He sits on that “Committee”.
  
  Agreed.
  
  Then again the Maori Party’s `nasty granny’ Mariameno Kapa-Kingi is also on the Privileges Committee.
  
  Maybe she has two votes given her ethnicity – you know like Councils offer.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:15am
  - RoboRob
    
    Perhaps the committee is like many councils. 10 members from a variety of parties including TPM, labour and Greens plus 5 unelected iwi representitives
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:18am
    - pdm
      
      RR – you mean a partnership as envisioned by PM Luxon 8 times on Waitangi Day.
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:36am
      - Bevan
        
        Partnership does not mean 50:50, time everyone including TPM and the MSM started understanding that.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:45am
  - Flossie
    
    What about Winston’s ethnicity? Should give him two votes as well!
    
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    April 3, 2025 1:02pm
- kowtow
  
  Winston’s ‘war on woke’ is simply his latest cynical little play acting , once again he’s found his angry crowd and agreed with them.
  
  He’s been doing that for 30 odd years and never delivered .
  
  Talking of delivery , he’s less of an Anti Woke Warrior and more of a Midwife ; he delivered us the Ardern regime along with singing the ‘Capitalism is dead” anthem.
  
  All the noises he’s making , albeit most eloquently ( and elegantly , the well dressed Dandy that he is) is merely electioneering for the next round at the trough , be it him or that other Blowhard , Turncoat Jones .
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:53am
  - greybeard
    
    “Te Peters Pati”?
    “Winston First”?
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:39am
    - Keith White
      
      “The Peters Without Principles” party.
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:29pm
      - I remember when
        
        “The Peters Without Principal Party” sounds like an answer.
        
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        April 3, 2025 4:03pm
- peterwn
  
  The media always prefix ‘Privileges Committee’ with the word ‘powerful’. But the Committee is only ‘powerful’ when an individual person steps out of line. The Committee would seem to be faced with difficulties in the current situation.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:01am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Collins said yesterday if they don’t turn up they face expulsion
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:10am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The aren’t powerful at all if they allow the complainees to dictate when, or if, they will choose to turn up.
    They should have gone ahead and passed their ruling.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:44am
  - kowtow
    
    and Seymour’s bill as “controversial”.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:45am
  - PurplePen
    
    They would be powerful if they went after what TPM value the most, $$$. Reduce their salary to the unemployment benefit for a month minimum. They’ll soon sit up and take notice.
    
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    April 3, 2025 5:22pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  No, it’s one more chance to turn up to the committee on the 23rd , remembering of course all parties have members on the committee, Collins says if they don’t turn up, then they face expulsion, they are not being given one more chance to behave, they are getting one more chance to face their maker
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:08am
Ra Henare

I miss the original byline for Kiwiblog.
If memory serves.???

“”Fomenting mischief since 2003″”

Sadly, IMHO the blog has become less mischief and more droning commenters who keep rattling on, as tho their opinion matters.

And yes I comment from time to time and yes I have some drones I keep flying, usually triggered by misinformation or ignorance.

But am like the 37 other addicts here. It helps start my day and from time to time gives me information I dont find anywhere else.
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April 3, 2025 8:23am
- Mike
  
  Totally agree. Some combination of DPF’S shift towards conservatism and the fairly strict moderation is responsible, I suspect. Less scope for the entertaining nutters, like stephieboy or Ugly Truth, along with frank racists like Maggie Pie.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:02am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Maggie Pie wasn’t racist. She was very good at winding people up and taking the piss, and many of her targets didn’t get it.
    She is too bright to be racist.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:38am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Alot of people have no sense of humour in NZ
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:34pm
      - muzled
        
        As proven by the two downticks…
        
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        April 3, 2025 3:42pm
Cassandra

Parliament‘S Privileges Committee has sensibly postponed its hearing on the haka issue until 23 April. Presumably “the little weasel” will then be available so the Maori Party will have no excuse not to attend. It’s an interesting development in our Constitution. The more they seperate the clearer the issue becomes. And the result. Yes or No? This is not going to end well but at least the issue is in the open. Stiffen the sinews! Summon up the blood!
”
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April 3, 2025 8:24am
- cmm
  
  I see TPM are deciding to hold their own “alternative Privileges Committee”.
  
  “Waititi said the party would convene an alternative hearing on May 7.”
  
  So they have decided the procedures of parliament do not apply to them.
  
  I suggest taking it a step further:
  * Leave the white man’s parliament you detest so much.
  * Raise your own taxes.
  * Fund your own parliament.
  
  Let people choose whether they live in the TPM world or New Zealand.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/watch-te-pati-maori-expected-to-speak-to-media-after-privileges-committee-hearing/4RZVY2IRXZHGRNFKJYLGAUPMYI/
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:36am
  - AitchW
    
    These people really are just playing at being adults aren’t they?
    They misbehave, then when they’re called out for their behaviour they sulk and play make believe.
    For a people who once were warriors they really have become a joke.
    
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    April 3, 2025 8:40am
  - pdm
    
    I suggest now is the time to abolish the Maori Seats because Maori Leadership does not appreciate them or Parliamentary conventions here.
    https://nominister.wordpress.com/2025/04/03/now-is-the-time-to-abolish-the-maori-parliamentary-seats/
    
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    April 3, 2025 8:40am
    - cmm
      
      Do you really think that Luxon has the balls for that?
      
      The Maori Roll should have been done away with on 19 December 1879. On that day universal male suffrage was introduced and there was no longer any justification for a special deal for Maori.
      
      Here we are almost 150 years later and no government of any stripe has tackled the issue. I very much doubt Luxon is the man to do so.
      
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      April 3, 2025 8:46am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        If it costs one possible vote, Luxon will stay sitting on the fence.
        
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        April 3, 2025 9:46am
      - rockape
        
        One of Luxon’s mistakes is he keeps thinking that the middle ground will win the next election for him. His target market are soft Labour and soft Greens. However he is losing the strong right of his party and they now have other homes to go to in ACT and NZ first. In the days of John Key you voted National or you risked a left wing government as we learnt in 2017. That’s no longer the case and he will learn that lesson in 2026. I still think the right will win, but. ,it will be a right wing government the likes of which we hav not seen. I suspect National will get fewer votes than Labour but will be part of the Government with a ratio of 25% of the vote but. ACT /NZ First getting 30%. The policies to come out of that may be very good for NZ and hopefully a lesson for the National party that trying to be soft right and sucking up to the Green/Maori parties just isn’t in the best interests of NZ.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:21am
      - AitchW
        
        Rockape, does it matter whether the right votes for ACT or National? They’re natural bedfellows so a vote for one is a vote for the other!
        A vote for NZF is a lottery, Winston will go with whoever offers the brightest baubles.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:28am
      - pdm
        
        Tom I don’t see any contribution from Wayne Mapp anywhere.
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:29am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Why should he? Peters is the man that said abolishing the Māori seats will be a bottom line, what happened? he had the one chance to say we have a mandate but failed at first hurdle
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:52am
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Wayne Mapp has probably finally joined the Labour Party increasing the average IQ of both parties or however it goes.
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:53am
      - Michael Sommerville
        
        They should have been abolished when MMP was introduced as recommended by the electoral commission, but another National PM (Bolger) didn’t have the balls then either.
        
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        April 3, 2025 1:28pm
    - G152
      
      Then those in the racist party will have to answer to men and women on the street for killing the representation they have long worked for and enjoyed
      
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      April 3, 2025 8:47am
    - David Garrett
      
      Pdm: that bird has flown mate. In 2008 both ACT and the Nats had abolition ofthe racist seats as policy. Instead of doing that Key got in bed with the MP.
      
      Abolition willnever happen.
      
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      April 3, 2025 8:51am
      - rockape
        
        I agree if National has all the power in a coalition . However if I am right and National don’t have 50% of the seats in the next right wing coalition then that could change.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:24am
      - Tom Hunter
        
        At the link PDM provides you may be interested in comments that Wayne Mapp has made about that period. He’s very pleased at how you all got shafted.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:59am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        It was Peters who stated he would have a bottom line at abolishing the maori seats, what happened?
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:55am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    If they leave there is no more “gravy train” from Ngati Pakeha.
    Waititi knows this.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:09am
    - cmm
      
      They keep pushing and whitey keeps giving more. There is no apparent end to the gravy train.
      
      All the people on the Maori Roll are already activists. Doubly so if they vote TPM. More pushing whitey around only enhances their position with their core audience.
      
      They are incentivized to keep pushing. There are no down sides – just up sides.
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:26am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Well, if they are thrown out of parliament then they won’t get in on the 7th
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:11am
- Jethrod
  
  Was that haka truly done on the 14 November 2024, now only 5 months ago, FIVE MONTHS, and the POWERFUL privileges committee is just getting around to assembling to judge a disgraceful moment in the history of the NZ Parliament.
  Oh they have also had an extended break for Xmas/New Years holidays but!…….
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:37am
- Inandout
  
  Cass, I always remember Soper referring to this body as the ‘powerful Priviliges Committee’, presumably something that MPs lived in fear of. This has apparently proved to be false.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:41am
- Raphael
  
  As I have said on other platforms, the solution is simple. MPs who refuse to front up to the Privileges Committee should be suspended without pay until such a time as they are prepared to behave like adults.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:42am
  - Swifty
    
    I agree.
    
    I’ve said before, the Haka didn’t ruffle me particularly, but the Privileges Committee is another matter.
    
    Time to get tough. Play by the rules or suffer the consequences.
    
    Here they are saying they won’t follow Parliament’s rules and conventions, they refuse to acknowledge them or be bound by them – but at the same time they want to stuff Maori tikanga in seemingly every facet of NZ society and for all of us to be bound by and follow!
    
    As I say, time to get tough – but I think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.
    
    The major parties will fold and accomodate this latest TPM tantrum is my pick.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:08am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘I’ve said before, the Haka didn’t ruffle me particularly’
      
      They ignored , deliberately , premeditatedly the Speaker and all the conventions and rules of the House, not to mention downright rude and aggressive.
      
      This from the very people who make such a virtue of everyone else “respecting” their rules /culture .
      
      It didn’t ruffle me , but it was/is outrageous behaviour , especially in the context of the highest court in the land .
      If they had pulled that stunt in a court of law the judge could have had them locked up , pronto.
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:56am
      - Swifty
        
        All fair points kowtow.
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:41am
  - RoboRob
    
    When it is an entire party refusing, the party should also be fined and have its funding dropped. Remember TPM is using our money to hire an expensive lawyer, something most members never do.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:21am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      NO point finning them, they will do what Māori in courts do and simply not pay the fine
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:15am
      - RoboRob
        
        I dont mean a fine. I mean they get given less money for their parliamentry expenses (you know the account thats paying for their lawyer)
        
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        April 3, 2025 11:44am
  - cmm
    
    Should be – certainly.
    But that isn’t how it is and it would quite likely be a huge problem to change the rules.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:28am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    And that’s what Collins the chair of that committee said yesterday is a possibility if they don’t turn up, let’s guess, labour greens snd TPM will want them to have another chance
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:13am
- kowtow
  
  And no doubt when it does convene there’ll be some acknowledgement of ti or ki something or other .
  
  Slowly , slowly catchee monkey.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:58am
- RoboRob
  
  Was it sensibly postponed? TPM has had months of notice of this event, they have waited until the last minute to hire an expensive ‘lawyer’ with our tax payers money. They then demand we change the ‘court’ date to suit them. They demand to all appear together, rather then individually.
  
  In the real world, if you have a court date you have to appear. In the real world if your lawyer cant make it you either get another one or your lawyers colleague attends. In the real world you follow the procedures of the court and if you don’t you are held in contempt.
  
  By allowing the Maori party to set the date and the process parliament is letting them run it. The committee should have declined their request. Especially with them making a mockery of the ‘solemn’ process by running their own kangaroo court.
  
  As a side note, this is all just a totally waste of time and money. The outcome is already known, TPM will be held in breach of parliamentary procedure. They will have to apologise, for which they will issue a ‘snide’ apology. Any other ‘penalty’ will either not be enforced or paid by the tax payer. In the mean time TPM gets a pile of media coverage and we pay for expensive lawyers (which non TPM people haven’t tended to use). TPM will do this all again next year. Parliament has allowed TPM to treat it and the tax payer as suckers.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:08am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It was t postponed, they sat yesterday and agreed to give them one more chance to turn up
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:16am
  - pdm
    
    `TPM will do this all again next year.’
    
    New Zealand and New Zealanders should be so lucky.
    
    If they get away with this they will offend again before the end of Winter and more likely on a more regular basis to impinge and hamper the good functioning of Parliamentary processes.
    
    Effectively civil unrest in the Parliamentary Chamber. The two leaders have intimated as much in the last few days.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:47am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    They will start doing this sort of thing more often as they know they will receive no punishment. It will get worse. Human nature, they will get away with more and more if not stopped.
    
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    April 3, 2025 2:46pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Since when does the scheduling of the Parliament Privileges Committee defer to the diary of Chris Finlayson?
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:47am
  - kowtow
    
    Deep State.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:08am
  - RoboRob
    
    When the party before the committee is brown.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:16am
  - Cassandra
    
    Good question but a delay avoids a seperate battle. This way the PC concentrates on the main issue.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:22am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Im not sure, but i think Finlayson may well have certain stands applied to him via the committee being an ex pm, i think he is virtually impotent, they showed that the memo to TPM MPs did not ban them from having council, but when each person is being interviewed each MP must be present and watch, so there is not suggestion of secrecy , and the council can not intervene when they are interviewed
    
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    April 3, 2025 1:35pm
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: I see you have adopted my term for Finlayson…Oh how I hope it will catch on!
  
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  April 3, 2025 2:00pm
- I remember when
  
  Should we meet on the 2nd or the 3rd?
  I know let’s make it the 23rd.
  
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  April 3, 2025 4:08pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Who remembers Julian and Sandy from “Round the Horne”?

They spoke in Polari at times – the underground Gay language.

It seems Polari fell into decline as Julian and Sandy began to reveal it to the general public.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

or maybe as times changed, a new cant lexicon developed, based on portmanteaux and emojis.
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April 3, 2025 8:25am
cmm

Shocker! You hand over CC details to your kid and it gets out of control.
Why the hell would anyone do that?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360638413/mums-credit-card-shock-after-son-unwittingly-spends-6700-popular-online-game-roblox
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April 3, 2025 8:25am
- Keith White
  
  The epitome of Evolution in Action.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:34am
- septic skeptic
  
  In effect she says “I’m so ANGRY. What safeguards do Apple have that my son isn’t using the credit card number that I gave him.”
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:41am
- MCōs
  
  If the mother had ‘handed over CC details to her kid’ and effectively told him to go for it Apple wouldn’t be refunding the money.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:59am
  - RoboRob
    
    You made me read Stuff!
    
    A terrible article, missing all the important data that might show the issue is with the parent.
    
    Apple does not own Roblox, therefore Apples involvement must resolve around a service such as Apple pay. The mother must have authorised a payment and selected ‘store card details’ or some such on the roblox site.
    
    She didn’t set spend limits, she chose to allow future payments. Not sure how this is Apples fault asside from a PR issue.
    
    Also, her kid isn’t fucking stupid. He knew he was paying.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:14am
  - cmm
    
    If the mother had ‘handed over CC details to her kid’
    She did. She is not disputing that.
    
    The only thing being disputed is that it was apparently not clear to the kid when the purchases were happening.
    
    Apple have only refunded about half.
    
    These platforms have parental controls that prevent in-app purchases without approval. She chose not to use them.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:18am
    - Interested Party
      
      Apple Pay is just an authentication tool to use your credit card, it can be used on almost any website. It’s only really an Apple thing if the purchases are for Apple products (apps, games etc)
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:33am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Stupid people are often surprised by outcomes of their own stupidity.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:00am
- RichardF
  
  Online gaming can be very complicated. As a parent I’ve spent many hours locking down things with password, 2FA etc but you can still miss things. Most apps require a credit card number and you need to be vigilant that purchase approvals are not auto enabled. E.g. my son purchased a subscription to Prime because I missed a pin setting on one of our many devices. The companies are usually pretty good about it. We’re were able to cancel the membership and get a refund. Then I ensured the pin was set and I have to approve every purchase now. It’s a minefield!
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:05am
  - cmm
    
    Why do you allow your kids into this mess?
    
    Online gaming is as addictive as many drugs. I doubt you’d give your kid P to get them out of your hair for an hour or two. Why give them games.
    
    Likely answer: “but everyone does it”.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:51am
    - RichardF
      
      There’s nothing inherently wrong with ‘gaming’. I have gamed since the mid 80s and it hasn’t negatively impacted my life. It’s all about balance. My son plays 5 sports. He is allowed to play video games as long as he has done his sports and been active today. We sometimes play video games together. The problem comes with in game purchases which is why locking down purchases with parental controls is necessary.
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:16am
    - mw
      
      I let my kids game, not because everyone does it, but because I don’t see the problem with it. I am over 50 and gaming was very much a thing when I was their age. I can only go by my experience and it was good to have that experience to see if they get to that occasional frustrating moment and move them on to something else. Not much different in many other tasks like math homework or other hobbies where sometimes you have to take a break and come back to it later.
      I wouldn’t let my kids sit all day and only game but when they are at sport a few times a week, doing the things they need to do then they can play on the computer as well.
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:36am
    - cmm
      
      I allowed my kids to play games, including one or two games that were charged for, but they used a debit card – not a CC.
      
      I did warn them of the addictive nature of games and then let them participate (I used the same rationale as with alcohol – warned them that alcoholism runs in the family so be bloody careful).
      
      One of my sons spent a summer working as an intern programmer for a games company and came back completely disgusted by their practices. The do everything possible to make the games addictive.
      
      Both still play games, but know what to look for and avoid certain styles of games with the worst addictive features.
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:30pm
- sirknz
  
  Am I the only one who is checking their accounts at least daily? I don’t like being caught short when making a purchase.
  
  I also have alerts on my banking app so that whenever a transaction is made, I am notified. I know when my wife makes a payment anywhere, she knows when I do. If it is an unexpected day or time for a payment to be made, I take a look and see what she has purchased.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:29am
  - graham
    
    Not quite daily, but every two or three days.
    
    Also, my wife and I have a credit card with a relatively low limit for making online purchases. If anything does go awry then worst case scenario is we’ll lose $900 and no more.
    
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    April 3, 2025 12:15pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  She should be grateful that she has been refunded about 1/2 of it. Think of the rest as a learning cost.
  
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  April 3, 2025 2:58pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.25am, just the two bikes today.

A cool, calm, damp morning in the Capital, not bad for cycling.
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April 3, 2025 8:26am
- imalwaysright
  
  Was there ever a demand for bike parking at a destination on a hill?
  Either way the bike has to be ridden up the hill and there aren’t many bicyclists keen on doing that.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:21am
- Taieri
  
  A cool, calm, damp morning in the Capital, not bad for cycling.
  ——-
  
  That’s why there are only two bikes in the rack. The rest of them are on the road.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:24am
  - cas
    
    You must be kidding. In 2 trips to Wellington in the last 2 months I have seen bugger all cyclists. A few round Courtenay Place and virtually none in the suburbs. And I even discovered in Kilbirnie there are pedestrian crossings for cyclists right beside the crossing for those walking! Who thought that was a good spend?
    
    Coming back to the Bay of Plenty, cycleways in both the Mount and Ohope are white lines with the odd cyclist symbol on them. Much cheaper and there are loads more cyclists up here than down in Wellywood.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:20am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Apparently, in Wellington, there are about 5% of commuters who have the ability to commute by bicycle.
      We should count our blessings that there aren’t 6%…. the cycle lanes would be 20% wider and 20% longer.
      
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      April 3, 2025 11:43am
  - PurplePen
    
    No serious precipitation from the river of rain then?
    
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    April 3, 2025 5:34pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Tariffs don’t work they screamed.
“The doubters will keep whining, but real Americans will keep winning.”

https://politicalactionalerts.com/trumps-new-tariffs-spark-auto-manufacturing-boom-and-job-growth/?
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April 3, 2025 8:44am
- herb1
  
  Hyundai open new plant within months of Trumps victory.
  Amazing how fast Hyundai make multi billion dollar decisions, buy and settle for land, get planning approval, get manufacturing plant made and hire staff . We could all learn a lot from them as others would take years to achieve all the above
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:48am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Try that in NZ and you will experience a decades long world of pain, frustration, and financial ruin….and that’s just the RMA, wait till the councils, the unnions and the Iwi get their snouts in the trough.
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:55am
    - MCōs
      
      Apart from anything else Hyundai would never open a factory in NZ. There’s not a large enough domestic market and we could never compete with countries elsewhere, which is what Trump is trying to do by tilting the scales.
      We went through all that years ago, but outrageous prices sorted that out
      
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      April 3, 2025 4:49pm
  - Lance
    
    With at least 30% of the parts and materials for the cars needing to be imported (and now tariffed), how is this going to lead to cheaper cars?
    Or will more expesive cars the new norm in the USA?
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:26am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Taniwhas and taongas are less of an issue in America I think.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:55am
- Mike
  
  Some manufacturing will relocate to the US, no one doubts that. Whether that is worth the extra cost imposed on American consumers is very much in question. Also, as other counties impose retaliatory tariffs, all prices can be expected to rise worldwide, with a consequent reduction in economic activity overall.
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:55am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They put up a list of businesses relocating on Fox last night. There was a list of about 20 companies and even investment from countries, hardly a few, each company was talking in the 200s of billions, Saudi Arabia were moving from half a trillion down to more than a trillion
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:33am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Most targeted countries already have tariffs on USA goods – some, like Canada, at 250% on dairy.
    Everyone screaming at Trump, but mosy of them are hypocrites.
    We actually have 10% tariffs on many USA goods, which is the same that Trump has tariffed NZ goods.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:01am
    - rangitoto
      
      The 250% is only for above agreed quota.
      
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      April 3, 2025 11:54am
    - Hard Cheese
      
      That 250% dairy tariff is only levied if US exports reach a certain threshold, and the US is nowhere near reaching that threshold.
      
      Trump correctly noted that Canada has tariffs exceeding 250% on some US dairy products. However, he falsely claimed that merely “the first little carton of milk” exported to Canada faces a “very low price,” but “then it gets up to 275, 300%.”
      
      In reality, Canada has guaranteed that tens of thousands of metric tons of imported US milk per year, not merely a single carton, will face zero tariffs at all; Canada conceded a certain guaranteed level of tariff-free US access to its dairy market as part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump’s own first administration negotiated.
      
      Trump also didn’t mention something the US dairy industry acknowledges: The US is not hitting its zero-tariff maximum level of exports to Canada in any category of dairy product, so the Canadian tariffs aren’t being applied; with regard to milk in particular, the US isn’t even at half of the tariff-free quota.
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:07pm
      - kowtow
        
        Hard cheese .
        
        Conflict of interest ?
        
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        April 3, 2025 2:11pm
- kowtow
  
  Ti Meedia and huge parts of the Wokeratti are spending an awful lot of time and effort on the economic fallout and consequences of Trump , Trump, Trump.
  
  While Net Zero and its myriad attendants continue to merrily sabotage all around it.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:18am
- Yabster
  
  Just listening to a bit of Trumps speech- whether you luv him or hate him he’s entertaining and a good speaker- he mentioned a lot of figures around other countries tariffs- some very high. Also mentioned Aussie beef. Imagine Biden trying to get through a speech like that- it would be farcical.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:26am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Are his claims about other countries’ tariffs true or BS?
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:40am
    - Lance
      
      The answer is not simple. Some tariffs from other countries appear high but only apply AFTER the tariff free quota is exceeded.
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:56am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        The US does not have proper trade deals so I assume they pay the full tariffs, they do as far as Canadian tariffs on cars, and Europe has huge tariffs on most countries
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:40am
      - RoboRob
        
        Quotas, which the US and especially the EU love, are the other side of the story. It’s all well and good for the EU to have no tariff on, say dairy, but instead have a quota of 10 tons.
        
        I would like to know if there is any truth to Trumps claim that NZ has a 20% tariff on US goods. Sounds highly unlikely.
        
        The claim that he has added GST into that make his claim is ‘interesting’. NZ producers must charge GST, putting the price up, but they can claim back the GST on all costs. US producers must charge GST but cant claim GST back on their costs, however they don’t have GST on their costs if goods are made out of NZ. I wonder if Trump or his advisors understand the process of GST or if they are just using it as an excuse.
        
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        April 3, 2025 10:58am
      - Lance
        
        @G
        That high tariff after the quota is exceeded especially applies to milk (and other dairy products) into Canada.
        It has been implied the tariff is 250% (or whatever) for every drop of milk, and that is not true.
        In fact the quota is never exceeded.
        
        https://www.factcheck.org/2025/04/trumps-misleading-claim-on-canadian-dairy-tariffs/
        
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        April 3, 2025 12:24pm
    - Yabster
      
      no idea- sure the “fact checkers” will be on the ball- but let’s face it the fact checkers normally have an agenda- he also mentions non-monetary tariffs are factored in- whatever that means- NZ 10% – says we charge 20% – Mr Google says 1.5%.
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:57am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Of course they are true, Europe has tariffs on every import, Canada the place for the anti Musk wars have had 30% tariffs on US car imports for decades, they built those car plants near the Canadian border for a reason, since the tariffs, car companies have ripped over.
      
      Australia has been slapped with 25% tariffs on beef because they have barred US beef from the US. I think all countries are able to send meat products here, but no country bothers, I think we take some US pork, and we don’t charge them tariffs
      
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      April 3, 2025 10:39am
    - PurplePen
      
      Yes. It’s not as if he has to remember anything. He just makes it up as he goes if need be.
      
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      April 3, 2025 5:36pm
  - kowtow
    
    Or if it was a Green , it could be faecical.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:00am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, green is the colour of bull faeces
      
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      April 3, 2025 11:04am
    - PurplePen
      
      Elephant dung is green. Great big logs of the stuff.
      
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      April 3, 2025 5:37pm
  - AitchW
    
    I uderstand that Aussie refuses to allow US beef into the country on biosecurity grounds.
    Just like they did with our apples for years and years to keep fireblight out.
    Only we’ve never had fireblight.
    Aussie is definitely not above imposing non tariff trade barriers.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:34am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They will suggest the US are banned because of foot and mouth, that is not present in the states, it is in south America, so Aussie can play the word salad game as well
      
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      April 3, 2025 1:38pm
- Greenheart
  
  I look forward to Steve explaining the benefits to New Zealand paying 10% tariffs on its exports to Trumpland. Go on. Tell us
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:51am
  - Mike
    
    Steve presumably welcomes damage to NZ businesses coz ‘Merica.
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:06am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Are there really, truly people who STILL believe that tariffs are paid by the exporting country?
    
    They’re not. They’re paid by the importer, with the cost passed on to the end consumer. It undoubtedly hurts the exporter, by reducing demand in the importing country, but the main cost falls on consumers in the US. New Zealand companies reliant on selling into the US should by now be well into the search for and development of alternative markets
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:17am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It was 20% but we got a 10% reduction because we don’t have reciprocal tariffs, that 10% can now be worked on over a trade deal which he seems to want.
    
    We sent a huge amount of beef to the US last year, they have beef farmers, but not enough to supply the US fully, so it maybe that some of this tariff can be worked off with quota over and above the US requirements
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:44am
  - RoboRob
    
    Correction.
    It will be Americans paying 10% extra for NZ goods, assuming NZ suppliers dont drop their price. NZ doesn’t pay the tariff. NZ probably loses sales instead.
    
    Look for sharp increases in inflation in the US and probably a pull back from tariffs becuase of it.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:01am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      That figure and the 2% in the KB article are bullshit, many have no tariffs, but also many have 10-20% tariff, this averaging the tariff over everything is not real either
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:01pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    I thought NZ Aluminium always had a tariff on it when exported to the US. It is ingots I think. With steel I am not sure what is happening. Glenbrook was down to producing sheet only.
    Other goods like dairy and meat also had tariffs afaik.
    More like a media beatup.
    
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    April 3, 2025 12:10pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Soon there will be no dairy, beef, lamb, or wool. The Greens want farming shut down.//
      
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      April 3, 2025 12:11pm
      - sirknz
        
        Some of them seem to want all the bussy they can get…
        
        6 1
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        April 3, 2025 1:10pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        And so do Labour and the Greens
        
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        April 3, 2025 1:40pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Those tariffs are on since the first Trump term, and not dropped by Hollier than thou Biden, we don’t have aluminium here, its owned by Australin companies and a tariff on them I would have thought.
      
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      April 3, 2025 1:40pm
- cmm
  
  There are multiple ways in which the playing field gets tilted and it is incorrect to just zoom in on tariffs.
  
  Tariffs, subsidies and taxes like carbon tax etc all fall into the same basic group of manipulations.
  
  It is funny to me that the same people who predict consumer costs increasing and reduction in economic activity seldom raised the same argument against subsidies and carbon taxes.
  
  Of all these things, tariffs are possibly the simplest lever to use and the most effective. They can be easily changed up and down. They are very visible.
  
  That makes them far more effective than subsidies which are hidden and over which customers have zero control.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:59am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘There are multiple ways in which the playing field gets tilted and it is incorrect to just zoom in on tariffs.’
    
    One of the targets could well be Ireland . Really low business taxes , huge incentives ;all of which pisses off their Euro “partners” bigly.
    
    Third world countries with low or no labour standards , very poor pay.
    
    Or even the likes of India and China whose factories are powered by evil fossil fuels , while idiot economies such as us ,the EU etc stymy use of same .
    
    But oh no Orange Man Bad!
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:06am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Tariffs, subsidies and taxes like carbon tax etc all fall into the same basic group of manipulations.
    
    Correct. That’s why trade negotiations, agreements and disputes are so complicated. These things are all covered, and there are processes to address any breaches.
    
    tariffs are possibly the simplest lever to use and the most effective. They can be easily changed up and down.
    
    Which is precisely why it doesn’t make sense to argue that tariffs will cause manufacturers to shift into the US. Why would you take such a huge decision in reliance on something that can be changed at any time on a whim?
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:22am
  - Interested Party
    
    Yes, for example I believe China has many mechanisms/ ways for subsidising some of its industries
    
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    April 3, 2025 10:37am
  - RoboRob
    
    Tariffs will at least initially cause inflation in the US. The US will not be able to immediately replace all foreign goods with local versions.
    
    The question for the US is if the sort term pain will be worth the long term gain.
    
    I agree subsidies are even worse. The EU is a specialist in this area. This has hurt them over the long term as their producers have relied on the subsidies and have not have the competitive pressure to improve. NZ farmers have had to compete with EU subsidised farmers. NZ farmers have become better and now the EU needs more subsidies and quotas to prevent their producers being destroyed.
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:06am
- RichardF
  
  An article in the WSJ this week highlighted how USA screw makers are benefiting from tarrifs on Chinese made screws. The problem is domestic production can’t keep up with demand at the moment. The plan or hope is that they will catch up and replace the overseas products. There were several business who spoke about increase in business as consumers switch to usa made products. Some teething problems for sure but maybe it’ll be a boom for usa manufacturing eventually.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:21am
  - kowtow
    
    When countries like the USA and Britain have lost so much industrial base that they have fallen behind their main ideological and military competitors in ship/sub/other military manufacturing then we all have a problem.
    
    This is what’s at the heart of MAGA.
    
    IMHO.
    
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    April 3, 2025 12:02pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Toy makers in the US have seen an increase in orders.
    
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    April 3, 2025 4:13pm
Bridgenag

All of a sudden I am getting comments sent direct. Help please. How do I stop them all?
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April 3, 2025 8:48am
- Raphael
  
  did you accidently tick the “Notify Me of New Posts By Email” option under the posting options?
  
  (I no idea how to turn that off, there may be a link in the email if that is the issue)
  
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  April 3, 2025 8:56am
  - Bridgenag
    
    I looked back and no sign of that. Have asked the powers that be to fix it. Probably was my fault and that looks like the most logical reason. Thanks
    
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    April 3, 2025 9:13am
    - cmm
      
      Here’s how to do it:
      Reply to any message.
      Below the window where you type in the reply there are two boxes:
      [] Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
      [] Notify me of new posts by email.
      
      Make sure those are NOT ticked.
      
      Post the comment.
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:20am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Below the “add a comment” box for new subjects there are two boxes to uncheck if they are checked.
      Otherwise, I have no idea. Maybe reset by logging out, then in again?
      
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      April 3, 2025 9:23am
Observant Octagenarian

7:15 am in Christchurch and it’s still pitch black.
Daylight saving might be great for JAFAs but it’s not for South Islanders.
It needs to finish a month earlier.
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April 3, 2025 8:51am
- Taieri
  
  It needs to finish a month earlier.
  ——–
  
  It should be done away with. There are no tangible benefits of daylight saving.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:26am
- pdm
  
  OO – or even better not start at all.
  
  There was plenty of daylight in the evenings when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:51am
- RoboRob
  
  Screw that. I would rather have the daylight savings times all year round. Would rather go to work in the dark then come home from work in the day. Also in CHCH
  
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  April 3, 2025 11:07am
fightingtemeraire

Julian and Sandy were BRILLIANT. Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick, both gay guys and absolutely hilarious.

Sailed with many gay guys and in the main they had great SOH and the banter and back chat was hilarious.
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April 3, 2025 9:12am
- Inandout
  
  fight, I worked with an ex navy guy and you may recognise some of his milder sayings.
  ‘As queer as a concrete parachute’.
  ‘Wake me up half way down in the middle’.
  ‘Damn bugger blast and dirty stoker’s overalls’.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:44am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Falling asleep in the lee of bum island is another!!!
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:46am
  - OlderChas
    
    He must have been a younger ex-sailor. Older ones used:
    “As queer as a diesel-driven deck cloth”
    “As queer as a clockwork orange”
    “Bad enough to make a Bishop burn his Bible and bang one off”
    Among others.
    The concrete parachute one was usually pre-ceded with “As much use as” – as in
    “As much use as an ashtray on a motorbike”
    “as much use as tits on a fish”
    The latter two were usually referring to an officer or other “University -trained expert”
    
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    April 3, 2025 11:50am
Quail

Had a look at the NZ parliament last night.
The single word most used in the chamber was .Maori.
Some members addressed the house in Maori .
They and their interests dominated the house last night.
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April 3, 2025 9:16am
- Mike
  
  It would indeed be strange if Māori issues were prominent in any other country.
  
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  April 3, 2025 10:08am
  - Quail
    
    Further to viewing Parliament last night. The bill on its second ( I think) reading was the “ Regulatory Systems (Primary Industries) Amendment Bill.
    This is a a Labour created and supported bill going through process supported by National. Both parties spoke in favour.
    This bill has in excess of sixty changes.
    The subject matter included two very contentious issues for rural people and more particularly farmers. These issues included change to the Walking Access bill and the Nait legislation.
    There has been huge rural unrest about both these items in the past and there are still very contentious issues remaining.
    So now both the major party’s are sorting rural folk out together.
    Where was the consultation on Private property. Land and Animals ?
    Where is the transparency ?
    
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    April 3, 2025 8:44pm
Chuck Bird

Is anyone listening to Trump on tariffs? Are his claims about other countries’ tariffs true or BS?
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April 3, 2025 9:32am
- Lance
  
  What is missing from the true picture is the USA hs positioned itself as a post manufacturing economy and more a services economy. In this respect, yes, the USA has a trade imbalance against them with manufactured goods but a massive trade surplus with services, especially digital services. The average American likes cheaper manufactured goods.
  For some odd reason this is never mentioned.
  
  Make no mistake, Europe is talking about going after this (mainly digital) services imbalance and the oligarchs are not happy. Expect more threats from Trump if this happens.
  
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  April 3, 2025 9:53am
  - cmm
    
    A lot of the USA software market has been eroded by open source software and more online services. As their earnings decrease, the reliance on debt increases.
    
    I would think USA’s biggest problem is a sense of national entitlement which causes them to think they are entitled to run up massive national and personal debt.
    
    The USA is running up $1T of debt every 100 days or so. That is putting $1k of extra money per person per month into the economy. Good luck trying to get the Americans to tighten their belts and stop that spending. It would be even harder to get them to pay anything back.
    
    9 2
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    April 3, 2025 10:06am
    - Mike
      
      Belt tightening is not going to happen. Instead, there will be the familiar sick combination of tax cuts for millionaires and ramped up military spending. The consequent debt increases will be blamed on social security entitlements.
      
      6 10
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      April 3, 2025 10:10am
      - RoboRob
        
        Have you missed the Doge project? The government apparently is on track to cut at least 1 trillion $s. Not that that will be enough.
        
        Yes, like most countries, social security entitlements are one of the governments largest expenses. The US has done a particularly bad job of managing this, with social security (and medicare) due to run out of funds in their current form by ~2030.
        
        5 4
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        April 3, 2025 11:11am
      - cmm
        
        RoboRob: Cutting a trillion from spending is a good start, but it is not going to solve anything.
        
        The federal budget is around $7T, with a $2T deficit and $3T is being funded by increased borrowing.
        
        Cutting that by $1T is not going to change the overall trajectory. They are still going to be in deficit and are still digging their hole deeper by $2T a year.
        
        That belt tightening is going to need to be extreme to prevent it getting worse – let alone paying back any of the debt.
        
        If they were to tighten their belt to live within their means it would likely result in a depression far far worse than the Great Depression.
        
        “A bit less bad” isn’t going to change anything.
        
        5 3
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        April 3, 2025 12:04pm
      - Mike
        
        I think there should be a healthy skepticism directed at savings claims from DOGE
        
        3 6
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        April 3, 2025 1:01pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        RoboRob,
        ‘Yes, like most countries, social security entitlements are one of the governments largest expenses.’
        I have seen that about 1 million have been found to be over 120 years old.
        Doesn’t happen? Of course not in the American Public Service.
        
        3 1
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        April 3, 2025 3:02pm
      - Mike
        
        Fake news, Steve.
        
        0 2
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        April 3, 2025 3:37pm
- Phronesis
  
  Most countries have tariffs. NZ still has low tariffs on a whole range of stuff. The European Union is literally a customs union. No tariffs on trade within the union, big tariffs on trade into the union.
  
  11 2
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  April 3, 2025 9:56am
- Manu-Rau
  
  I must say that I was surprised hear that we impose a 20% tariff on US goods. Can anyone else confirm this?
  
  If it’s true, and the US hasn’t been imposing tariffs on us, it makes rather a mockery of our wanting to have a free trade agreement with them.
  
  5 2
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  April 3, 2025 9:58am
  - Mike
    
    It’s not true.
    
    6 2
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    April 3, 2025 11:03am
  - cmm
    
    We impose numerous tariffs, but not 20% on US goods.
    
    There are tens of millions of megabytes of NZ tariff tables:
    https://www.customs.govt.nz/business/tariffs/working-tariff-document/
    
    4 1
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    April 3, 2025 12:06pm
    - cmm
      
      Of course it is only tens of megabytes, not tens of millions of megabytes.
      
      3 0
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      April 3, 2025 1:20pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  They’re probably true. No country exercises perfect freedom in trade, everybody uses tariffs, quotas, subsidies, dodgy quality requirements and barriers etc to some extent, though it’s far less prevalent than used to be the case and pretty minimal for many.
  
  The point is, that this has all been agreed to under the World Trade Organisation and/or other bilateral, multilateral or plurilateral agreements such as USMCA ànd the TPPA. If a member country breaks its agreements, or decides it’s no longer willing to put up with what another country is doing, there are agreed mechanisms available to address that.
  
  Abandon that, and you have anarchy. Now anarchy’s great if you are big enough and ugly enough to enforce your wishes on everybody else. Smaller, weaker players – not so much. We used to believe in the rule of law to ensure protection and fairness for them
  
  5 3
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  April 3, 2025 10:06am
  - cmm
    
    Are the tariffs really agreed through WTO or are you making that up?
    All I see is the Uruguay Round Agreement where various countries agreed to reduce tariffs. There does not seem to be any WTO negotiation on what tariffs should be.
    
    What about the shoe on the other foot: subsidies? It seems that most of the WTO controls on subsidies are rather limited.
    
    4 1
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    April 3, 2025 1:24pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      I’m not making it up, but I am heavily simplifying. The point stands that the US has abandoned the agreed multilateral rules-based approach, imperfect, patchy and incomplete as it was, in favour of an approach where it uses musclepower to get what it wants, regardless of fairness or justice. We can do nothing but hope that the rest of the world is able to work out ways of working around the US to limit the worldwide damage
      
      2 3
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      April 3, 2025 2:36pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Look it up, there is a guide to global tariffs
  
  2 2
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  April 3, 2025 10:47am
sungsamning

On Tuesday, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government about judicial overreach.

Gingrich called the unprecedented number of injunctions a potential “judicial coup d’etat” that “clearly violates the Constitution and more than 200 years of American history.”
5 2
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April 3, 2025 10:05am
- MCōs
  
  Did he say anything about the tsunami of executive orders that precipitated the injunctions?
  
  1 6
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  April 3, 2025 2:47pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Its nothing to do with those. Its to do with a bunch of lower court judges trying to stop the president. Except; they haven’t read the constitution. There can only be one president; not hundreds.
    
    4 0
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    April 3, 2025 3:47pm
  - Allan
    
    The EO’s are not of concern to the judges.
    
    The executive branch, i.e. Trump, can issue as many EO’s as he wants to carry out the will of the people that elected him on his policy.
    
    An unelected inferior court activist judge cannot interfere with the executive branch exercising its core and pleniary powers. And certainly not on a nationwide basis.
    
    The most egregious, Boasberg, has been particularly obstreperous and there is now a Congressional motion for him to be dismissed.
    
    3 0
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    April 3, 2025 5:10pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxm1Lgf94K4
Five Basic Treaty Facts Every Kiwi Should Know.
This submission transcends over all. Its the most comprehensive tangible over intangible protagonist over antagonist , reason and facts over impulse and politisized emotions weve had .
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April 3, 2025 10:05am
Swifty

The Maori Party have become so extreme in their rhetoric they are now making absolutely no sense.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EFuA89ipM/?mibextid=wwXIfr

They’ve become a joke. A parody.

Sucks to be Chris Hipkins.
16 1
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April 3, 2025 10:06am
imalwaysright

An article about Kiwirail paying $8 million to a consultancy.
Again Kiwirail CEO Peter Reidy escapes being mentioned.
Same as Peters had to go and buy him two boats, Reidy must have been busy that day…

He gets paid nearly $2 million every year, it would be good if he could explain what he does for the money.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/556958/kiwirail-s-8m-bill-for-consultants-is-unacceptable-minister
12 1
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April 3, 2025 10:07am
- rouppe
  
  Was it Peter Reidy though?
  
  Dave McLean was chair of the KiwiRail board and he had history as CEO at Westpac contracting McKinsey to completely screw the organisation.
  
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  April 3, 2025 4:48pm
rouppe

From a few days ago so maybe I missed someone mentioning it. But this is outrageous.

https://nominister.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/sadly-not-an-april-fools-joke-social-security-and-medicaid-fraud-on-a-vast-scale/
6 3
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April 3, 2025 10:07am
- Mike
  
  No one has mentioned it because it’s not true.
  
  1 2
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  April 3, 2025 3:40pm
Chuck Bird

Swarbrick throws the queers under the bus.

Mainstream media close ranks as Greens’ defence of Doyle’s sex innuendo backfires

https://centrist.nz/mainstream-media-close-ranks-as-greens-defence-of-doyles-sex-innuendo-backfires/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=3-4-2025&_kx=TSv6VCyKHjhT3-e8xydqmlpQ_i0xYQ63EyJPNNqwnu0.VYfxNg
20 2
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April 3, 2025 10:08am
- kowtow
  
  CB
  
  If it weren’t for the ‘alternative” new media this important story would never have seen the light of day .
  
  To quote Swarbrick herself ;
  “We really didn’t want this to get into the public sphere”
  
  Well of course they didn’t . WTF!
  
  Another really funny moment with the media was her correcting “senior political NZME reporter” Jason Walls on his ‘incorrect’ use of that man’s so called chosen pronouns and he actually apologising to her !
  
  WTF !
  
  18 1
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  April 3, 2025 10:33am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “To quote Swarbrick herself ;
    “We really didn’t want this to get into the public sphere””
    
    Translation: “what a pain in the arse.”
    
    Irony?
    
    16 0
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    April 3, 2025 11:22am
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      I believe it’s “pain in the bussy”
      
      17 1
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      April 3, 2025 12:02pm
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        I predict that expression will be feature prominently of X during the next election campaign. For example “The Greens are a pain in the bussy for Labour”.
        
        0 0
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        April 3, 2025 7:35pm
- AitchW
  
  Swarbrick is truly evil.
  Any group, be it rainbow, religious or political, which has a slang term for for a boy’s anus in a sexual context is truly degenerate.
  For Swarbrick to defend Boyle’s use of the term because the rainbow community uses these terms differently to the rest of us is breathakingly repugnant.
  Why do the media not, to use one of their current buzwords, “unpack” the casual way in which a word like bussy is thrown around? It’s not a cute little nickname it’s a term dreamt up by predatory paedophiles!
  
  24 2
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  April 3, 2025 10:52am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Correct Aitch.
    But this is what happens when people like C live in an echo chamber.
    None of her minions would dream of mentioning that making up fun names for raping young boys has nothing to do with the environment and actually could be seen as an acknowledgement of the legitimacy, and almost an admission of the practice, of pedophilia. Not to mention it being highly offensive to 99.999% of the population.
    C is always right because C can never be wrong…
    
    15 1
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    April 3, 2025 11:58am
    - AitchW
      
      iar, so you can see that and I can see that, which really begs the question why cannot hte media see it and, more importantly, why can they not do a bit of critique on it? (Please note that by critique I mean critical analysis, not criticism).
      
      12 0
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      April 3, 2025 12:18pm
- Yvette
  
  (Moderation, please)
  Chuck Bird – following from your link to the Centrist –
  Davidson claimed that Green MP Benjamin Doyle and his child were receiving an “immense number of death threats and abuse,” which she linked directly to the online controversy surrounding Doyle’s alt account, @BibleBeltBussy. She blamed “dangerous conspiracy thinking” and said the threats were being “amplified by Destiny’s Church and the Deputy Prime Minister.”
  
  Yet, the facts now suggest a different picture. According to RNZ reporting, there is only one death threat currently known to be officially filed with Parliamentary Services — and it is not clear if it ties to Doyle’s earlier support for puberty blockers or the controversy over his Instagram posts. According to The Platform’s Sean Plunket “Those death threats came after a speech outside Parliament where [Doyle] strongly advocated for the genital mutilation and chemical castration of children on the taxpayers’ dime.”
  https://centrist.nz/mainstream-media-close-ranks-as-greens-defence-of-doyles-sex-innuendo-backfires/?
  
  Is it ethical for the Centrist to reference the Platform and Sean Plunket regarding the “one death threat currently known to be officially filed with Parliamentary Services — and it is not clear if it ties to Doyle’s earlier support for puberty blockers or the controversy over his Instagram posts” when Sean Plunket has quite openly stated that three reliable sources have told him that Doyle is transitioning his young son to become a daughter, which vastly extends the entire issues being looked at, and deepens the gravity of the world matter, of course concerns for the child’s well-being, but also Doyle’s Early Childhood spokes-position.
  
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  April 3, 2025 11:05am
  - Yvette
    
    second last line –
    not “world matter”, but “whole matter”
    
    4 0
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    April 3, 2025 1:30pm
  - DimChappie
    
    Months ago a Kiwiblogger predicted that Ben Doyle would create big problems for the Greens “because of what he has done,” or words like that. Whoever that was, please take a bow as it has happened just like you said and there is a lot more to come. More social media content for a start.
    
    8 0
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    April 3, 2025 3:51pm
cmm

A tip for Stuff morning quiz takers:
Wildebeest does not mean “wild ox”. It means wild cattle (singular) aka beast.
An ox would be “os”, making that wildeos.
11 0
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April 3, 2025 10:20am
- kowtow
  
  Tip them into backruptcy by not going there at all.
  
  8 1
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  April 3, 2025 10:27am
  - sirknz
    
    I visit with adblockers enabled.
    
    I cost them when I visit.
    
    6 1
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    April 3, 2025 1:16pm
- pdm
  
  Thanks cmm.
  
  I got that one right and pleased with 13 correct although could have been 14 with a bit of commonsense on one answer.
  
  5 0
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  April 3, 2025 10:54am
  - Mike
    
    12 for me. The wildebeest answer was the only one that looked Dutch.
    
    3 5
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    April 3, 2025 11:07am
- Bobba Fret
  
  A good question for the Stuff quiz would be:
  “What does the term “bussy” mean?”
  
  5 0
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  April 3, 2025 3:48pm
- greybeard
  
  So cmm, pdm and mike: you are hypocrites, constantly reviling Stuff but happy to support them .
  Bad. Very bad.
  
  3 2
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  April 3, 2025 5:08pm
  - Mike
    
    I don’t revile Stuff.
    
    1 1
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    April 3, 2025 5:11pm
Surely Knott

Auckland Writers Festival.

Free Sunday 18 May 10-11 am Hunua Ro9om.

Tangata Tiriti for Te Tiriti,

“It’s a bill that has reopened a conversation about what Te Tiriti..means for all NZers and what it means to honour Te Tiriti…

The speakers:
Max Harris (Pakeha) Lawyer and Acttion station campaigner.
Avril Bell (Pakeha) editor of Becoming Tangata Tiriti.
Kirsty Fong (Chinese) co-founder of asians for tino rangatiratanga,
Shilo Kino (Ngaphui,, Ngati Te Ata, Ngati Maniapoto)

3/4 are not Maori. All are radical leftists. Sociologists and NGO activists. No one is their promoting a literal reading of the 3 articles. Ceded sovereignty, property rights and equal rights and responsibilities.
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April 3, 2025 10:42am
Swifty

An excellent presentation on the Ferguson tractors Sir Ed drove to the South Pole:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5nfFlfp4Ls&t=126s
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April 3, 2025 10:47am
- greybeard
  
  I can remember seeing one of these South Pole tractors in the late 1950s in Whangarei, at the winter Show.
  
  8 0
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  April 3, 2025 12:01pm
  - Jethrod
    
    They looked insignificant alongside the Snocats that Vivian Fuchs had, but still bet him to the Pole.
    
    2 1
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    April 3, 2025 3:41pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  I have worked on a few. Fergie 28s and 35s. The hydraulics are hard to adjust (internally) but once you understand it, it is nice and simple.
  Pump is right at the bottom so if water gets in there the pump is pumping water for a while at first.
  
  2 1
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  April 3, 2025 5:27pm
imalwaysright

What a headline.
Maybe this should be in the 7am slot.

Headline:

“Wellington trains lose 2 million annual passengers”

And from the article:

“…but the biggest decline is the almost 2 million trips that were never taken.”

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360637229/wellington-trains-lose-2-million-passengers-year
7 1
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April 3, 2025 11:28am
- greybeard
  
  When trains are cancelled for track maintenance ( it happens a lot ) are these counted as “trips not taken “?
  Do they count the replacement bus trips ?
  The Kapiti Line seems to be down every holiday, with bus replacements. Strange really, because it is one line which could be used to advantage in the summer with special services to the coast, incorporating Kapiti attractions, restaurants, markets etc .
  
  5 1
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  April 3, 2025 12:07pm
- cmm
  
  Oh well, that will just mean 2 million less subsidised tickets sold, so the taxpayer will need to cough up another $10M dollars on top of the $80M+ dollars we are already spending on subsidies.
  
  4 1
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  April 3, 2025 12:11pm
  - greybeard
    
    Fewer.
    2 million FEWER….
    ( No problem DG, happy to help ).
    
    4 0
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    April 3, 2025 5:04pm
- imalwaysright
  
  More a comment on the standard of writing.
  
  1 1
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  April 3, 2025 1:24pm
NothingLeft

For what it’s worth; AI models are now passing Turing test – the original intelligence test created for AI by Alan Turing based on whether an AI could fool a human into thinking it was human (which some models can now do) https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1jpoib5/ai_passed_the_turing_test/#lightbox
5 1
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April 3, 2025 12:02pm
- cmm
  
  Many people do not really understand the context of the Turing Test.
  
  It was never really intended as a true rigorous test (which it is not).
  
  During an interview, Turing was asked whether a computer would ever be intelligent and that of course begs the questions:
  * How would you measure intelligence?
  * At what threshold would you say a computer has reached the level to be called intelligent?
  
  Being a mathematician, Turing reached into his mathematical toolbox and pulled out one of the useful mathematical tools: Reductio ad absurdum. Then he used it in a rather whimsical fashion.
  
  Rather than try to prove that a computer is intelligent, you put forward a test to prove the opposite – that it is not intelligent which he proposed could be done by having a person (ie an intelligent being) try to tell the difference. If you can no longer show that a computer is not intelligent then you must assume the opposite – that it is intelligent.
  
  Given the setting where he proposed the test, I think it was most likely a rather flippant/whimsical answer – rather than proposing any rigorous formal test.
  
  People gravitated around this so-called “Turing Test”. Whenever someone can’t tell the difference, the computer has passed the Turing Test and voila, the computer is intelligent.
  
  I am sure this has Turing spinning in his grave (or more likely laughing his tits off).
  
  The Turing Test is bullshit because there is no rigorous definition for the test nor acceptance criterion which is really worth anything.
  
  Turing’s joke really got taken far too seriously.
  
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  April 3, 2025 12:24pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    “If you can no longer show that a computer is not intelligent then you must assume the opposite – that it is intelligent.”
    
    And there is the problem… Who is “you”?
    
    3 0
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    April 3, 2025 1:19pm
    - cmm
      
      Yup, that is part of it.
      Many people are easy to fool.
      
      There has also been a lot of effort in fake-AI to focus on fooling the Turing Test.
      
      For example, one program made a deliberate “mistake”, then after 5 seconds said “oops, I made a mistake, the correct answer is 5”.
      
      That was only done to make the program look more like a real human. It didn’t actually increase the “intelligence”.
      
      3 0
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      April 3, 2025 4:57pm
  - zulumonster
    
    I have a computer that is more intelligent than many Labour and Green supporters. To be fair, it also no longer works and sits in a back room doing nothing day after day …
    
    0 0
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    April 4, 2025 8:17am
Jack5

In a 10.12am post in the thread on media trust, a poster, DukeofAngus, gives a wrong explanation of the word “ilk”.

I move this discussion to the General Debate thread to prevent further disruption of the topic, Trust in Media.

“Ilk” is originally an English word, despite DukeofAngus’s talk of misuse by the “ignorant savages,” as he calls the English.

“Ilk” is from Old English, but’s now mainly used in Scottish English.

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:

Now Scottish, (from) Old English ilca.

A historical use:

Same, identical (1556).

Merriam Webster:

The noun ilk comes from the Old English pronoun ilca by way of a pronoun ilk that is still in use, but not in most modern English dialects. That ilk is synonymous with same, and persists chiefly in Scotland where it’s used in the phrase “of that ilk,” meaning “of the same place, territorial designation, or name.”

Not from Merriam Webster: Many linguists now say Scottish English is a distinct language as opposed to dialect, having evolved separately from southern English in Northern England and Scotland, forking notably after the Norman conquest of England.

From the etymology of “ilk” in the extensive online site Wiktionary:

Inherited from Middle English ilke, from Old English ilca, conjectured as from Proto-Germanic ilīkaz, a compound of iz and -līkaz from the noun līką (“body”).
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April 3, 2025 12:13pm
Sparrow

Is the USA not a wonderful example of democracy at work. The people have democratically elected a senile old man followed by an unhinged old man. What a wonderful representation of their people, and we think we have problems.
6 11
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April 3, 2025 1:53pm
- kowtow
  
  Oh come on , we didn’t elect a student polly , but she was enthroned by the longest running player /gamer of our system , cos he held a grudge against the leaders of the party that did win the most votes .
  
  That student politician then won the impossible , an absolute majority under MMP , because fully half our voting population loved being locked up and looked after.
  
  We really do have our problems!
  
  19 4
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  April 3, 2025 2:07pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Didn’t we give a student polly an absolute majority in 2020?
    
    0 0
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    April 3, 2025 7:19pm
    - greybeard
      
      See Para 2 above.
      
      0 0
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      April 4, 2025 7:46am
- Mod88
  
  Meanwhile NZ elected a Tyrant ably assisted by a rabble of student activists supported by a party of Communists masquerading as Environmentalists who Bankrupted the Country and did a runner.
  
  12 4
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  April 3, 2025 4:01pm
- Allan
  
  Unhinged, do tell what allows you to claim that?
  
  2 4
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  April 3, 2025 5:14pm
  - MCōs
    
    Read the papers, watch the news, listen to him speak, look at the company he keeps
    Or more accurately, look at the company that keeps him
    
    3 4
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    April 3, 2025 5:46pm
greybeard

Many “Stuff” articles now refer to “Aotearoa” with no mention of “New Zealand”.
This is known as a “death wish”.
13 4
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April 3, 2025 3:28pm
rockape

Look on the bright side ! With our Tarif being a fraction of South Africa’s or the EU we are getting a competitive edge for exporting to the USA. Hell, with our duty and gst we have an edge over keeping it here !
5 2
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April 3, 2025 3:29pm
- kowtow
  
  Maybe some more of our beef can stay in NZ and with greater supply NZ customers might even be able to afford a tiny sliver or two .
  
  At the moment the price of beef is in the luxury goods category and I’d guess the chicken farmers have jacked their prices up accordingly .
  
  2 5
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  April 3, 2025 3:48pm
  - MCōs
    
    The domestic prices of our export produce is determined by that which they sale for elsewhere
    
    4 1
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    April 3, 2025 5:44pm
Hugh Jarse

Looks like Nelson Hospital is the new school lunches for the media.
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April 3, 2025 6:16pm
surfing

So the offspring of two vicious dog breeds are not considered to be a vicious ? Because they are not pure bred ?

Finding it weird how media are playing this.
1 0
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April 3, 2025 10:28pm

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Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments
Health Target 3 – Emergency Dept Waiting Times
Health Target 2 – Immunisations

Links

Bill down but debate will continue
Hompaddock
Open mike 11/04/2025
The Standard
Down To Earth Kiwi Added To Blog List
No Minister
Good fucking riddance
No Right Turn
Winston at 80 – From righteous grievance, economic sovereignty and Conservative Charity to toxic politics, malice and political pus
The Daily Blog
German Editor Sentenced and Fined for Satirical Picture of Interior Minister
Utopia
"Erratic, ill-defined, and incoherent." And that's just the policies.
Not PC
Report presses for more resources for the Waitangi Tribunal – but there’s a case for crimping its judicial activism, too
Point of Order
The Winds of Change
NZCPR
Kiwibank Responds To Claims Of Wokeness… Badly!
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
The Comparative Notebook on Trump’s Tariffs.
Kiwipolitico
Tariff madness and monetary policy
Croaking Cassandra
TRUMP TRUMPED
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Super Rugby Predictions for Week 9
Stats Chat
Maybe allow competition?
Offsetting Behaviour
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz