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April 8, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 08 April 2025

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General Debate

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Cassandra

Mount Maunganui play centre relocates (to City Council land).

Newspaper report: “Throughout the relocation, the playcentre maintained close relationships with mana whenua from Ngāti Kuku and Ngāi Tūkairangi iwi, including collaborating with Ngātai to plan their whare whakatūwhera (opening).”

The local mosque was not represented and neither were the Anglicans or the Catholics. It’s understood that a number of atheists and possibly some heathens were present but were not invited to sing or speak.
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April 8, 2025 8:00am
- Paulus
  
  The BOP Times has embarked upon a Do Nicely campaign in an attempt to get more sales.
  Today is as you say all things nice as the Playgroup moves.
  This is the full whole front page and the next few pages are all niceies as well.
  They are daft in attempting what Mother NZME from Auckkland has told them, and many other national Herald babies, as they have and are are still, a total feminist based and left wing discrace.
  I wish my wife woud give up, what she has done form many years, the Criptic Crossword, then I can happily cancel.
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:20am
  - AitchW
    
    Plenty of online crosswords, cryptic or otherwise!
    
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    April 8, 2025 8:30am
    - Paulus
      
      Can you tell your 60 years of marriage wife what to do ?
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:04pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        You’ve been far too patient, Paulus. If you don’t put your foot down soon, it’ll get out of hand.
        
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        April 8, 2025 6:41pm
- Mark Hanley
  
  The Clark Ardern axis of evil exacted revenge on the predominately centre right voting Tauranga populace by inserting unjustified commissioners to convert roads to bike lanes, rack up enormous debt without improving citizens lives, and leave Tauranga rate payers the legacy of ever increasing rates bills.
  
  The axis of evil needn’t have bothered. Tauranga turkeys have shown they are more than capable of voting for xmas without help from the Labour Party.
  
  Remember Stuart Crosby, the CEO of LGNZ who discraced and destroyed the organisation by supporting the axis of evil agenda? The Tauranga turkeys gave him the mayoral chains for 3 terms, and they received a huge debt pile and ever increasing rates as a reward.
  
  Remember Susan Devoy. The Tauranga turkeys voted her onto the board of TECT, giving a person whose single qualification was being a good squash player, a spring board to become race relations commissioner, which like her corrosive stint on the TECT board, ended in predictable failure.
  
  And now the turkeys have voted for Mahe Drysdale, whose only success has been paddling a boat fast….
  
  Jacinda should stand for Tauranga Mayor at the next local body election.
  
  The Tauranga turkeys will probably vote her in!
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:38am
  - David Garrett
    
    Mark: Jacinda should stand for Tauranga Mayor at the next local body election.
    
    The Tauranga turkeys will probably vote her in!
    
    Quite so…but the Dame has much better paying gigs in front of her than the mayoralty of Tauranga.
    
    I entered parliament the same year as Cindy, 2008. During my short career, I had a bit to do with her. There was absolutely nothing to suggest that that pleasant enough but not very bright youngish woman would end up as PM or commading USD200,000 for speeches. Such are the vagaries of life.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:21am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      David… my turkey analogy explains it all.
      
      I’ve been meaning to ask…. What’s the weather like in Tonga this time of year? I’m arriving on the 5th May to chase a few fish around.
      
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      April 8, 2025 9:51am
      - S Groos
        
        Interesting – noted.
        
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        April 8, 2025 1:37pm
    - waitakereman
      
      Lol no fan of adern but you have done way way worse!
      
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      April 9, 2025 12:59pm
  - Frank the tank
    
    Pretty sure Anne Tolley was involved. Was Tolley part of the axis of evil?
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:34am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      Perhaps the KB Tauranga ratepaying community would like to answer that one.
      
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      April 8, 2025 11:06am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Who appointed the dreadful Susan Devoy as Race Relations Kommissar? It wasn’t the “Clark-Ardern axis of evil”.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:39am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      The public service appointed her….
      
      It would not be unreasonable to include the unabashedly Labour supporting public service in the axis of evil.
      
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      April 8, 2025 11:10am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        You mean John Key didn’t have any say in the matter?
        
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        April 8, 2025 12:31pm
  - NK
    
    Drysdale rowed his skiff. He didn’t paddle a boat.
    
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    April 8, 2025 10:08am
    - alwyn.a
      
      He also went exclusively backwards. Just as he seems to be doing in his new job.
      
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      April 8, 2025 10:14am
    - David Garrett
      
      NK: I thought I was the resident KB pedant!
      
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      April 8, 2025 10:44am
      - Don Beckett
        
        It appears you have competition/co-management , David.
        
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        April 8, 2025 10:53am
      - alwyn.a
        
        I think we would have to say that KB is in Wellington. Since you are in Tonga I believe wouldn’t a pedant have to describe you as being the expatriate KB pedant rather than the resident one?
        
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        April 8, 2025 10:53am
      - pdm
        
        DB – two Actoids as well.
        
        As a fellow ACT voter and supporter I am concerned about this move to co-pedants – lol.
        
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        April 8, 2025 11:30am
  - Paulus
    
    Remember all three MPs in Tauranga and surrounding two are National Party MPs so what can you expect from the media all the time.
    The Mahuta Commissioners set that Maori are to be everything and still are, despite our good local MPs, disliked by many local feminist left wing pakeha.
    And of course the so called local feminist run media.
    
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    April 8, 2025 1:10pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  By law if the council land is to be built on privately they must first give iwi first rights, so I would have thought that was straight forward, it’s not co-governance if that’s what you are trying to suggest, it is working with iwi to make sure the private business secures the land, we might not like it but it’s law
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:05am
  - kowtow
    
    Bad law can and should be changed.
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:18am
  - Cassandra
    
    G: nothing to do with co-governance, it’s the ceremony to open the play centre. Cold makes me a bit slow too.
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:30am
    - Paulus
      
      Why invite anybody else, as some koha will suffice, for any opening, with lots of mumbo jumbo caled prayers.
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:12pm
  - Graeme Hall
    
    The real question is who put that law into effect. It wasn’t gifted to us by the Gods. There is no rational reason why one group who claim a certain tribal heritage in their DNA should be consulted/ameliorated over and above any other person in a Western democracy.
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:31am
  - Quail
    
    GG.
    Your comment re who gets the first option on Government land is correct. Very sorry to learn this has percolated through to Local Government.
    This law is unabashedly racist.
    
    One country one people ? ?
    
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    April 8, 2025 3:27pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  Some random thoughts and observations.
  1. Americans should be asking why their 401Ks are tanking including US stocks. If the tariffs are so good logic says US stocks should be rising in anticipation of all the wealth those companies will create.
  2. IMHO we are in the early phases of WW3. Unlike the previous two this is a trade war between the US and China with the rest of world drawn in. Unless one or other or both reach a truce we are headed for a recession followed by a depression.
  
  3. AOC is tipped to be a front runner for the Dems at the next election. By then unless the trade war is settled she could become the first woman of color to be President. She is at the opposite end of the political spectrum to Trump so expect another slew of Executive Orders causing disruption.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:14am
  - bennerg
    
    I cannot understand why people seem to expect the changes in the USA to magically produce the desired effect on day one. As a builder Trump knows that when you build a building, you first dig a hole to establish the foundations, on which you then create your edifice.
    
    As many commentators have explained, the US economy is severely in debt with a hug trade deficit, and to make a change drastic action is called for. Trump really only has four years (ignore the trolling about a 3rd term… the apprenctice will be ready by then, he’s doing pretty OK already!) and so he needs to move fast.
    
    The tribal nature of American politics means that there will be many wanting to see Trump fail (rather than America win), and I’m sure many will bite off their noses to spite their face to do so. So I’m ignoring the nay sayers, the Democratic Party shrills filling the headlines, including the stock market stats, as I do not believe they truly reflect what the American people as a whole are truly seeing and feeling.
    
    Fixing the trade deficits will take a while, but I would suggest we look at the situation in three months, not three days. China is the biggie, and I’m sure the fact China needs the USA will see some progress on that in the not distant future.
    
    Our desire for instant gratification seems to make us want a magical wand to make it all better today, rather than do the hard yards and work through the mess created by decades of incompetence.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:50am
    - malc
      
      Interesting article in today’s Guardian(!) suggesting that Trump’s tariff war could end in victory. It referenced Volker’s interest rate policy in the ‘80s which also led to short term damage, local and global outrage and stock markets meltdowns. Within two years the US was booming, inflation and interest rates were historically low and stock markets at their highest level for years.
      Remember that the primary purpose of economic forecasts is to make astrologers look good.
      
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      April 8, 2025 12:22pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Actually, Trump only has 22 months effectively. ie until the mid-terms when he may lose republican hold on congress.
      
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      April 8, 2025 4:51pm
  - Scott
    
    Lastmanstanding – to take your points in order.
    The markets are down but then again they could well recover once the news of major announcements by car companies and the EU is digested. Car companies are expanding production in the USA because cars built in the USA will not be tariffed. The EU is offering reciprocal zero % tariffs to the USA. So I expect the markets will recover. Under Trump’s first term the stock market boomed.
    
    Secondly there is not going to be World War 3 and a depression. America is led by a president who projects strength and no one is going to take him on. Remember that in Trump’s first term he started no wars and Putin didn’t invade anybody.
    
    Only your comments about AOC make a modicum of sense. She has an appeal but given the track records of Hillary and Kamala’s unsuccessful runs for the presidency I suspect the democrats will nominate a man next time?
    
    I would respectfully suggest it’s all going to work out great. There’ll be no new wars during Trump’s second term, the stock market will recover, the US economy will boom with jobs flowing back into the country and the Democrats will nominate a man for the presidency. All as it should be.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:52am
    - Paulus
      
      Non Americans do not buy American vehicles as most are total crap against say Japanese and European quality ones.
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:14pm
      - Scott
        
        Paulus – well I see lots of Ford Rangers on the road. People buy them.
        Presumably the ones made in Michigan are just as good as the ones made in Thailand and South Africa?
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:04pm
      - Colville
        
        Absolute rubbish.
        The huge Dodge and Ford urges, the Jeep 4wds and of course the Two door sports cars all have solid followings.
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        New Zealand’s ford imports are made in Thailand. The phev version will be made in South Africa.
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:37pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Twice to Alaska and I have never seen so many Dodge Rams in one place.
        Sure there are Chevs and Fords. Very few Toyotas, mostly Highlanders, no Land Cruisers. A few small Japanese cars like KIA. Those are for the grannies.
        Host Families had two Rams between them. Late models with 5.7L or 6.2L petrol engines. 9 speed Automatics.
        Everywhere!!
        
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        April 8, 2025 3:06pm
      - RichardX
        
        Is Scott referring to the Australian developed T6 Ford Ranger?
        The one that was introduced to the US from Australia as the US developed F150 was not selling internationally?
        
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        April 8, 2025 11:29pm
  - Handyman
    
    Wall Street is not the US. Wall Street can tank and the US does well.
    If companies bring their manufacturing back to the US and pay good wages (no illegals or Chinese slave labour) then their profits will reduce. Therefore their share price should go down.
    Meanwhile middle America has bountiful well paid jobs with low taxes. They can work on smaller cities/towns with naturally better social cohesion.
    
    This week’s news has 228,000 jobs being created, 300,000 illegal crims exported, inflation and interest rates down and Dow back to the levels of last year. All going to plan I would say.
    
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    April 8, 2025 10:16am
    - Quail
      
      To those talking US Vehicles note that they are pretty much all left hand drive, which does not fit well in NZ.
      Once they were imported CKD ( completely knocked down) which meant they were assembled here with right hand drive. .
      No facility’s for that remain, so US. made vehicles will be substantially more expensive in NZ than the same models sourced from Asia etc.
      Australia may also have regrets about getting rid of its auto industry!
      
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      April 8, 2025 6:07pm
  - rockape
    
    By the end of Trumps term the Dow will be at $50,000 a $33% increase from now. Remember you heard it first here.
    
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    April 8, 2025 12:25pm
    - Bridgenag
      
      Who cares Just gambling for the rich folk
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:07pm
      - Interested Party
        
        Well most middle class have investments in share funds, so it does impact the average person.
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:06pm
  - JerJer
    
    Laughable. AOC is more toxic that Chippie or Chloe. None of these three will ever lead a country (in Chippies case again, but he was never elected). If AOC is the nominee this would be a huge gift to the GOP, I am sure they would love this.
    
    The drop in the markets now, is emotion only. Nothing has fundamentally changed about the companies (the good ones) in the market. I see the comment below that the DOW will be 50000 when Trump leaves office, I think that is under estimating. Pundits before he was elected were predicting a doubling, so it may be between 50000 and 60000.
    
    Other countries will suffer, we will not be hit that badly, but this had to happen. The market convulsions are being driven to a certain extent by media as always, and it is quite sad the influence they have on peoples trading.
    
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    April 8, 2025 12:50pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    If Ocasio-Cortez is voted in President, she will become the dumbest person ever to lead any country, anywhere. This is the woman that said that illegal aliens were not breaking the law. Duh.
    To be fair, I suspect the Republicans could put up a cardboard cut-out of say Reagan (or Trump), and the cut-out would win against Cortez.
    
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    April 8, 2025 1:41pm
- penguincouple
  
  I tried to read your quote, but gave up at the second line. Apparently I can only understand about 1/3 of the news report these days.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:37am
emmess

Have the people here who still support Trump thanked him for the markets crashing, just once?
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April 8, 2025 8:08am
- Philview
  
  I read a good article today by a guy called Ray Dalio. He essentially points to the fact that the global structural imbalances around US Debt that have brought us to this point are leading to an inevitable tipping point. Trump didn’t cause this even if his solution is damaging. As someone said Trump is the smoke but not the fire.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:21am
  - Conservatarian
    
    I’m sure Emmess knows much better than this rookie investor named “Ray Dalio”
    
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    April 8, 2025 1:53pm
- RoboRob
  
  I have
  
  I have been on a shopping spree and picked up some nice deals. Once this whole thing settles down many stocks will recover. There are stocks that have dropped massively in value but are likely to almost totally unaffected by any tariffs.
  
  FWIW I oppose Trumps tariffs policy bu approve of much of his other policy.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:39am
  - mogg
    
    As with Infratil their price plummeted and the directors are buying by the tens of thousands, these people already have very substantial holdings.
    Putting their money where their mouth is.
    
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    April 8, 2025 3:13pm
- kowtow
  
  Warren Buffett sitting pretty ready to hit the buy button.
  
  Every cloud has a silver lining.
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:11am
  - Diogenes
    
    If every cloud has a silver lining, then does every silver lining have cloud?
    
    Just wondering.
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:36am
    - kowtow
      
      Dunno , maybe a philosopher would have the answer.
      
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      April 8, 2025 5:14pm
- Mod88
  
  To me it looks like he has pulled the keystone out of the pyramid game that is Global Monetary Policy. He was voted in by a very large majority of US Taxpayers to put them first by levelling the playing field. What a novel idea, I can name a few Govts that should try it.
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:21am
  - Skippytony
    
    Even better than that. The tariff play has had an immediate effect, driving down 10 US treasury bonds. Every half a percentage point is Billions (yes billions) of the breathtakingly huge national debt.
    
    Servicing that debt is currently the largest single expense item on the US balance sheet. US Borrowing costs cratering will be the single most transformative thing of his presidency.
    
    Yes, he may be shifting the pain onto other peoples balance sheets (look out Europe and China) but it will be transformative for the US domestically.
    
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    April 8, 2025 10:56am
- rockape
  
  Yep I am buying up in the bargain basement Trump has created. Lots of good companies going cheap right now.
  
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  April 8, 2025 12:20pm
- emmess
  
  As of 12:30pm
  I see that at least 15 people have
  
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  April 8, 2025 12:28pm
- Paulus
  
  Time to buy starting today or tomorrow.
  Follow history.
  
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  April 8, 2025 1:15pm
- RightNow
  
  Absolutely!
  I missed the dip in March 2020 but not this time. TSLA and NVDA… both been on my buy list and last week at bargain prices!
  
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  April 8, 2025 1:21pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Maybe it is dodgy Democrats taking their money and running? so the don’t get found out where the money came from?
  
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  April 8, 2025 3:13pm
artemisia

In the broad context of recent discussions on this site, here is a detailed Official Information request. Wellington CC response will be interesting.

Expenditure and Documentation Related to Māori Deity-Based Shelving Trial at Te Awe Library

The library website and bricks-and-mortar premises are highly focused on promoting one official language over another. Only needs a casual glance to confirm. No doubt under council instructions due to the council strategy to be New Zealand’s first bilingual city. As a regular library visitor, it comes across to me as blatant manipulation, likely more laughable and irritating than successful.

How is this council strategy doing? Does anyone know? Has anyone been asked?

(Those interested in response from the Council can Follow the request and be emailed updates.)

https://fyi.org.nz/request/30640-expenditure-and-documentation-related-to-maori-deity-based-shelving-trial-at-te-awe-library
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April 8, 2025 8:08am
- Colville
  
  Its almost as if council is trying to stop the very people who use the library from using it!
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:11am
- Dave
  
  Oh ye of little faith.
  
  Clearly, the oppressive, colonial Dewey System (which no one has ever understood anywhere in the world) needs upgrading to the Maori Aotearoan Deities system, henceforth abbreviated to MADs, which all Aotearoanz understand, nay, yearn for.
  
  Good grief. Somebody thought this was a Good Idea.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:08am
  - artemisia
    
    Too many staff, not enough to do?
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:34am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Whew, thank a deity There are only 13 “God” classes
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/557332/wellington-library-trials-new-shelving-system-based-on-maori-deities
  
  I hate to think how our Public libraries would react if they had to shelve books under a classification system based on Hindu Gods, deities and Avatars…
  perhaps they could opt for Colon Classification.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_classification
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:25am
  - greybeard
    
    rnz article: Check out their photo of Jennings and Caldwell !
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:35am
    - artemisia
      
      Heh, be careful with the pronouns.
      
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      April 8, 2025 10:28am
      - David Garrett
        
        art: It’s just the usual sloppiness with captions isn’t it?
        
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        April 8, 2025 10:47am
  - cmm
    
    Dewey was a Colonial Bastard, apparently.
    
    No doubt this is going to be the crap taught in the Masters of Library Science courses offered at various universities.
    
    It is massively ironic that a culture with no written language is breaking library systems.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:53am
    - David Garrett
      
      cmm: I can’t for the life of me think what the course content must be for a bachelor’s degree in “library science”, let alone a Masters.
      
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      April 8, 2025 10:48am
      - Max Mansplain
        
        Especially now they don’t even need to know how to stamp the books.
        
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        April 8, 2025 12:10pm
      - cmm
        
        As I understand it, a Masters in Library Science is normally (or always) done as a post graduate degree on top of a BA in Literature or such.
        
        These days it seems they now call it “Information Science” and add some modules on web sites and such.
        
        There are of course some mandatory modules on The Special Language.
        
        Like pretty much anything with “Science” in the name, it isn’t science: Domestic Science, Political Science, Business Science, Social Science,…
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:39pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        David, Universities make shit up for degrees these days. Won’t be that long before a degree in Plastic Spoon Sales or Basket Weaving will be available.
        
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        April 8, 2025 7:22pm
- kiwi_chileno
  
  “The future is the Stone Age, old man.”
  
  NZ’s GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) sector is well into promoting myths and narratives like pre-contact NZ good, colonialism bad, the Treaty is NZ’s founding document, Treaty partnership, etc.
  
  LIANZA represents librarians. They submitted against the Treaty Principles Bill https://www.lianza.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIANZA-submission-on-the-principles-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-bill-December-19.pdf
  
  They also advised school librarians not to stock Sir Apirana Ngata’s Treaty pamphlet https://www.lianza.org.nz/distribution-of-sir-apirana-ngatas-book-on-the-treaty-of-waitangi-some-things-to-think-about/ This contradicts LIANZA’s own statement on the freedom of information: “A commitment to intellectual freedom is a core responsibility for the library and information profession” and libraries should avoid censorship, “[Ensuring] that the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral, or religious views” https://www.lianza.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LIANZA-Statement-on-Freedom-of-Information-2020.pdf
  
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  April 8, 2025 3:56pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.17am, null bikes today.

A cool, low wind, dry morning in the Capital, rain overnight but not in the last hour, not bad for cycling.
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April 8, 2025 8:17am
Scott

I don’t normally quote the European Union faceless unelected bureaucrats but occasionally they make sense. This from the president of the European Union responding to the Trump tariffs –
“We also discussed the effects of US tariffs….
This is a major turning point for the United States. Nonetheless, we stand ready to negotiate with the US. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners. ”

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_25_996

So in response to the Trump tariffs the EU is now offering zero for zero with the United States for industrial goods!

In other news we see on this blog that NZ has announced we are increasing our defence spending to 2% of GDP.
Trump has for years been saying to NATO counties to increase defence spending. The effect of that appears to have even come to our fair shores?

So let’s sum up. Trump was right about trade. Trump was right about defence spending. Trump was also right about immigration. Trump was also right about endless wars.
Trump was right about everything.
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April 8, 2025 8:27am
- RoboRob
  
  Trump isn’t right about tariffs !
  
  Also, the EU are full of it. Sure they might reduce their tariffs to zero but check out the subsidies and import quotas they offer. NZ could export much more to the EU but are actively blocked by their excessive quota system. The EU complaining about tariffs is the pot calling the kettle black.
  
  I’m not sure which is worse EU or US at this point. Trumps tariffs should have focused on the big offenders, China, EU etc. It was foolish to put in blanket tariffs, especially on free trade countries like NZ.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:44am
  - Paulus
    
    Ursula von der Leyen
    President of the European Commission, who believes she is a real Queen has it under her control despite the factor that 29 Member Nations cannot even agree with anything exept how much money they can get from being a member.
    Remember she was a failed Defence Minister in Germany before ascending the European throne where they all abase them selves to her.
    After all she knows best !
    
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    April 8, 2025 1:22pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  Do you keep his picture on the bedside table ?
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:52am
  - Scott
    
    Northshoredoc- I hadn’t thought of keeping a photo of Trump on my bedside table? What a good idea!
    
    Update – the idea has been vetoed by a person closely related to me.
    
    6 2
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    April 8, 2025 11:46am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      I commend your fine lady wife for her taste in this matter.
      
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      April 8, 2025 2:32pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Vetoed, otherwise you will get a tariff!
      
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      April 8, 2025 3:34pm
- Michael Johnston
  
  Trump is either completely confused or egregiously mendacious about trade. His administration has classified any trade imbalance as a ‘tariff.’ So, countries like Singapore, which impose virtually no tariffs at all, are getting hit simply because America buys more from them than they buy from America. The result will be a reduction in prosperity everywhere, including America. We’re already seeing share markets nosediving around the world. When it comes to the world economy, Trump is a wrecking ball. We will all be poorer because of him. This, by tge way, is all the fault of the authoritarian left, whose pursuit of divisive identity politics and contempt for the working class made Trump electable.
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:26am
  - Bridgenag
    
    Must have some advisors out of 350million people
    
    3 3
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    April 8, 2025 1:11pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Zero-for-zero on industrial tariffs has been on offer for years and won’t actually make that much difference to the trade balance, but hey if the EU is able to present it as some huge concession and Trump is able to present it as a huge triumph as cover for backing off, that would be a less bad outcome than it might have been
  
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  April 8, 2025 12:01pm
- Interested Party
  
  Although it should be noted that Trump is using the tariffs as a crude mechanism to reduce trade imbalances. So he’s not just targeting the headline tariff rates
  
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  April 8, 2025 2:27pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    He is assuming that if there is a trade imbalance, that’s evidence that the party with the surplus is cheating.
    
    It’s as mendacious as the conclusion that if there’s only white people / men / under-40s on the board, that’s evidence that the organisation is racist / sexist / ageist.
    
    It might be. But it’s not proof, and certainly not actionable. It’s an indicator to dig deeper into the reasons. For example, that people in the other country just don’t want the kind of thing that America produces.
    
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    April 8, 2025 4:03pm
Cassandra

Interesting news. RFK Jr has announced his support for the MMR vaccine. Very sensible. MMR has been one of the most significant measures for child health in recent years.
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April 8, 2025 8:28am
- All_on_Red
  
  Yep
  “Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.”
  RFK Jr
  His Statement in full here
  https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-jr-measles-outbreak-call-action-all-us
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:45am
- Mike
  
  It shouldn’t be necessary for the US’s top public health official to make such an announcement. What next, an announcement that chlorinating water makes it safe to drink?
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:46am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    That is how their government works, they do not have a Westminster bloody system, why does this always have to be pointed out? He has the right to ban it as he would have with the Covid jab if he sees fit
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:09am
  - NK
    
    It certainly should be necessary after the unsafe, untested and experimental Covid vaccine was forced into children.
    
    12 5
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    April 8, 2025 10:10am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Nonsense MMR vaccine has been around for years it’s efficacy and side effect profile are well known.
      
      RFK jnrs many comments on it over the years have been less than helpful in ensuring adequate levels of immunisation against measles.
      
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      April 8, 2025 10:52am
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: So a nut has made one sane statement…hardly cause for rejoicing I wouldn’t have thought.
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:46am
  - cmm
    
    DG: As I understand it this has always been his position on MMR.
    
    The “nut” image seems to have been due to a lot of selective editing of his interviews.
    
    Remember that all the evidence you have to judge him a nut has been filtered. He said – she said etc.
    
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    April 8, 2025 8:53am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly, he has stated m as my times he is pro vax, he only had issues with warp speed on Covid jabs
      
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      April 8, 2025 9:10am
    - David Garrett
      
      cmm: I beg to differ. Unless he was misquoted, I have seen him refer to the now utterly discredited supposed link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
      
      It would appear he has changed his mind on that at least, so the children of America are safer than they were when he was first appointed. I guess time will tell if he has resiled from some of his other nutty “positions”.
      
      To be clear, I do NOT include his reservations about the Covid “vaccines” as being “nutty”. Anyone with half a brain must have at least some reservations about them.
      
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      April 8, 2025 9:29am
      - Bobba Fret
        
        David: That awful website “The standard” have a photo of you in their article about the Tamatha bill boards re defunding da police.
        
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        April 8, 2025 11:38am
      - wsk12345
        
        The interview I heard some time ago, he stated that we need to understand what has caused the massive upswing in autism. There are many possible causes (pesticides, lead, pollution, etc) but none come close to explaining the immense increase. Don’t you think the question should be asked and seriously studied? It hasn’t been yet, tests I hve looked at have put vaccines up against a placebo that comprises the adjuvant – not saline.
        
        Personally i suspect it’s not MMR per se. I think it’s injecting mercury and aluminium into these kids over and over. We know it crosses the blood brain barrier. The US vax schedule is massive compared to ours, which has multiplied many times since I had mine. We should look into whether adjuvants are a possible cause – why wouldnt we??? Might also answer the altzheimers question?
        
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        April 8, 2025 2:07pm
      - Northshoredoc
        
        Sigh spouting nonsense about Hg and Al in vaccines now.
        
        https://www.science.org/content/article/four-vaccine-myths-and-where-they-came
        
        https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2376879/
        https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/Suppl_2/e004898
        
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        April 8, 2025 5:21pm
    - Mattb
      
      Nope. The “nut” image is because Kennedy spouts certifiably batshit conspiracy theories that only complete and utter morons would believe.
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ECcoWiWMPF4&pp=ygUUS2VubmVkeSBseW1lIGRpc2Vhc2U%3D
      
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      April 8, 2025 11:54am
  - Mike
    
    But will he withdraw his advocacy of Vitamin A to treat measles?
    Remedy Supported by Kennedy Leaves Some Measles Patients More Ill
    https://archive.ph/Kt2UO
    
    8 12
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    April 8, 2025 8:54am
    - Ghost
      
      Looks like it is useful working along with the vaccine
      
      https://www.foxnews.com/health/vitamin-measles-treatment-rfk-jr-comments-spark-discussion-benefits-risks
      
      https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369595673112
      
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      April 8, 2025 9:03am
  - Cassandra
    
    DG: it makes a change though. Worth reporting!
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:28am
  - Interested Party
    
    I understand that US kids have a lot more vaccines than NZ kids, surely this should be reviewed
    
    2 1
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    April 8, 2025 2:31pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  People were not listening when he was trying get selected or accepted, he always said he was pro vax, his kids were vaxes, he had issues with the warp speed of the Covid jab, and wanted to clearly know about its efficacy.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:07am
- sungsamning
  
  Nooooo!!!! He’s an ‘antivaxxer! CNN told me so! And the Dems don’t like him. So, he must be wrong.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:38am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    MSDNC also told us.
    
    2 3
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    April 8, 2025 4:08pm
All_on_Red

EU wants a Zero Tariff Trade arrangement with the US
“These tariffs come first and foremost at immense costs for US consumers and businesses. But at the same time, they have a massive impact on the global economy. Developing countries are hit especially hard. This is a major turning point for the United States. Nonetheless, we stand ready to negotiate with the US. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners.”
Ursula Von der Layen

German Finance Minister Jörg Kukies called for zero tariffs on imports: “The easiest way to assure balance and fairness is if everyone goes to zero and then we have free trade, efficiency, and economies of scale. The key is to send the signal that we are willing to include reducing tariffs all the way to zero.”

‘Julian Hinz of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy agreed with Kukies. From DW:
“Dropping tariffs bilaterally between the US and the EU most definitely would be the best outcome. Having cheaper trade between those two economies would benefit both of them, whereas the flip side, if we have tariffs, 20% on each side, that increases costs for both sides. Import tariffs are an import tax that can be lowered very quickly, very easily.’
On the day he announced the new measures, US President Donald Trump suggested he could be open to “zero tariffs.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/04/eu-offering-trump-zero-for-zero-tariffs-for-industrial-goods/
Hey, its almost like Trump was after no Tariffs at all as being the end goal. The ultimate Free Trade arrangement.
I guess we will see.
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April 8, 2025 8:52am
- Mike
  
  Sane washing.
  https://www.mediaite.com/tv/lawrence-odonnell-rips-nyt-and-other-media-for-sane-washing-trumps-crazy-statements/
  
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  April 8, 2025 8:59am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Yeah Mike, O’Donnell can be taken with a grain of salt. Wasn’t he the guy that didn’t “sane wash” the Biden laptop story, nor the “fine people” story, nor the “suckers and losers” story, nor the “trump tried to take control of Presidential limo” story, nor the story that Trump claimed there’d be a bloodbath if he lost the election and a whole multitude of other fake news and hoaxes. In fact, O’Donnell, rather than “sane washing” them, promoted them. So I’d suggest that nothing the man reports can be trusted. And far from “ripping” other media outlets, he’s just humiliating himself. Again.
    
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    April 8, 2025 10:41am
    - Tom Hunter
      
      Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC? Snigger. An unctuous clown with no other job to go to even though he must realise he and fellow MSMrs have no credibility remaining even with their own viewers.
      
      An excerpt from Vanity Fair interview of the authors of one of these Now It Can Be Told books about Biden:
      
      At that point, in June 2024, President Biden’s physical and mental capacities had long been a central issue in the campaign. Was his terrible debate performance still a surprise to you?
      
      Parnes: It was just stunning to watch.
      Allen: We’d been watching Biden’s decline for a long period of time and, honestly, thought he had lost his fastball some when he was running in 2020. And it was still so shocking to see the leader of the free world so bereft of coherent thought.
      
      Your book describes the lengths to which the president’s longtime inner circle—including first lady Jill Biden and senior advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti—went to hide that decline. Who was most responsible?
      
      Parnes: All of them. It’s pretty remarkable how they kept him very closed off. He was a shell of himself. When he entered the White House, he was so, so different from the man who I covered as vice president, a guy who would hold court in the Naval Observatory with reporters until the wee hours.
      
      Add in Jake Tapper, Lawrence O’Donnell, in fact all of the MSM. They were in on it as much as Biden’s inner circle because they knew enough to ask questions but deliberately didn’t.
      
      And the best example is the writer of that Vanity Fair article himself, Chris Smith.
      
      Joe Biden Is Somehow in a Better Place Today Than He Was Four Years Ago.
      
      —Chris Smith, Vanity Fair, January 9th, 2024
      
      ZERO credibility. Die MSM, Die.
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:16pm
  - Conservatarian
    
    “I’ll bet this commentary from a drooling MSNBC loon will influence those Trump supporters”
    
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    April 8, 2025 2:01pm
- Raphael
  
  I suspect any negotiation will have to include the EU dropping other trade barriers (i.e. any trade regulation will actually need to be like for like) and that the EU’s defence spending needs to increase.
  
  Which will probably cause the French farmers to protest again.
  
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  April 8, 2025 9:07am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Do you think the EU should allow the import of food that does not meet its safety standards?
    
    6 3
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    April 8, 2025 9:19am
    - RoboRob
      
      The EU has just expanded our milk powder quota to 5,000 tons per year with a 20% MFN tariff on it. Thats an upgrade under our new trade arrangement with them!
      
      NZ produces 1.5M tons of milk powder per year.
      
      Its not about safety, its pure protectionism.
      
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      April 8, 2025 11:17am
    - Paulus
      
      Food standards do not apply to EC members.
      
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      April 8, 2025 1:31pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Since the days of the EEC the EU have been the biggest proponents of protectionism.
    
    14 0
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    April 8, 2025 9:25am
    - MCōs
      
      Which is exactly what America wants for itself
      For as long as I can remember European countries have resisted importing cheaper NZ agricultural produce to protect their own agrarian sector.
      We have a similar situation here with gib-board
      
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      April 8, 2025 12:23pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Was saying to my son last night, I don’t think the EU can drop their Tariffs, subsidies and quotas. For decades they have run a protectionist policy, if they were to suddenly open the doors many businesses would collapse. Huge sections of the EU haven’t had to really compete or innovate. I suspect the EU will either embark of a tariff war or offer a claytons deal.
    
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    April 8, 2025 9:56am
  - Paulus
    
    EU was only formed by De Gaulle primarily to protect the French Farmers under what is called the Common Agricultural Policy.
    And Keep Britain out whichit did at the time.
    Don’t think it has changed except Brexit.
    
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    April 8, 2025 1:31pm
    - kowtow
      
      Paulus
      
      The EU came about due to the history of war between France and Germany .
      
      It’s first major milestone was the 1951 Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community .
      
      Basically the whole project was a French attempt to control German industry ,and therefore Europe in a furtherance of very long held European rivalries and imperial ambitions.
      
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      April 8, 2025 2:00pm
- MCōs
  
  The U.S.’s domestic production is less than its domestic consumption. Its imports therefore exceed its exports and its current account is in deficit.
  One would have thought America needs to stop playing the victim card, increase domestic production and stop the locals buying cheaper foreign alternatives
  Better still encourage Americans to save their money
  Good luck. The problems are obvious
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:51am
  - mogg
    
    The USA biggest trade imbalance is with China.
    The Chinese manipulate their export prices by State owned banks suppling liquidity to all exporting companies, in Western terms those same companies would go bankrupt. The problems are far from being obvious, Trump knows all this that is why he has given them a punch in the face
    
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    April 8, 2025 4:08pm
- alloytoo
  
  Germany is terrified of losing industrial activity to the states.
  
  The mere fact that the US has committed to keeping the lights on……
  
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  April 8, 2025 12:29pm
Swifty

Blondie drummer Clem Burke has died:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3-lS_Gryk&pp=ygUHQmxvbmRpZQ%3D%3D

RIP.
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April 8, 2025 9:22am
- mogg
  
  With Blondie performing at the front, who would notice the drummer, but he did drive their sound to new heights.
  
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  April 8, 2025 4:11pm
sungsamning

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/04/06/french-business-leaders-reject-president-macrons-demand-to-divest-from-usa/
Corporates Give Teacher’s Pet an F-.
According to French media, quoting multiple corporate leaders and company directors throughout France [LINK], the leadership of France’s biggest companies told Macron to ‘get stuffed’ following the French president’s demand to divest their interests from America.
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April 8, 2025 9:30am
sungsamning

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/04/05/how-ford-is-working-with-the-trump-admin-to-bring-cars-to-consumers-n2655050
Ford Teams Up With Trump Admin to Drive Down Car Prices and Boost U.S. Jobs.
Ford is working closely with the Trump administration to streamline its car production and delivery processes, especially as the company faces challenges with the president’s tariffs. Ford CEO Jim Hackett recently pointed out that while tariffs offer the company a “better chance” at increased manufacturing flexibility, critical details regarding parts supply and production still need to be ironed out. This collaboration between the auto giant and the administration highlights the growing impact of trade policies on the automotive industry and the push to bring more vehicles to American consumers. [No! This isn’t happening!!!. Krugman, CNN, and Stuff told me so. Orange man bad. // sarc]
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April 8, 2025 9:30am
- cmm
  
  I saw a lot of hand wringing in the Wall St Journal about car makers complaining that it would be impossible to move factories etc etc.
  
  Funny how it was very easy to move factories to Canada to take advantage of the taxpayer funded hand outs.
  
  Windsor, Ontario in Canada is built directly across the river from Detroit and cars are taken over to Canada for part of the manufacturing to make use of Canda’s massive corporate welfare.
  
  Over the years, tens – if not hundreds – of billions of dollars have been paid out in subsidies to car makers.
  
  If it wasn’t for these subsidies tilting the playing field, most of those factories and jobs would be in USA already – without any tariffs.
  
  https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/honda-deal-latest-episode-corporate-welfare-ontario
  
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  April 8, 2025 12:18pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.
    
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    April 8, 2025 2:40pm
  - Stu2
    
    “car makers complaining that it would be impossible to move factories”
    
    It was possible to do move some production to Canada as it was done in a planned and coordinated way, not under the pressure of a 25% tariff with who knows what longevity.
    
    Business likes certainty. Moving production back would be slow and expensive, and only worth it eventually if the tariff was permanent.
    
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    April 8, 2025 3:52pm
cmm

So many things are broken here:
* This woman’s partner had died as a result of a drunk driver … but she habitually drives drunk. Didn’t learn a damn thing.
* She had been disqualified from driving for driving drunk and was still under the disqualification. Didn’t learn a damn thing.
* She was caught driving drunk while disqualified. No obvious consequences. Didn’t learn a damn thing.
* She drinks and drives again, with 4 others in the car (including three children).
* Her unrestrained nephew fell out of the car and fractured his skull and was in hospital for a week.

Sentence: Six months’ community detention and 12 months of intensive supervision.

Right.

“I’m so remorseful about what I done, I should’ve known better. I’ve stopped drinking so I don’t make anymore stupid decisions,”

Oh, and I also have a bridge for sale on TradeMe.

In many ways, a bigger question is this: who in their right mind hands over their children to be looked after by this woman? The parents (and other adult in the car) are all culpable. Or maybe it is just colonialism.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/whangarei-woman-sentenced-after-nephew-falls-from-car-while-she-was-drunk/P472UC3P7ZB5NO6FYHYAHPEBL4/
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April 8, 2025 9:31am
- kowtow
  
  NZME name the reporter and even give her tribal affiliations , why I don’t know , as it has zero bearing on anything..
  
  They don’t name the criminal or give her tribals or ethnicity .
  And there may be reasons for not naming her , but at the very least good journalism demands that omission be explained .
  
  Perhaps NZME is hiring journalists not based on merit ,but on other very publicly declared characteristics…….
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:32am
  - pdm
    
    kowtow – they could easily give the offenders tribal affiliations without naming her.
    
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    April 8, 2025 11:35am
- Gravelroad
  
  The woman is an alcoholic and therefore an addict.
  It will take more than a bit of supervision to stop her drinking.
  I knew an alcoholic, now deceased.
  My main memory of her was that her only concern was when the next drink was coming.
  She had a close family member who collected those miniature alcohol drink bottles as a minor hobby – back in the day. He kept them in a special cabinet.
  She drank the lot, refilled them with liquid, replaced the caps and put them back in the cabinet.
  Life for her was all about her and her grievances,
  Her drinking was never, ever her responsibility.
  
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  April 8, 2025 10:33am
  - RoboRob
    
    My brother, non alcoholic, did that to my miniature collection back in the day
    
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    April 8, 2025 10:41am
    - pdm
      
      A couple of our now adult children have admitted doing the same to our very limited number of miniatures years ago when they were teenagers.
      
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      April 8, 2025 11:37am
      - zulumonster
        
        No mucking around with miniatures for me … straight to the 750ml bottles with a commensurate water top-up to previous levels as required.
        
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        April 8, 2025 1:19pm
  - cmm
    
    Gravel: My father, rot his bones, was an alcoholic.
    He drank wine and claimed he couldn’t possibly be an alcoholic because he didn’t drink spirits. But an average of 2 bottles of wine a day said otherwise. Of course he never tried to get any help.
    
    He also drove drunk at least twice a week. On occasion he even left the road – leading to some interesting vehicle recoveries. Thank goodness he never injured anyone – not even his stupid self. He also never got caught.
    
    Yes, alcoholics are completely fixated on sourcing alcohol. That is why shutting down bottle shops does not stop them. If bottle shops were only open one Tuesday a month, all the alcoholics would be there with a trailer to stock up.
    
    When my father came to visit us in about 1997 he had not been in the country for half an hour and was off to the supermarket to buy some casks of wine. The boxes were open by the time he had walked home. Booze was far more important than talking to us or meeting grandsons he had never met before.
    
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    April 8, 2025 12:08pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  And the judge didn’t learn a damn thing either. She probably drove to and from court and may have had a couple of drinks before hand to steady the nerves of being in court.//
  
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  April 8, 2025 11:34am
Gravelroad

Re the situation regarding the sinking of the Navy ship off Samoa:
Firstly, I don’t know much, if anything, about how employment structures roll in the armed forces.
If you want to captain a ship in the NZ Navy, how does that happen?
Do you just put your name in the hat and rock up to an interview and say “pick me, I deserve it”.
Surely it is up to the chiefs in the chain of command to ensure that the person elevated to ship’s captain is up to the job? The very best skilled, qualified, experienced and knowledgeable person?
Is this what happened here?
If it turns out that the person selected to captain a navy ship is not really up to it, what is the responsibility of the navy hierarchy to admit they made a mistake?
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April 8, 2025 9:34am
- cmm
  
  “If it turns out that the person selected to captain a navy ship is not really up to it, what is the responsibility of the navy hierarchy to admit they made a mistake?”
  
  While they should be taking a lot of the heat, they won’t put their hands up.
  
  Generally they will do everything they can to push the responsibility down as far as possible and the lowest ranking person possible goes under the bus.
  
  As the investigation shows, the emphasis is on blaming individuals rather than the broken system that is putting incompetent people in positions they are not fit for.
  
  My standard bet of 50 cents and a servo pie says that NZ will not significantly review its DEI policy – let alone change it.
  
  23 2
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  April 8, 2025 9:42am
- peterwn
  
  Comic opera ‘HMS Pinafore’ is pretty close to the mark with this sort of thing.
  
  11 0
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  April 8, 2025 9:42am
- NothingLeft
  
  Women are more than 60% of Navies commanding officers while being less than 25% of total headcount. That tells you all you need to know about the navy, why men shouldn’t join, and why it is a toxic and less-than optimally operated military organization – their leaders Didn’t Earn It, woke has wrecked it lickety split.
  
  17 1
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  April 8, 2025 10:39am
  - Keith White
    
    Lickety split? ISWYDT.
    
    5 1
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    April 8, 2025 11:12am
  - cmm
    
    The HMNZS Canterbury’s boss (currently on shore under a cloud) was quoted saying she wanted to run the ship with “a woman’s touch”.
    
    The only touch that should be applied to running a ship is the Navy’s touch”.
    
    HTF do you run a ship with a woman’s tough? Maybe put up lots of water colours? Doilies on the bridge? Hugs and scones?
    
    5 1
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    April 8, 2025 2:43pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Pastel colours. Grey is so dull.
      
      1 0
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      April 8, 2025 7:00pm
- rouppe
  
  While the report found deficiency across the whole ship, including the captain, the physical responsibility for driving that ship onto the reef has to go to the officers on duty at the time.
  
  The very first thing to do when the ship doesn’t respond to helm inputs is to check the autopilot. That didn’t happen.
  When additional personnel came onto the bridge they were told that the ship was not in autopilot. None of them checked.
  
  That failure of competence is the primary cause of the sinking. The inadequate training is the cause of that failure of competence.
  
  Certainly at least some of the crew should be demoted to their level of competence, and not promoted again until better training is completed.
  
  9 0
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  April 8, 2025 10:59am
  - Stu2
    
    Turning the controls to try and make the ship turn did nothing as it was on autopilot
    
    But dropping the throttles to zero would have. All very odd
    
    5 0
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    April 8, 2025 12:26pm
  - cmm
    
    It is still on the Captain for handing over command to incapable officers – especially when working close to the reef.
    
    There was no urgency in what they were doing. They could have delayed the activity until after the Captain’s nap.
    
    I suppose she needed her beauty sleep though…
    
    So no, the Captain can’t wriggle out of this just because she had her head down.
    
    6 0
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    April 8, 2025 2:46pm
    - Taieri
      
      It is still on the Captain for handing over command to incapable officers – especially when working close to the reef.
      ———-
      
      Judging by the contents of VDR recording she wasn’t all that capable herself. A desk captain…
      
      1 0
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      April 8, 2025 3:52pm
- Master Mariner
  
  “Do you just put your name in the hat and rock up to an interview and say “pick me, I deserve it”.
  
  I believe she was head hunted. Therein lays the Blame.
  
  7 0
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  April 8, 2025 1:09pm
  - Taieri
    
    I believe she was head hunted.
    ————
    
    You’ve got to be joking. Un-fucking-believable!
    
    4 0
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    April 8, 2025 3:53pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    ‘Head hunted.’ All the more reason to have more digging done about who were those behind this.
    Navy should remember who pays their do nothing salaries.
    
    4 1
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    April 8, 2025 4:31pm
- Paulus
  
  They could not turn her down as she was a Senior Navy women and a lesbian too.
  Them’s were the time but am not sure there we will see much of a change in the short term, or ever.
  Helen Clark and Dame Jacinda saw to that, and it will run for a very long, and damaging time.
  
  7 1
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  April 8, 2025 1:37pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    What did she do to become “senior?”
    
    2 1
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    April 8, 2025 4:35pm
cmm

The NZDF DEI targets are nothing new.

Here is a document from their DEI department (DIRECTORATE DIVERSITY & INCLUSION) in 2019

“Navy has committed to a gender target of 30% females by 2025. The Navy is currently examining any barriers to achieving increased female representation…”

“Army targets have now been set as follows:
specific targets of at least 40% women entering its tertiary education scheme and commissioning courses, ”

If DEI is the goal, then other criteria must suffer.

https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/DocumentLibrary/Women-in-the-NZDFReport-to-30-June-2019.pdf#:~:text=As%20at%2030%20June%202019%2C%20the%20total,Force)%20and%20civilian%20workforce%20is%20shown%20below.
17 1
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April 8, 2025 9:49am
- Burtland
  
  the loss of just a ship is a small price to pay for achieving out DEI targets //
  
  20 1
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  April 8, 2025 10:21am
Local Miller

Over 50 world leaders have now started talking to Trump about going to a zero-for-zero tariff system, accepting that they need free trade with the USA to prosper.
Did you know that Vietnam charge a 90% tariff on goods imported from the USA?
9 9
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April 8, 2025 10:30am
- RoboRob
  
  No, because they didn’t. The 90% figure relates to the trade deficit between the countries.
  
  US imports lots of clothes etc from Vietnam but the poor Vietnamese buy very little from the US.
  
  16 2
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  April 8, 2025 10:39am
  - MCōs
    
    Vietnam imports about $15bil and exports about $115bil to America
    The huge imbalance probably accounts for the newly imposed 46% tariff.
    
    15 1
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    April 8, 2025 11:47am
Keith White

Is a tariff the same as duty? When I used to buy motorcycle bits from the US, NZ Customs always slapped on megabucks of “duty” and charged duty and GST on the freight as well.
7 1
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April 8, 2025 11:14am
- cmm
  
  Yes, duty and tariffs are the same thing in this context.
  
  Technically there might be some differences, but when you shake the tree the same things fall out: paying more to import goods.
  
  GST is obviously a different thing.
  
  9 0
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  April 8, 2025 11:56am
  - MCōs
    
    Theoretically the words are interchangeable, but a tax on exports, for example, is normally called a duty even though it could also be called a tariff.
    Either way they are a tax to generate revenue for the government and a means of manipulating the market.
    
    8 0
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    April 8, 2025 12:12pm
    - Keith White
      
      Thank you
      
      6 0
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      April 8, 2025 1:16pm
  - Keith White
    
    Thank you
    
    5 0
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    April 8, 2025 1:16pm
cmm

Tariffs should always be seen in the context of other tilting of the playing field – in particular subsidies.

As an example consider chicken imported into South Africa:
The USA and Brazil have massive subsidies on growing corn which then floods the market with stock feed – leading to lower meat prices which in turn floods the market again. A large % of that then gets exported.

South Africa imports a lot of chicken – over 90% coming from Brazil and USA.
South Africa applies up to 62% tariffs on imported chicken. This is largely done to keep the local producers going otherwise they would be completely priced out of existence.

So which is worse here: subsidies or tariffs?
Either way, people are paying more. The only real differences are:
1) Who are paying. With subsidies, the taxpayers are paying. With tariffs the consumer is paying.
2) Control. With subsidies, the person paying has no choice in the matter. With tariffs, the person paying can choose different products (eg. not eat chicken) and is not forced to pay.

This makes tariffs a far more honest way to tilt the playing field than subsidies.
12 0
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April 8, 2025 11:27am
Gravelroad

Came across an online outfit today – Resist NACT First.
Clearly running the Cutter for B. Doyle MP.
Totally outraged rant about what has happened to Doyle.
Had a cursory look at this site but couldn’t find any clues as to who runs it.
Anyone here know?
9 3
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April 8, 2025 11:56am
- Blog-aholic
  
  They call themselves a political org but the posts are filled with spelling errors so maybe it is run by someone on school holiday……I noted you cannot see who their ‘followers’ are so not that brave to remove the mask eh!
  
  8 0
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  April 8, 2025 12:27pm
cmm

David Parker to resign from politics.

The question on everyone’s lips: How can you tell the difference?

He must be one of the most useless wastes of space ever.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-mp-david-parker-to-resign-from-politics/S3FYGANGDJBCZIIOVGJGUJLUQA/
16 2
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April 8, 2025 12:39pm
- Ghost
  
  Easy, count the idiots on the left and subtract one
  
  10 2
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  April 8, 2025 12:43pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Haha. The fat, bearded git known as “Bomber” Bradbury was just talking Parker up the other day. Poor antenna and grapevine links there “Bomber”.
  
  17 1
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  April 8, 2025 1:08pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Bomber bombed.
    
    6 0
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    April 8, 2025 1:59pm
- Interested Party
  
  What’s the bet his mate Vice Chancellor Robertson gives him a job
  
  6 0
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  April 8, 2025 2:41pm
  - AitchW
    
    Parker claims to have been a “serial entrepreneur” and says he’s going back into business for himself to make Aotearoa a better place. Or words to that effect.
    
    2 0
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    April 8, 2025 8:27pm
NothingLeft

Animatronic ‘toothless’ dragon robot at Universal Studios.

https://packaged-media.redd.it/7drtvonvcite1/pb/m2-res_584p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1744088400&s=054161833aaa5b1bfef168c8e12d77e4d3750272

Kawasaki announced a future rideable robo-dog a few days back:

https://youtu.be/ps1t-EqN4VU

Expect to see flying dragons (eventually able to carry passengers) and many other autonomous fantasy creatures and dinosaurs roaming around theme parks within 5-10years. Training robot AI in virtual environments makes it all relatively easy and cheap to do.

The military murderbots are going to be scary as hell.
2 0
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April 8, 2025 1:14pm
- alloytoo
  
  T-800 coming soon
  
  1 0
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  April 8, 2025 2:10pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Probably, though I expect something like centaurs with wheels will be more optimal for nimbly covering ground quickly. Though swarms of millions of cheap exploding sparrow-seagull sized AI drones will be impossibly lethal and maybe render everything else pointless..
    
    0 0
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    April 8, 2025 5:15pm
Paulus

Parker’s history in Dunedin, along with his Father,
and others, is a story to behold in other’s bankruptcy I believe.
9 0
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April 8, 2025 1:42pm
goNZ1

interesting – i guess he has given up getting his Piketty envy tax into parliament again. One boring lawyer less but his replacement is one as well.
Parker knows where the bodies are buried so will be able to put it into a book now
5 1
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April 8, 2025 1:58pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360645619/tsunami-siren-test-did-not-go-ahead-planned
Why don’t they just admit that the sole person chosen to sound the alarm simply forgot to do it ?
7 0
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April 8, 2025 2:15pm
Ghost

My god Wellington, haven’t you suffered enough

Former Labour leader Andrew Little has confirmed he is considering a tilt at the Wellington mayoralty.

It was reported in December that Little had ruled it out.

Since then Labour has struggled to find a candidate after no one put their name forward. It extended nominations which close later this month.

Article

For sale, one run down capital city. Needs substantial work done. Running water… down the footpaths and roads. Any offers considered
10 2
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April 8, 2025 2:42pm
- rouppe
  
  Beat me to it.
  
  The guy neck deep in financially ruining a country, wants to run a city…
  
  5 0
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  April 8, 2025 4:08pm
  - greybeard
    
    There is nothing more desirable and enticing than a life paid for by the public trough. Enhanced by regular public exposure via the news media in order to satisfy one’s egotistical requirements. Private employment must be too tough.
    
    5 0
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    April 8, 2025 5:59pm
  - AitchW
    
    Well the city is already pretty much ruined, so he won’t have much to do.
    
    2 0
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    April 8, 2025 8:28pm
- rouppe
  
  I guess also in the interests of public service, those who remain in the Wellington City voting group should start writing down names and party affiliations, so you don’t get hit with the smokescreen.
  Labour candidate are Matthew Reweti, Sam O’Brien and Joy Gribben.
  https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360642801/labour-names-final-wellington-city-council-ward-candidates
  
  Also Afnan Al-Rubayee, Nureddin Abdurahman, Ben McNulty, Tom James, and current GWRC chair Daran Ponter.
  https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360616968/labour-candidates-announced-ahead-wellington-council-election
  
  I no longer own property there so I no longer have an interest.
  
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  April 8, 2025 4:45pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I appreciate your condolences, Ghost.
  
  Still, Andy vs Tory will be entertaining.
  
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  April 8, 2025 7:47pm
Maggy Wassilieff

How many times can RNZ misspell Christian Hawkesby’s surname in the one article?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/557545/christian-hawkesky-appointed-bank-governor-for-next-six-months
4 0
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April 8, 2025 4:21pm
Swifty

Claims are made that a trial to restore mussel beds have succeeded and that it is due to matauranga.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/ohiwa-harbour-mussel-beds-thrive-after-matauranga-led-restoration/EDKQSAX7SVEEXGMQF7UPTKPQEM/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJe_vZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlzbV_PydHbfYaLK02zbg7loczsrRdR4wVp-cDog8mGJ2eNUoUibqHCQxdg7_aem_OYwUgp5BrtPoUZtXCOv7tg

What a pity that nowhere does the article state exactly what role matauranga played in the trial, or to what extent it played compared to good old conservation and pest eradication efforts.

Evidence-free claims about Maori wonderfulness seem to be on the increase of late. To be fair I don’t know whether this is because of sloppy, inexact reporting or that the evidence just isn’t there.

Either way, the whole thing is doing us a great disservice.
7 0
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April 8, 2025 4:52pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That matauranga is mighty powerful stuff. We’d better be careful, or the Don will slap it with a tariff.
  
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  April 8, 2025 7:11pm
Swifty

I think New Zealand is sitting atop a powder keg – which will at some stage explode:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bmqrtu13E/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[Warning: Explicit language. mod.]
1 0
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April 8, 2025 6:16pm
herb1

Mikey Sherman doorstopping HamishCampbell because he has some connection with a religious group who have had abuse allegations made about them.
When a Green MP actually posts photos that allude to supporting child abuse , she’s absent.
A disgusting self styled journalist and confirmation that ,in her role, the only requirement is a heart beat
9 0
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April 8, 2025 6:18pm
Colville

Just driven from Manawatu to Hastings…FOUR cops between Waipuk and Hastings…. that is four I saw with either people bailed up or sitting on the side of the road. On a fecking Tuesday night! hardly a high risk route I would think!!
2 0
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April 8, 2025 9:33pm

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