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NeverMindTheBollocks
I wonder how the economics for those EV buyers are working out.
Ever think you’ve been had?
kowtow
Not to mention the craze for burning down one’s home with these new fangled “progressive ” toys.
‘E-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards and e-skateboards will have to meet new product standards in New South Wales to halt a rising number of dangerous blazes.
Lithium-ion battery-related fires, including those caused by low-quality batteries in e-mobility devices, are the fastest-growing type of fires in NSW, with one every four days this year, the state government says.’https://www.odt.co.nz/news/australia/crackdown-nsw-after-spate-battery-fires
imalwaysright
K
Natural selection.
Darwin may have been right.
NeverMindTheBollocks
Meanwhile, Nissan can barely give their EV stock away. I’ve heard of run out pricing, but this is ridiculous.
Anyone who bought a Nissan EV with last year’s taxpayer subsidy will now be feeling very sorry for themselves.
Ever think you’ve been had?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/350371616/new-electric-car-30k-nissan-leaf-cops-huge-discount
k1w1
So Nissan are selling genuinely new 39KwH Leafs for $40k and then pricing their last-year-demo models (with <500km on the odo) for $30k. There's your true depreciation rates laid bare.
pdm
Meanwhile my ICE Hyundai Kona (2018 model) with just over 80,000ks on the clock seems to increase in value each year.
Confirmed independently a month ago by both the local Hyundai people and my Insurers.
cmm
I don’t mind the EV buyers suffering some buyer’s remorse. Their choices, their consequences.
What I do mind is my wallet being forced to participate in this and prop it up to pretend it is sustainable.
Benedict Yu
I recall the multiple debates on here with Wayne Mapp saying that EV subsidies were a great idea and me saying they were awful.
imalwaysright
What is your point ?
Benedict Yu
That I was correct. 😂
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Well Benedict, if you don’t blow your own trumpet nobody is going to blow it for you.
Congratulations.
Will Mr Mapp be along to say he was wrong?pdm
SO – my understanding is that Mr Mapp has abandoned ship from this blog and also No Minister Blog.
Actually he left No Minister possibly 18months to a couple of years ago. I got the impression he lost his hunger for contestable debate when he left No Minister.
Not sure of his reasons for abandoning Kiwiblog.
NoFax
While I disagree with Dr. Mapp on a lot of things it would be a pity if he has stop engaging. It was good to hear that side of the National party and understand what’s going on. A lot of people here project onto National what they want it to believe and do. Dr. Mapp reminded us all what the average National MP really thinks. It meant I don’t get upset when National acts what appears to be acting against their voters wishes and POV (I didn’t vote for them) because that’s not the Party’s POV.
Don Beckett
Wayne abandoned ship when he felt that some replies to his comments were abusive. I also think some of them were, but I guess I have a much thicker hide – or head than he has 🙂
imalwaysright
Is Luxon still going ahead with his 10,000 EV charging stations?
KeeveeBuild?leoj
If Luxon the Woke were still at Air NZ, would he have ditched their climate targets?
Good thing he is not still there.
Bad thing is he is PM.
rouppe
A guy i worked with (until last week, retired now) has a current model Leaf.
He took it to Tauranga a few weeks ago. Had to stop 4 or 5 times to refuel. The trip took him 8 hours because the high current chargers had several cars on them dragging the power delivery down significantly, taking longer to top up.
He reckoned it cost him $120 each way. For comparison, I’m skiing at Ruapehu this week. I’ve driven my die diesel Passat from wellington to Ohakune and up the mountain 4 times and used less than half a tank of fuel. I’m leaving tomorrow, I’ll do the whole trip on ¾ tank
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
$120 each way isnt super dreadful, my Audi A6 3.2litre v6 would probably cost that. But 8 hours!!!!!!
I would be comfortable, leather heated seat cosseted in comfortable luxury and enjoying the bose surround sound…. He would be uncomfortable, have scratchy kids and in total range anxiety the whole way.
EVs are the future?
kevn
A very good EV summary…
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/driving-an-electric-car-is-fake-environmentalism/Steve Otto(North Shore)
See the link to the Lithium fields?
Zero emissions my left tit.
When will the left stop the nonsense?JohnRidd
They will stop once they have total control.
It is only madness if you think they are actually trying to save the planet. Al Gore’s movie was called a”An Inconvenient Truth” because it is really a convenient fiction.
comm4nder
I bought one of the first Teslas to come to NZ and love it. I bought it, not for the economics or for saving the planet, but because it is so much better than an ICE car to drive. (My bumper sticker says “My car runs on coal”)
In the seven years I have had it I have only had it serviced once after six years, and all they did was change the wiper blades.
I also like never having to waste time going to a petrol station.
Because they are such simple cars (hence no maintenance) they are bound to come down in price and hence the eye watering depreciation. This doesn’t bother me as I don’t intend to sell mine in the foreseeable future.
I keep getting software upgrades every couple of weeks, adding new features, and after seven years I have not been able to detect any measurable battery degradation.
So in summary it has been a great experience for me, but then I bought it for the right reasons.ecco
Same for me and my early model Mitsubishi ev. Paid $12k for it. Now worth about $6k. Had it for 7 years. Virtually no servicing costs and had only one repair a few years back. Cost about $200.
Costs $3 to charge overnight in my garage. So calculating savings on fuel at $40 a week, if those savings are invested over 7 years into the US 500, which is running at about 12% per year, that means I’m ahead by $25k or $19k net of depreciated value. Be interested to know what some of the ICE car fans calculations are on ownership etc are.
Could easily afford to upgrade to a better ev but choose not to as I love my car. I didn’t buy it to save the world, I’ve never voted Green in my life. I bought it based on size and running costs. It does 90% of my weekly trips.
Hilarious reading some of the ill informed comments on evs on here. You are kidding yourself if you think your ice car is not depreciating at the same rate as evs. And ignoring running costs is just ignoring the true costs of owning an ICE car. Tip: study up on the internal rate of return of owning an ICE car 🤣
ecco
Just been pointed out by +1 that my calculation on the savings made from owning an EV only took into account the petrol savings. He said what about the $500-1000 a year, for the last seven years that you would have incurred from owning an ICE car and not had available for investing in the US500?
So if I took the opportunity saving and hence investing, from not having the ICE car maintenance cost, my number comes to being ahead by $35,000 not $27,000. I suspect readers on this blog won’t get it, as they choose to ignore the real monetary cost of servicing an ICE car.
Keith White
My electric motorsickle charges off a portable SupercheapAuto solar panel through a Repco inverter and the economics of that are just dandy, thank you for asking 🙂
nz_aj
Economics of a 2nd hand Leaf still stack up well. It is cheaper to operate than a smaller vehicle like a Toyota Aqua.
Jinky
The quote from Jonny Rotten is “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated “
CJames
The very high electricity prices currently being experienced are the direct result of the Captain’s Call. It is something that the industry has been predicting for years. It is an energy, not a power shortage. Even if the stupid Lake Onslow existed, it would not have helped as there has been “spare” electricity to fill it. All it would have done is add $1000 annually to every household’s power bill. Not only aren’t there the power stations, there aren’t the transmission lines needed to carry the electricity which are just as expensive and take even longer to get the permission to build. Note that since Clyde was commissioned, over 3000MW of power stations have been built. Another fact conveniently forgotten.
Jacinda’s teeshirt slogan decision was more than stopping exploration to look for gas and oil and new fields. It told the gas supply businesses that they were in a sunset industry with a very short horizon till a government mandated shutdown. So the industry did what any rational business would do. They stopped capital re-investment and they started winding up their enterprises. That is something the leftwing apologists refuse to concede despite all the facts to the contrary.
Note that over the last month, the DC link has been running well below rating and at nights, carrying a lot of electricity south. So even the South Island has been running on coal. Those 40 year old coal fired turbines are the saviour. If one breaks down, things will get very bleak very quickly.
New dispatchable power stations aren’t being built to fill the gap left by departing gas. They have just got too expensive. Look at the cost overruns on what is being commissioned now. Solar and wind are useless because they don’t generate power when it is needed. They might provide energy but it is unpredictable so it needs cover. This cannot be provided by hydro, especially when lakes are low. Overseas, Gas turbines fill the gap. In NZ, that is not a medium term option. The only one not running on natural gas is Whirinaki. That is very expensive to run – the fuel costs alone are $500 a MWh.
Even if the wanted to, there are no offshore drilling rigs in the country to work over the wells whose production unexpectedly dropped. If a rig was here doing exploration work, workovers could be easily added to the programme. The rigs take a year or so to get here as they are much in demand. Cost of a drilling programme is a telephone number sized cost so that needs overseas financing. And why would a gas company bring one here when there is a risk that Labour will get back in and shut them down again? They have got plenty of work expanding the rest of the world”s oil and gas consumption. Something the “green” idiots and their compliant media don’t tell you. It isn’t a sunset industry.
We are doomed to insecure electricity supply unless there is a total rethink of the country’s power requirements and how it is provided. I don’t think the current government has enough engineering nous to understand this or big enough balls to act on it, even if they did.
fightingtemeraire
A power station could be built in 3 years!!!! Get a shipyard to take a standard design bulker, it needs to be self propelled as it will have to go to Aus every 5 years for a Dry Dock.
Fit it with gas turbines and the necessary electricity generators and berth in the Hauraki Gulf on a single point mooring and run the power in by cable. You could do the same in the Marlborough Sounds or in Wellington Harbour.
CJames
But what would you fuel it on? GTs are cheap to build but very expensive to run on liquid fuels.
fightingtemeraire
Union Rotorua was used during the akl power crisis 20 years ago, She was a GT vessel.
Could also use diesel gennies.
An alternative is powdered coal. Aussie had several coastal bulkers running on that.
peterwn
Using a ship of this sort only works if the alternator produces 50Hz at optimum speed and there happens to be a suitable transformer available to step up from alternator voltage (eg 3.3kV) to 11kV.
But then it uses liquid fuel and the running cost could be similar to market spot prices.
Benedict Yu
I don’t know what that means.
CJames
BY, which “that”?
Chuck Bird
“We are doomed to insecure electricity supply unless there is a total rethink of the country’s power requirements and how it is provided.”
Exactly. We need nuclear in the future like they will have in Oz with a change of government.
kowtow
We have coal to last for ages . The infrastructure to use it and hopefully still some bods who know how it works .
Simple , really.
Benedict Yu
That would require the government to abandon its climate change goals. If you had a couple of coal fired power stations they would need to purchase New Zealand Units. They wound need so many that the price would skyrocket. That would mean expensive electrcity and an extra 50 cents at least on a litre of petrol.
RoboRob
They will have to pull out of their climate agreements. NZ needs more power NOW, while we build better (greener – hydo, gas, nuclear etc) power long term. The quickest option would be coal, especially down south where vast supplies of coal sit unused.
Benedict Yu
“They will have to pull out of their climate agreements.”
They will not do so. Ever. New Zealand will not be the only country in the world to do so. There is no point designing policy around something that is a pipe dream.
Chris Nisbet
Maybe they’ll consider a bit of pragmatism when the blackouts begin. It’ll be a bit too late by then for us consumers of course, but it’d be the quickest way to get some reliable generation on line.
Benedict Yu
“Maybe they’ll consider a bit of pragmatism…”
It would require Chris Luxon to abandon the Zero Carbon Act. Do you really think that he will do that?
My view of the Act is well known here. But I can’t see it. And if they build coal without getting rid of the Act, power prices will go through the roof.
In wishing for coal, I’m just saying be careful what you wish for.
JackRabbit
That would require the government to abandon its climate change goals.
The climate change goals prostituted worldwide have nothing to do with saving the planet or reducing CO2. It is about redistribution of natural resources into the hands of the elite.
It is part of the “great reset” and supposed “green” agendas, so when a country implodes and the dust settles, the elite have control of the resources, including minerals, renewables, “non renewables”, and they start using said “non renewables”.
Ardern was not saving the planet when she banned all new Gas and Oil exploration, instead she was mothballing those resources for the elite. Something that would have / is going to happen with 3/5/7/9 waters.
Hundreds of billions in loans to 3/5/7/9 entities managed by indigenous entities that could not manage a feed in a fish and shop, all secured against assets owned by ratepayers. With eye watering interest.
As has been the pattern overseas, the “indigenous” entities financially “tear the ring” out of those entities, and then default. Assets despite being owned by ratepayers, pass to the “lenders”.
Also, Blackrock, and other elites, have major investments in Indonesian coal, and China, which has the fastest growing use of coal, uses a lot of Indonesian coal.
Coming out of communism, China was financed by elites, but that knowledge and information is deeply buried.
The green/climate change/indigenous/vaccine/lockdown movements are about shutting down industry, competition and resetting everything so that when the dust settles, the wealth is in the hands or control of the elite.
If Ardern was actaully green, and at all concerned about non renewables, she wouldn’t have gong jet-setting all over the world, but insisted all meetings were by zoom.
If Ardern was at all concerned about over population, as per the WEF mantra, she would not promoted the idea that having babies was a right, and would not have increased subsidies to parents to encourage more babies, for both working parents and those on state welfare. All she was doing was accelerating population growth, to speed up the economic destruction.
Tom Hunter
“They will have to pull out of their climate agreements.” – Roborob
They will not do so. Ever. – BYReal Scylla and Charybdis stuff, in which case we really are f*cked for there is no way to meet those goals without bankrupting the country and/or crashing into brownouts/blackouts, even with people and businesses leaving the country.
So again, we really are f*cked, aren’t we? Look at “100% renewable electricity” Daily Scream and the quiet fanatic that is No Right Turn with Reaping What They Have Sowed. He doesn’t mean that the renewable fanatics, he means those companies who have…
… known that the market works like this for 25 years. They are large, well-capitalised companies. If they wanted lower prices, they’ve had 25 years to build cheap, renewable generation to drive the expensive, price-setting fossil stations out of the market. But they haven’t, because that would be investment, as opposed to mere rent-seeking. They’re simply reaping what they sowed. And if the leopards are now eating their faces, I see no reason not to have some popcorn while they scream.
He banned comments years ago on his blog.
We.
Are.
f*cked.Chris Nisbet
“Do you really think that he will do that?”
Like I say, maybe when the lights start going out.Drone
So basically the country is f-ed. We have no significant rivers left to dam, (if we did the price the RMA and Iwi would charge to do it would be extortionate). We can’t build coal-fired stations because of climate change and the aforementioned RMA and Iwi charges. Wind and solar aren’t reliable. Nobody will address nuclear, we have no gas. In 5 years’ time we will suffer rolling blackouts as we desperately try to keep some semblance of normality in everyday life, that is if you can afford the cost of electricity. It will be like the carless days of yore, except it will be powerless days.
Chuck Bird
BY, are you aware of what Peter Dutton in Oz is proposing if he is PM after the coming election?
He going to drop the goals for either 2030 or 2035 as they are unachievable but agreeing to a goal for 2050 as he believes it is achievable with nuclear power generation.
If it can happen in Oz it could happen here if we had a leader with balls.
Chuck Bird
BY, this supports what I said. The Oz election is soon so it is worth waiting to see if Dutton rolls the Jew hating Marxist
Australia’s green energy push faces nuclear challenge
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Or they could do a Chinese deal, and claim to be a developing country – in which case, coal fired power stations are apparently fine, not polluting at all!
sirknz
No! Not the ‘N’ word!
Don Beckett
nigg* ???? Is that what you mean ? 😆
Steve Otto(North Shore)
There they go! Rolling around on the floor making stupid noises and having anxiety attacks. The “N” word!
ISeeRed
Nuclear will not happen in nuclear-free New Zealand. Let it go.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
It has to. It is the cleanest energy. The moronic protesters have to be ignored, they will not listen to reason – 2024 reason.
They are still living in 1986 Chernobyl. Nearly forty years ago!Benedict Yu
Why? The Nuclear Free Act does not prohibit nuclear power generation. Only weapons and nuclear powered ships.
ISeeRed
Because enough voters are brainwashed by anti-nuke propaganda.
CJames
The bosses of the power industry won’t say what I wrote. Too many are diversity hires and worried about political or public opinion. Look at their senior leadership teams. How many are 30 year industry veterans from the actual work side of the business?
Paulus
Are not the now senior people in the Electricity and similar Industries women, well the best people for the jobs, keep appearing on TV regularly now.
JackRabbit
Because, women are more easily manipulated by bullsh*t. We see this in the voting stats that has more women voting for the left, where as more men vote for the right, even in higher class groups.
That was the attraction with the tit* and teeth Ardern, and will be attraction with Harris in the USA. All smiles and cackling but no substance. Thick as a brick. Thinks that Cloud data is actually store in the Clouds. Batsh*t crazy.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Sadly true, significant numbers of middle-class middle-aged women are easily manipulated by emotion. Feelz are more important than reason.
Fortunately most of my female colleagues are engineers – empiricists who don’t take sh*t from anybody!
Grunter
CJames, I’m sure most of us appreciate your insights into the NZ energy situation – Thanks.
I have been following this company who have developed a ‘closed loop’ geothermal power generating system.
https://www.eavor.com/technology/
My uneducated view is that this should have some merit in NZ. Maybe it is cost-prohibitive?
Do you have a more educated view?
CJames
It is just another variation on the hot dry rock geothermal they have been unsuccessfully trying for 40 years. The world is littered with these projects. Personally, I think they will solve it a decade or so after fusion reactors are up and running.
JJ56
Think that’s fun, try Quaise’s effort https://www.quaise.energy/
RoboRob
Not just the new guys. I deal with people at Meridian who have been there 30+ years and they dont even consider options outside of Wind and solar. They know, from experience that more Hydro is impossible (RMA etc) and are focused on easy power.
I spoke of Nuclear and it was clear that they had never even thought about it.
Im not saying that this is everyone there, just the people I have spoken to.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
I don’t see wind and solar as easy power. Panels and blades replaced every 25 or so years?
SMRs are the way to go. Investment time now, first in first served. They won’t be developed without investment. Westinghouse looks good.Don Beckett
Also Rolls Royce.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Its easy because there are government subsidies, and it is the only pathway to a resource consent.
Its not about engineering, efficiency or cost. Its about what you can get over the line in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the land of the long white hypocrite.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
CEOs of damage control CJames.
kiwikidsnz
“…the fact that the gentailers have been incentivised to hold on to new generation consents and run generation lean to maximise profits is the root cause.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350371250/what-behind-our-super-high-electricity-prices
CJames
That is not the case. Generation runs lean because the costs of running are too high to justify capital expansion. Most of the consents (you need a lot more than just a permission to build a station at location X) haven’t been picked up, even if granted as conditions are too onerous.
kiwikidsnz
The first act of the generators after the privatisations was to change their depreciation basis from historical cost to replacement cost. That money, supposedly a tax subsidy for replacement upgrades, has gone to decades of superprofits.
cf. https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2024/08/paying_off_objectors.html
CJames
if they are using the money to pay off objectors so they can get consents, then that isn’t profit. The cost of doing business is very high, so is capital reinvestment. Look how much Mercury spent refurbishing all its Waikato hydros and they will need to start spending that money again in 10 years time. Get someone to run the numbers to see what the rate of return is on the gentailers’shares. They are middle of the pack. Not super profits.
Grunter
CJames is correct. You get a solid return as a shareholder, but much better returns elsewhere.
NZ energy companies have lagged the S&P500 Index
For example, since say 2011, Contact +64%
S&P500 is up 3.5xSo even a passive index investor would have done much better than investing in these NZ power companies.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
nah. Look at the price the Waitaki scheme is having to pay for its resource consent renewals. What exactly has changed that requires Ngai Tahu, DoC and Fish and Game to be bought off?
Has the hydro scheme changed its footprint? its water use? its impact on the environment? Really?
RoboRob
CJames is right. Yes the supply and demand model is broken becuase its impossible for new players to enter the market and so the existing players need to generate just enough power.
BUT it is also practically impossible to build new large scale power. For example Merridian has two 10 year projects to build a new hydro station. Both times eventually defeated by community and IWI groups. Thats 20years work and costs to not even get to the point of building the billion $ station.
Why would any commercial entity put themseleves through that cost unless forced to?
peterwn
What sort of ‘new players’? A retailer who buys most of its power at a low spot price and then hope he is not squeezed too hard during periods of spot prices. If you want to operate as a power retailer or as a major user you need to enter into firm contracts with a generator so that investors will invest in the needed generation. Alternatively the budding retailer or major user invests directly in generation including firming arrangements and there is a big hurdle here.
RoboRob
@peterwn
I am not referring to more retailers, there is plenty of competition in that market. The wholesale market, right now, is working and sending the signal to new players to get in cause he money is good. The system, as designed, is working. The problem is the barriers to entry.
If this were shoes and the price of shoes spiked you might set up a new shoe manufacturing business to get into the market. But because this is power, and it might take 10 years to get permission to build and then another 10 to actually build, any new player needs enough money to go for 20+ years of zero income and billions in spending. Not only that, they can assume the existing players will make interoperability as difficult as possible.
If you are an existing player you have a similar issue. Do I want to spend 20+ years and $10b+ building a new plant? Its safter just for me to milk the current prices. The only risk they have is that we run out of power and have blackouts. So they need to do enough to avoid that, and no more. This gives us our permanently high power prices.
I have said this many times. The infrastructure that deliver successful economies are cheap reliable power and transport. In NZ we have neither.
CJames
RR
There are a lot of small independent (non-big 4 gentailers) generators on the NZ grid. Many are invisible because they feed into the distribution system – there are hydro, geothermal, wind, solar plus if you add Nova, gas turbines. There are also embedded generators at large industries.
I can’t be bothered adding them all up but I would say it would total about 1GW.
JackRabbit
Consent hearings/issues/debates for extending Waitaki generation have been going on over well over 15+ years. I know this because I have worked for someone who was working on the consents.
Why can’t these consents be fast tracked at the “speed of science”? Oh, I forgot, consents move a lot faster when the path is lined with
lubricantkoha.
NeverMindTheBollocks
That article is what the Electric Kiwi guy thinks. He’s moaning that the gentailers won’t support his business model, and wants politicians to put a meaty thumb on the regulatory scales in his favour.
Just another middle class benefit-seeker.
kingerstinger
I was an Electric Kiwi customer for about 4 years. Their “woe is us” schtick got real old, real quick, when they used the excuse to hike their prices 3 times in a year.
Switched to Frank Energy, have had 1 increase in 2.5 years. EK pretend to be somehow different, but they’re a business like anyone else.
artemisia
As some have mentioned, ROI is middling. People with agendas only like to focus on big profit numbers. Those folk could make a bundle if they followed their advice to others. Waiting…
Steve Otto(North Shore)
That communist ex Prime Minister should be prosecuted and jailed for life for what she has done to New Zealand. That would be a deterrent to future commies in power.
Anyway, electricity. Auckland especially has to no nuclear. The longer we wait the more it will cost. Only fools think it will be cheaper with new infrastructure.
Then there is Huntly. I have said many times that Huntly was built on a coalfield for a reason. Poor excuses about different coal types etc. Well the coal was not different when Huntly was built was it? Make Huntly work again. f*ck the carbon. What NZ does is miniscule compared to China, Russia and the US.
Nuclear is the cleanest energy of all, so stop listening the the whining Greens.CJames
Huntly can’t go back to its coal field as that is burning underground. Too deep to opencast. The government did have land for a new power station near Meremere, Clune Rd, to use that underground mining coal but that land was given to Maori as a treaty settlement.
The third coal fired power station was to be between Benneydale and Piopio using those underground coal fields.Inandout
CJ, the Huntly mine’s entrances were also made to never be used again, a sort of state vandalism.
CJames
As far as I know, Huntly West closed their adit because of the fire. If it was to be reopened after they put out the fire, they would easily drive a new one parallel to it. Huntly East which has the lakes and whose mine actually goes under the power station was never going to supply the power station and its seams are near exhausted.
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deity
There are a lot of coal mine fires around the world and few can be put out. There were also problems with the Huntly West seam as it wasn’t flat and continuous like all the exploratory drilling indicated, but there were lots of significant steps in it.
Huntly is also an old station and those type of units are hard to get past 200k operating hours. Stop start operation hammers the high temperature (540°C) components.
So taking all the above into account, continue getting thermal coal from Oz or Indonesia for Huntly. If you built a new coal fired station, use NZ coal but locate it in SW Waikato for those coalfields with long wall mining.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
So if they were told to get it, put out the fire, and get back to generation. could they? Or is importing indonesian coal easier?
imalwaysright
“f*ck the carbon”
The carbon is a bonus. It makes plants grow.
peterwn
So the buck has now essentially stopped at the Government’s door with Ministers needing to decide whether to intervene or not. Market forces have effectively worked to limit demand to available capacity, this having the most effect on major users. The hazard with this is major users who drastically reduce demand or even shut down may never re-open or restore production to former levels. This includes both electricity and gas users. So the situation now seems to be at the stage where political decisions are needed to allocate available energy so that spot prices can be brought down to manageable levels. The a fundamental decision is whether the major users bear the brunt of restrictions or whether to apply restrictions to the domestic/small business market. Traditional methods have been water heating restrictions (eg 12 hours alternate days), limitations on display and shop window lighting etc. Use of gas cannot be readily restricted at domestic/ small business level since gas supplies at district or regional cannot be simply turned off then on. A mighty headache for the responsible Ministers.
Interesting that Mercury is suggesting gas customers switch to electric. This would be ineffective in the short term since the electricity has to come from somewhere. Presumably Mercury thinks it can provide the extra ‘renewable’ generation to enable such a switch. Mercury also has the issue of providing electricity to its ex-Trustpower customers as the amounts of electricity under its supply contract with Manawa (ex Trustpower generation) steadily diminish.kowtow
Surely it’s been political all along .
Wasn’t it Helen Clark who started the anti coal stuff when she was in charge ?Benedict Yu
No. That would be Simon Upton. As Minister for the Environment, he championed New Zealand’s membership of the UNFCCC and of the Kyoto Protocol. New Zealand’s enthusiasm for those institutions happened in the Jim Bolger government.
ISeeRed
National hasn’t changed since then. Except get worse.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
No, she gave Solid energy awards for their environmentalism, and to Pike River for its low green carbon footprint – apparently snails were more important than people in a well known gassy mine.
Lots has been flushed down the memory hole by that individual.
Tom Hunter
Interesting that Mercury is suggesting gas customers switch to electric… Mercury also has the issue of providing electricity to its ex-Trustpower customers as the amounts of electricity under its supply contract with Manawa (ex Trustpower generation) steadily diminish.
So that means as a Mercury customer twice-over I’m going to be f*cked twice-over? 🙂
Handyman
Socialism is a bit like bankruptcy. It happens slowly, then happens quickly.
After Venezuela nationalized electricity, water, oil, banks and supermarkets they blamed the inevitable decline and chaos on market failure. First they mandated a cap on the price of bread and the bakeries went broke. Then they mandated the price of flour and the millers went broke. Then they mandated the price of wheat and the farmers went broke. The government then declared capitalism a failure and nationalised everything to give to party loyalists.
Early stages in New Zealand. With every price signal sent by the market the government response (Labour and coalition) is to blame market participants and to regulate the sector to cap “excessive” profits.
Note this regulation does not require law change with its parliamentary scrutiny. It just requires a series of cabinet or even captain’s calls.
That is the first step along Venezuela’s trip down socialism lane.The market participants will respond in a rational manner. Don’t renew contracts for cheap gas supply when supplies are dwindling. Don’t build new power plants knowing the government will regulate away all future profits. Banks will comply with all new regulations and it may reduce profit, but also makes the sector less efficient. Eg making banks calculate the CO2 impact of every customer loan.
In summary, the New Zealand government is vilifying the electricity participants for the inevitable result of its own making. (I predict) The government will call this industry interference a “failure of the market” and move to nationalise aspects of the industry,
This will complete step two of the Venezuela model. Hide market signals by absorbing ineffiencies within the government. Convince the voters that the government can run things “fairer”. Look to leftist Australia. The government there has opened a chain of petrol stations to prove oil companies are price gouging.They will prove (if you internalise all overhead and capital costs within the government) that state run petrol stations are cheaper than the oil companies.This is a fun time to be alive. As per a recent meme; It like watching the fall of Rome, but with wifi.
JackRabbit
And then when it all collapses, elite companies who loaned the govt lots of money, against the state assets, emerge from the rubble in control of all the resources.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Ah yes, the Oligopoly model, coming soon!
Actually it is the standard NZ rent extraction model. Been going on here for more than 150 years. Tis the NZ way, the barons get rich, the peasants pay.
wsk12345
The bit I find curious is that the generation companies have to have known this year would come. They have over 100 years of hydrological data for our main catchments so we know what a dry year looks like and what the probability is. They all have models for hydro thermal optimisation so they can study investment scenarios. They will have known that there was a 1-in 5 year (or whatever) risk of major shortage. But none have said a word. Even Transpower who also has this capability has said nothing. Are they that wimpy they couldn’t have said anything?
CJames
If you bothered to read the Transpower reports, you would have known they have been warning of this for some months. It is also the reason why Contact started Stratford some months ago, though they are running down the clock on that unit and unlikely to refurbish it without a stable gas supply/
Yvette
And all of this, CJames, the lack of power now, is without considering the aspiration to have the nation driving electric vehicles, the demand of which could require about 3.2 more Benmore hydro generators, and then AI development which in the USA is calculated to sap as much energy alone in 2030 (of course only six years away) as the US nation uses today.
For a vague comparison consider the extra demand on systems that the computer work Weta did on LOTR required.Benedict Yu
And yet we have the Climate Change Commission telling us that ALL use of gas in New Zealand should cease with all that energy replaced by electrcity.😳🤡 I have been thinking since “How is that possible?” But few folk seen worried about it. They likely will change their minds when the lights go out.
Burtland
folk will only worry about it when they have to pay to install a hot water cylinder
– they will scream and protest and the taxpayer will coughPaulus
You mean that we will have to replace our very good Gas Water cylinder with an Electric one compatible with our Electric supply where the current pricing is growing monthly exponentially.
pdm
Burt it cost us about $4,500 to install an outside, electric Hot Water cylinder after our old one blew its guts this time last year.
A great improvement with water pressure and no impact on pow bills we could see until maybe our most recent one.
Handyman
One quick way to help and save the government $140m is to can the NZSteel electric furnace.
Benedict Yu
Isn’t it already up and running? If not there will be a contract.
RoboRob
Yeah, great solution. Close down businesses to reduce power demand. Thats just what the economy needs.
Burtland
business’ made their own choices to go on the spot market – they even took bribes to be part of the new sustainable energy plan
CJames
A lot of businesses had no choice but to go on the spot market. They could cover that with hedges and supply contracts but they didn’t want to or didn’t have the nous as to know how to do that.
wsk12345
CJames – they have had plenty of years to learn how the market works. Or to find a broker who can manage that for them.
Burtland
Industry has been paid with carbon credits to do dozens of these conversions for industrial heat – plain stupid. Some may even be paid to turn load off.
JackRabbit
A coal furnace converts to electricity, which places excess demand on generation which requires burning of more coal to generate said electricity.
Only someone mentally retarded, or someone following the WEF’s “great reset” plan, that requires electricity generation to be overloaded, and grid collapsed, would suggest doing such a thing.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
You should have 30+ upticks for that comment, but only one, from me.
Leads me to thing the mentally retarded who think like that are embarrassed.JackRabbit
And one of them down ticked our posts.
Handyman
JackRabbit, you said it better than my original post. I should have put a /sarc or /irony tag on my comment.
Master Mariner
Good Post CJ.
I guess when you have no consequences , This is what we end up with.
A Scorched Earth Energy Policy, Enabled by a Misguided ESG policy and “Group Think” echo chambers.
Meanwhile NZ businesses will continue to close due to high energy prices.
Hurricane Katrina springs to mind when all services are shut, Power, ATM’s etc . And total chaos becomes the norm as people panic.
Is NZ that much different ?Steve Otto(North Shore)
Hurricane Katrina was within reason localised.
NZ’s sh*t is everywhere. It is a mess designed by idiots.
Matt Long
Electricity shortages have a simple fix, send a questionnaire to all account holders asking if they support a ban on gas or coal fired power plants.
Then simply flick the switch off for all that do, whenever there’s a electricity shortage looming. Or the windmills aren’t turning.Grunter
Better still, check the 2017 & 2020 voting papers. Everyone who voted Labour or Greens gets their wish – power switched off today!
All Leftards told to “Go buy a windmill and some crappy solar panels!!”
Clyde
Some basic facts that need to be distributed far and wide by all media. This is a forlorn hope in that most MSM influencers (known sometimes as journalists) won’t run the story because it doesn’t fit their ideological narrative.
1 NZ is on its own. We can’t plug in to another country or into another time zone.
2 NZ hasn’t built enough power generators for the last 30 years to cope with any projected increase in population or more dependance on electricity for heating or industry.
3 Wind and solar are completely unreliable and their energy can’t be stored unless expensive batteries are used. No point in having the potential for 1200MW of wind if it isn’t blowing.
4 It is stupid to build more generation capacity in the south of the SI if the consumption is in the north of the NI. Transmission losses and reliance on a cable that runs adjacent to the many earthquake faults is risky.
5 All references to any Treaty crap or payment to any third party for harnessing rivers, gas or modern coal need to be removed from any legislation. No payments to any iwi for renewal of any consents to continue to operate existing plants or build any new ones.
6 Investigate urgently the use of nuclear in the NI. Large tanker like vessels to house nuclear plants anchored to shore would be an obvious way to mitigate earthquake risk.
7 In the interim, encourage large users (Fonterra etc) to continue to use coal until more plants are built.
8 Fast track the lot.Burtland
and Transpower have idiots undoing too many bolts during tower servicing …
“The (Transpower) Board would like to thank Alison Andrew for the significant contribution she has made to the organisation over the last decade. Alison was instrumental in evolving Transpower’s asset management journey and in establishing it as a thought leader on New Zealand’s energy future with the publication of Te Mauri Hiko and Whakamana i Te Mauri Hiko. We wish her all the very best for the future.” – Dr Keith Turner (Chair)
PurplePen
I like idea 6.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
5. needs to stop. That is just money going nowhere for no purpose and gives no return.
The land was sold remember. Give it back and this is what you get – extortion.
Stellaboxer
It’s as if we haven’t enough problems in NZ that we have to engineer them. It’s like the maintenance guys in factories that deliberately sabotage things so they can fix them and ease the boredom. 2017 rock star economy, new roads being built near full employment and a country to be proud of and one of the most desirable destinations in the world. Neck minute leftwing arrives to fix all the problems. And here we are.
Pope Punctilious II
Key was a shyster, and his “rock star” economy was based on high immigration and rising house prices. A real rock star economy would be based on higher labour productivity.
Stellaboxer
Oh I didn’t realise it was all sh*te and Key was a shyster. I feel much better knowing that and that things weren’t really better than they are now. I’ll just ring my bank up and tell them to adjust my savings accordingly.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Not just factories. There are other places with similar issues.
CJames
Australia. US, UK, Germany are all facing similar issues. The common factor is a reliance on the unreliables.
PurplePen
Not quite in topic but I read Manawa Energy, formerly Trustpower, faces a sharply lower earnings forecast. Clearly the effort put into it’s maorification with the name change didn’t please the taniwha. Oh well.
peterwn
The name was changed because it was necessary when selling their mass customer base to include the brand ‘Trustpower’. So Mercury owns the intellectual property in the name ‘Trustpower’. Same with the ‘Mercury’ brand. Mercury was the brand figure for the Auckland Electric Power Board probably since 100 years ago.The Board rebranded Mercury at some point and when it sold its customers to Mighty River the brand went with the customers and later Mighty River re-branded to Mercury. The trust owned network in Auckland needed a new name so Vector was chosen.
Fender
There are so many posts on here that explain things I did not know, so well. Things like links to the power generation graphs of the new windfarms etc. I try to pass alot on to friends but surely there’s a need for some ted talk, youtube type videos to be made and placed on TV to actually explain things like this to the masses. People glaze over at politics unless there active on blogs like this but couldn’t someone fund there own version of 60 minutes, with no politicans involved. Covid showed that lots of people were open to facts once they were actually shown data.
Can you imagine social media comments after people had/could see the live windfarm data for themselves. Yes its publicly available but is it really public knowledge. Julian Batchelor is at least trying to educate which you have to admire him for.CJames
Here is a link from about 1500MW of wind for last 7 days
https://electricitymap.frenchsta.gg/?timeframe=-7d&fuel=WIN
Keith White
Exactly. Solar and wind are useful for nice-to-have supplementary energy – *if* you can store what they generate for later use – but are useless for gotta-have-it-24/7.
peterwn
Audrey Young in a premium Herald article considered that ‘Chris Hipkins’ political radar way off with petty, outdated questions.’ She mentioned as an example Chris’s question about the ‘we are not in Mexico’ matter that was put to bed ages ago.
Perhaps the problem facing Chris and his Labour MP’s is what questions to ask and how to frame them so Ministers cannot knock a six off them. This would severely limit the range of topics for questions.mandk
Hipkins is utterly hopeless.
His top three priorities seem to be:
1) Dreaming up new ways to increase taxes.
2) Support for Palestine.
3) Supporting trans “women” over real women.The Labour caucus knows that. They are just biding their time to appoint a new leader.
Paulus
As Labour’s new Leader will have to be a woman again are there any trans women in the Labour hierarchy who can fulfil that role.
G the giant from Dunedin
Who would they take as new leader? With Labour on 24% in that Morgan poll and Hipkins still spouting bullsh*t, who would they take, McAnulty has ruled it out once and for all, surely they don’t think the hack Anderson
pdm
mank – how can 3 be right when Hipkins still does not know what a woman is?
Keith White
“A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.”
Context – from a Rudyard Kipling poem ‘The Betrothed’.
A man who is arguing with his fiancée about his smoking habit, and she is forcing him to choose between her or his habit. The final line suggests that his habit was formed before they were betrothed and that if she will not tolerate it then he cannot be with her.
Sic transit gloria mundi…
Pope Punctilious II
Any reason to be his eventual replacement will think differently? Those three items sound like standard LINO fare.
AitchW
I don’t know if any government in NZs history has done so much lasting damage to this country.
What really scares me is that many of the current incompetent crop of MPs will still be there in 5 or 8 years when they get back in.
Imagine if they manage to find another Ardern.AitchW
Just to avoid any confusion I was referring to the Ardern/Hipkins government.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
But look at the “talent” lining up to backstab Hipkins. Verral, Edmonds, Anderson, McAnulty!!!
Chippy is a nasty little weasel, but if I were him, I’d hire a food taster!
Benedict Yu
Julie Anne Genter will still aspire to be Transport Minister. Indeed it is quite possible. Think of the damage she could cause.
G the giant from Dunedin
Yes and think further, Shwarbrick as DEP pm, high ranking ministers for the two leaders of TPM
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Yes, the “car parking” expert who was quietly moved on from every paying job she ever had.
Funny how its only white chicks with anger issues that don’t face consequences in the Green party eh?
Steve Otto(North Shore)
I think most Kiwis other than the stupid will recognise another Ardern at 40 paces.
She started her crusade in 2009 with that speech. We are on the lookout for Country killers. Luxon could be one, don’t know yet.NeverMindTheBollocks
‘many of the current incompetent crop of MPs will still be there in 5 or 8 years when they get back in’
They have no better gig to go to. Of course they’ll still be there.
Bobba Fret
I lost a lot of faith in Audrey Young’s opinions when she used to rate the Labour ministers when they were in government. Giving the like s of Ardern, Robertson etc. 8 or 9 out of 10 was ridiculous.
the deity formerly known as nigel6888
Yes, but on the other hand, she quickly worked out on which side of her bread the butter was….
So her current ratings need to be assessed in the same light.
Chuck Bird
This could help Trump bigly.
Megyn Kelly hints at more revelations to come about Kamala Harris’ history
Lance
Yea, none of this debating policy sh*t.
Ad hominem is the way to go //, both sides should stop this kindergarten sh*t and grow up.Mike
Debating policies doesn’t excite voters. Engagement is driven by activating fear and anger.
Paulus
What and spoil the fun !
All_on_Red
Lance
You might like Trumps new Policies
No taxes on tips and he has ‘proposed ending taxes on Social Security payments entirely, a long-sought policy change by AARP and other senior interest groups’.
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/08/08/nyt-trump-might-have-hit-political-gold-with-this-proposal-n3792848Lance
Happy to hear about policies and consider the pro’s and con’s of each one.
It’s the other sh*t I dislike, and to see it creeping into NZ politics bothers me deeply.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Walz is a coward. Read about his Service. He is dangerous and far more left than Harris ever will be.
Megyn Kelly is switched on and knows what she is talking about. Trump will be wanting air time with all of his media supporters.pdm
The strange thing is I am sure I heard Christopher Luxon praising Walz the other day.
Why would he do that?
thetiedarch
I can’t find a web link but The Press has a full page obituary to the political head of Hamas.
Words fail me.
Ghost
It’s a Washington post article, I believe this one, it is paywalled on the post, not on Washington post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/07/31/ismail-haniyeh-hamas-dies/
Benedict Yu
I have only browsed it.
There is nothing unusual in newspapers publishing obituaries of bad people. I don’t see what the problem is unless there is something in the obituary with which you have an issue.
thetiedarch
So an Obituary for Hitler a few weeks after the end of WWII would have been ok?
Benedict Yu
I don’t know. I don’t have a sufficient handle on New Zealand social norms in 1945.
Mike
The Daily Express published this obituary on 2 May 1945:
The Daily Express rejoices to announce the report of Adolf Hitler’s death. It prints today every line of information about the manner of his death. It wastes no inch of space upon his career. The evil of his deeds is all too well known. It gives no picture of the world’s most hated man. It records that Hitler was born Shicklegruber at Braunau, Austria, on 20 April 1889, and that his days upon the earth he sought to conquer were too long.Jake Dee
Of course it would be OK. I fact if you left it until a couple of weeks AFTER the end of WWII then you are leaving it several weeks too late.
Hitler was dead on April 30th and the final surrender in Berlin didn’t happen until May 8th. plenty of crazy stuff happened in the meantime.
Obituaries are to let the public know of the person’s death and the particulars of their life. Why would you object to the truth being known?
Drone
If Hamas get lucky and “find” Netanyahu every news website and paper in the world will have a full page obituary.
Mike
Some of them might even be complimentary.
NeverMindTheBollocks
But will these cameras capture and report bad riding behaviour by cyclists?
http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/524585/business-to-offer-ai-cameras-for-front-of-buses
Benedict Yu
Is it really a big problem? If cyclists ride like crazy they generally kill themselves. In driving around, I am not on the lookout for crazy cyclists. Crazy drivers, yes, always.
MCōs
According to this article no cyclists have died on the mean streets of Chch since Nov’22 and that was likely caused by a medical event
https://can.org.nz/article/new-zealand-cycling-deathsMr Nobody NZ
Yes it matters, it’s hugely traumatic to the poor driver who rolls over the cyclist who has to live with the consequences both emotionally and legally.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Might even catch buses running red lights. It happens a lot on the Shore.
BananaLlama
Is it true that despite having harmful relations with a minor while on bail that SAFE and OT will still recommend discharge without conviction for sex offenders?
If so then it would be no surprise SAFE has such a high success rate, you just can’t fail the program.Steve Otto(North Shore)
Shot Trump supporter speaks out.
Conservatarian
Have they identified which shooter shot David Dutch?
Steve Otto(North Shore)
You mean the Secret Service guy with the shrapnel?//
Conservatarian
Steve, you should go to the Twitter / X page of John Cullen (@I_Am_JohnCullen). He’s been all over this for the last 3-4 weeks. Check out his interview with Bret Weinstein / Dark Horse Podcast titled “How Many Shooters?” and his interview with former Marines & Special Ops sniper instructor Clay Martin. These are long but worth it.
Take a look at his work where he analyses ballistics and all the mobile phone footage (video and audio frame by frame using audio software) available to build a 3D model of the assassination site and events. He’s done some fascinating work identifying the “crack / thump delta” (the tiny gap between the “crack” of the speeding bullet as it passes a microphone or your ears followed split seconds later by the “thump” of the report of an unsuppressed gun) which calculates the distance of the shooter from Trump (assuming you also know the speed of the round being fired). He appears to have identified another shooter to find subsonic gunfire from a suppressed gun (i.e. shots not heard because they travel slower than the speed of sound) seconds earlier than the 3 then 5 shots we hear from the vicinity of the building, plus muzzle flashes from inside the building underneath the patsy Crooks plus a super slo-mo of the countersniper bullet which nailed Crooks. Further, he’s correcting his working hypotheses in real time as he discovers evidence. Go down the rabbit hole.
All done in the in the absence of any actual updates from the FBI. They’ve obviously buried their file with Crooks.
All_on_Red
Donald Trump saw more combat at Butler, PA than Tim Walz ever did in the National Guard
Conservatarian
Tim AWOLz.
Conservatarian
Indeed, when you have bent the knee to the race communists during the George Floyd Riots in the Summer of Love 2020 you must also bend the knee to the gender communists by installing tampon dispensers in the boys’ rooms of the elementary schools.
Follow The Science.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Let’s go to Iraq.
Um no thanks, I’m outa here.
Oma rapeti, oma rapeti, oma oma oma.Its only I
Are you sure your right?
I bet your being fooled by trumps sh*t flinging team.
All_on_Red
Your track record at being wrong is impressive
‘But when Walz was running for governor in 2018, former members of the National Guard spoke out about his service, with a retired command sergeant major saying he “embellished and selectively omitted facts of his military career for years.”In an open letter posted to Facebook that year, retired Command Sergeants Major Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr wrote that Walz retired just a few months after receiving a warning order that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq – even though he told military personnel he would be going on the mission.
“On May 16th, 2005, [Walz] quit, betraying his country, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war,” Behrends and Herr wrote.’
https://www.dailywire.com/news/walz-embellished-and-selectively-omitted-facts-about-his-military-career-retired-national-guardsmenIts only I
Walz was due to retire after the std twenty years, he extended for another 4 then a few months after he left the order came through, just for you little one, the military can and has suspended retirement if they needed to….but this time they didn’t.
Here is another little fact for little red…the person retires at the highest rank they served a complete three years, if those three years are not complete then they retire at the next rank down.
[Mod – debate the topics, keep the personal jabs to yourself]
All_on_Red
He ran away
He deserted his men
Face the facts
And he has claimed Stolen Valour saying he went to ‘War’, when he didn’t.
The Trump faction is VERRY happy at his selection.
I can see why.
imalwaysright
Saw the Governess General on the TV.
Is she taking the piss out of the late queen?
What’s with the daft vocal affectations and the godly mannerisms?Benedict Yu
What did she say? BTW A female Governor General is just that. She is not a “Governess”.
imalwaysright
Thanks for the valuable information.
Vocal affectation refers to the manner of speaking, not the content.
I would send you a link to an explanatory web page but I can’t be arsed.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Biden admin gives $239 million to Taliban.
How many more taxpayer dollars will be funneled to terrorists before someone in Washington takes accountability?cmm
$239M pah!
What do you think was the value of all the equipment left behind in their panicked withdrawal? That must have been billions, not millions.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
$82 billion apparently.
Thing is American money is going to Afghanistan when there are homeless and injured Veterans who could do with that help.Keith White
Well, NZ Govt is sending taxpayer-extorted money to UN so UNWRA staff in Gaza can rebuild Hamas’ arsenals…
cmm
USA spent over $2 trillion of their Afghanistan campaign, approx $300M per day.
There are approx 40 million Afghanis so that is an average of about $50,000 spent per Afghani citizen.
Imagine if they’d put the money into education and road building rather than bombs and bullets…
kowtow
Not to mention the killed and maimed coalition soldiers.
For what .
Jake Dee
$82 billion in military equipment stranded in Afghanistan? That sounds about right. But that stuff was never coming back to the USA. That stuff was at the terminus of a long and tricky logistics supply line that had been running for 20 years into the mountainous heart of central Asia.
Jake Dee
Taking just a little bit of time to actually read that article reveals that it says nothing like “Biden admin gives $239 million to Taliban”.
“…the State Department couldn’t keep track of where the money was going or who was getting it”
Seems to me to be a pretty fair assessment of the article, minus the hand wringing about the hard-working taxpayers, the state of the US-Mexican border and the national debt, all of which are legitimate points, but you have to stop falling for sensationalist clickbait headlines.
Another thing you should consider is that these feeble accounting practices are a feature and not a bug of the American involvement in Afghanistan. There are plenty of shady outfits both in America and Asia that Washington wants to support without having to write “Shady Dudes Inc.” on the receipts.
Mr Nobody NZ
The Herald is reporting today of vigilante groups operating in Tauranga and Christchurch targeting sex offenders with Detective Senior Sargent Natalie Flowerdew-Brown saying, “Contact us and let us deal with it through the courts”.
Except after numerous cases where society has allowed the legal system process the cases and sex offenders getting home detention is this not just the natural response?
Benedict Yu
It is also a very dangerous response. Inevitably, mistaken identity leads to an attack on the wrong person.
Maggy Wassilieff
Yep..
Some people can’t figure out that a paediatrician is not necessarily a paedophile.
Mr Nobody NZ
Completely agree, however its not like the other system does that well either with 893 convictions being overturned between 2013 and 2023. Perhaps it’s just the “price” of justice.
cmm
“It is also a very dangerous response”
But this is the response you get when “the system” (police, courts, etc) abdicate their responsibilities.
If the cops spend their time harassing innocent people then someone else, with less training, will step up instead.
It isn’t right, but that is how society works.
Ghost
One of these people was a 20 year old meeting up with who they pretended was a 16 year old, so legally consent age.
I had a friend in high school, she was 15, her boyfriend, who had permission to go to the school dances was 21.
Maggie Pie
“This current crop in the Maori Party are clearly on a mission to stir up discontent,
rather than showing any attempt to be constructive. That is the danger”– Barry Sopher (NewstalkZB)
Interesting that our Maori friends say how much they hate what TMP are doing
and are actually embarrassed by them.
Thay all say…. “Name ONE thing they’ve achieved for Maori they pretend to represent. They are nothing but a pack of marxist stirrers intent on causing division and need to be kicked out”Chuck Bird
Yes. We should have a binding referendum on the racist Maori seats.
Ghost
It needs to be up to Māori to remove Māori seats. A referendum of all Māori voters on both rolls would accomplish this.
Chuck Bird
If a man can identify as a woman then any non-Maori can identify as a Maori.
Mr Nobody NZ
Anybody who feels they are Maori are Maori
There is no blood quantum, and with the urbanization of Maori for most their Whakapapa has been lost to the sands of time.
New Zealand is Maori, we are all Maori there is no need for separation with local/national government. Iwi’s have no greater or lesser significance than any other organisation representing a group of like minded individuals for example Destiny’s Church.
Benedict Yu
Well logically, no.
IIRC Wayne Mapp explained that only Maori could decide to end the Maori seats and they never will.
Keith White
If I need urgent medical care I fully intend to do so.
Grunter
Down tick 1st sentence – why only Maori to vote on this issue? That in itself is blatantly racist.
Uptick your point that the majority of Maori would vote for the removal of Maori seats.
Most Kiwis are not racist. Most MP’s and Govt Dept’s are racist as they support to some degree what they call “race-based policies” (word salad for racist policies).
Ghost
If you want protests and unrest like you’ve never seen then let non maori take the seats off them
imalwaysright
“If you want protests and unrest like you’ve never seen then let non maori take the seats off them”
Handbags at dawn!
The maori activists are generally lazy and over endowed with cowardice.
Stand by for exuberant hakas!!!Grunter
Ghost – I agree, there will be protests. But continue on our current path and we will see even more protests and civil unrest
Ghost
Just trust in Māori Grunter, they will vote the seats away. Because it will be Māori making that decision it will go a lot easier than non Māori
Paulus
Why should a population of some 15% decide what is correct for the 85%.
Of course a Maori only electorate would decide 100% despite there being no Maori left anyway.Benedict Yu
“Majority Rules” is moderated in many democracies. For example, in the USA, California and Wyoming get two senators despite California having 10 times the population. Same in Australia with tasmania vs Victoria and nsw.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
If we are one people then a referendum should be for ALL New Zealanders.
Why just a referendum for Maori, Ghost? Isn’t that racist?kowtow
Why does it “need to be up to Maoris”
That’s not how our democracy operates .
One could as easily make the point that only firearms owners should vote on the relevant Act or farmers on livestock exports etc
All_on_Red
You need more than 75% of all MPs to agree to remove the Maori Seats for it to happen.
A Referendum would make little difference.
For the record I think they should go.
Maybe one day they will.Mr Nobody NZ
A referendum would provide protection for every Party that supports removing the Maori seats to act as they would argue that they’re doing so because its the “will” of the people.
At the same time, it provides them to present those opposed as being unwilling to act in alignment with the voter’s wants thereby leaving them with their only defence being “we know better than you”.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
So time to talk to your local MP. Cameron Brewer, I have a question some time before 2026.
Damocles11
OMG, take the temperature down! Time for another flag referendum, quick smart!
Steve Otto(North Shore)
He’s becoming like Helen Clark.
PurplePen
Don’t need a referendum. 1986 Royal Commission that recommended MMP also recommended the seats be abolished.
PurplePen
Not required. They were only ever established as a temporary measure because you could only vote if you were a man that owned property. There was no register for property that Maori owned, the Empire wanted them to be able to participate in government until that issue was resolved, so the government established said seats. Through disinterest and lazy government it all got overlooked and left as it was. It was the government that created the seats, without any referendum, and they can remove them without the same.
JJ56
A little curiosity in the Kapiti representation Review out for consultation. There is a single Maori Councillor for a population of 4930. The other 8 ward Councillors average ~8000. Plus there are 2 District councillors that presumably represent everyone and don’t come into it.
All done will a straight face.
Benedict Yu
Soper.
mandk
It’s easier to be a victim than a striver.
kingerstinger
Soper swings wildly between solid journalism like this, and hysterical flailing and whinging when he feels the least bit slighted by the Government.
Benedict Yu
How are you going to get the Maori Party MPs “kicked out”. Yes, I find them odious but there is no lawful way to do what you are suggesting. I don’t even know why I need to explain that to you.
RoboRob
I know what you are saying but there are things that can be done.
1. Rules in the house. The speaker can remove / block people from the debate chamber if they dont meet his standards. For example the dress code. This could be applied to people who refuse to tone down their rhetoric
2. The media could stop reporting this stuff.Regardless, I disagree with both my ‘solutions’ above. We should allow free speech and opinion. If TPM want to make clowns of themselves then they can reap the rewards of their actions. Eventually Labour will need to say, we wont work with these people or risk being tarred by association.
PurplePen
Yes. The best solution is natural justice. Let them continue to make clowns of themselves. In fact, encourage them to go further.
MCōs
If an mp is not odious to someone they’re probably not in the right job
Paulus
I quite enjoy watching the shenanigans of Maori in Parliament at least it keeps the media happy and allows the elected Government to carry out the considerable details upon which they were elected.
PurplePen
They also only represent about 16% of the Maori vote. About 1/3rd voted for the coalition parties and 1/3rd for Labour. Also worth noting the number of votes they got weren’t much more than what Top Party got.
mogg
The Māori party are doing a good job, they are making Labour unelectable.
G the giant from Dunedin
Yes, and that’s my reply to idiots on social media saying one term government, just imagine going to the next election having to decide on Hipkins Labour rabble, with criminal greens and corrupt TPM, it won’t be hard to persuade voters why we should stick with what we have
Conservatarian
Why did (D) VP candidate Tim Walz claim he has fired “weapons of war” in war? Why did the regime media claim he served in Afghanistan and Iraq? Walz actually dropped out of the National Guard in 2005 as soon as he was called up, to pursue his political career. I believe he may have “served” in Italy, well known for being a war zone. This is what the Americans refer to as “stolen valor.”
Tim AWOLz.
RichardX
Are you sure that is Walz claimed?
“…Tim Walz claim he has fired “weapons of war” in war”
Tauhei Notts
When it comes to warfare Tim Walz thinks the pen is mightier than the sword.
Libertarians are right
Which is funny because JD Vance was actually a Military Journalist for the Marines in an Iraq war zone.
Jake Dee
That’s a cover story he was military intelligence and psychological operations.
Libertarians are right
The actual quote in context (talking about “assault rifle” bans) was: “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war,”
So yes, Walz did make that lie.
RichardX
Good to know you think carried and fired are the same.
It is a damning enough quote without exaggerating for effect.
Libertarians are right
Because he knows the majority of the media will repeat his lies to attack the Right?
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Biden’s failed Presidency.
Southern Border. Other than votes you have to ask why?
I have never seen America so desperate to survive.
Chinese vehicles. Trump is right. A 100 or 200% Tariff on them. Make jobs for Americans.https://patriotpowerednetwork.com/bidens-failed-presidency-a-detailed-look/?
imalwaysright
Nancy says Sleepy deserves to be on Mount Rushmore !
(Maybe its her new teeth)Vid less than 2 minutes
https://youtu.be/Zs73fT-gdjo?si=V9rdfrQZPcLbKIp_
Conservatarian
The regime media has acknowledged the result of the coup to install the (D) nominee, but does not want to ask Hidin’ Harris anything about the coup itself and about her role in the coup.
In 2020, they hid Biden in his basem*nt and ballot harvested such that they got enough pieces of paper with a (D) ticked to feed into their counting machines.
In 2024, they’re hiding Harris in plain sight. Attach her to celebrity events, don’t discuss policy, pretend she has had nothign to do with the biden regime, don’t let her answer any questions not pre-scripted on a teleprompter, and use the word “joy” to describe the candidacy of this astroturfed, insincere, unlikeable candidate.
Obviously they plan to ballot harvested to get enough pieces of paper with a (D) ticked to feed into their counting machines.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Harris wants illegals to vote.
These Democrats are just plain evil.https://patriotpulse.net/kamala-harris-has-one-diabolical-plan-to-allow-illegal-aliens-to-vote/?
Grunter
Steve –
‘The Deciders’ will do ANYTHING to stop Trump. Even if he wins in Nov, they will stop him.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Debates.
Now that Harris IS the nominee…..G the giant from Dunedin
I don’t think she is the nominee until she is actually given the title at the convention this month
Libertarians are right
She only wants one, that her people control.
What a coward. She’s affraid of Trump etc, etc, etc.
Maggie Pie
TRENDING
Iraq returning to its stoneage roots?
‘Iraq’s Parliament to lower the legal age of marriage for girls from 15 to 9’
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1821132104056410207
Why only 9? Sure I read somewhere that Muhammed’s wife was 6 🙁
fightingtemeraire
She was 9 when he had sex with her.
G the giant from Dunedin
Maybe they could get their mums to train them up
cmm
In West Africa the AVERAGE age of first birth of a child is 18.5 years old. ie. the AVERAGE girl/woman is getting pregnant before her 18th birthday.
If that’s average, then a considerable part of the Bell curve must be extending down into the young teens and tweenies.
Benedict Yu
Iraq does not have “stoneage roots”. As the last major landmass to be settled, that title goes to New Zealand. Maori had no written language and no maths.
The predecessors of modern Iraq, Sumeria and Babylon, were the centre of civilisation, stretching back thousands of years.
What you are seeing in modern day Iraq is how religion, in this case Sunni Islam, can ruin everything, especially the fortunes of women and girls. For centuries the Catholic Church held this role. Now it is undoubtedly fundamentalist Islam. That is what we are seeing in Iraq. However it has nothing to do with “stone age roots”. They don’t exist.
Jethrod
Excellent summation!
Damocles11
Yes, the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys were the ‘cradle of civilisation’.
Mike
Everyone has stone age roots.
Maggy Wassilieff
Some people are ashamed of theirs.
NoFax
The Catholic Church built Western Civilization. That’s not in dispute.
cmm
Everyone has stoneage roots.
What is more important is:
a) where they are now.
b) which direction they are heading.It doesn’t matter if Iraq was the cradle of civilisation 3000 years ago when Brits were living in trees flicking poo at aeachother.
What matters is now.
Burtland
the marxists have coined the termed gender apartheid
they dont seem to want to offend islam
Drone
Bombed into the stone age by the American dream machine and the Brits.
Chuck Bird
“Why only 9? Sure I read somewhere that Muhammed’s wife was 6”
The pedo did not shag her till she was 9.
cmm
Yup, he liked them mature.
Ian
TVNZ not commercially savvy, crying out about loss of advertising revenue. Last night on Seven Sharp they had a lengthy article panning energy drinks, yet some of those companies spend heaps on commercials with TVNZ. Also, as an example, put the current episode of Britain’s Got Talent on TVNZ+ at the same time as it’s showing on TVNZ2. Why would you watch the live episode when you can watch it commercial free on TVNZ+? Also live TVNZ commercial breaks often feature multiple competitors in the same commercial break – (i.e. two supermarkets or two car adverts). I used to work for them 50 years ago (as NZBC), and putting two competitors in the same break was a sackable offence…
PurplePen
Two things from that. Seven Sharp panning energy drinks. Aren’t they then showing editorial independence. Tui ad BTW. Second, perhaps the multiple competitors in the same commercial break is because they’ve only got a handful wanting to advertise with them.
BTW, through some quirk in my PC’s browser, I get no ads from TVNZ+. I don’t let it update nor change anything now.
NoFax
I think you exposed the issue for TVNZ even if you didn’t mean it. No one under 50 watches tv with that average increasing all the time. I saw in the US the average age for watching MSNBC is 70, FOX 69, and CNN 67. I would think it’s similar here in NZ. There are plenty of alternatives which provide a better bang for your buck.
sirknz
Be careful with your thought crimes folks.
An X user was visited by the police yesterday over posts they made on X. The Police who visited wouldn’t elaborate which posts they were ‘talking to’ the user about.
The user has since deleted their account.
Jethrod
What country?
sirknz
Aotearoa New Zealand.
Mike
As X won’t moderate its own content, expect governments to have to step in. While Elon Musk bleeds money and desperately tries to sue corporations for not advertising with him.
Pope Punctilious II
And how would you suggest X moderates its content? This blog moderates for civility and legality (you’re not allowed to breach name-suppression orders, for example). The Standard “moderates” for political alignment (they look for pretexts to ban dissident voices), though they also ban extreme left-wing crazies like “millsy” because they’re worried he’s a liability to the left. Moderating for “misinformation” is a tricky business, as there’s often a subjective element to it.
Mike
I’d suggest it adopt controls more like Facebook and other moderated media. Much of the complete bullsh*t on unmoderated channels is neither civil nor legal.
Since Musk foolishly overvalued Twitter and couldn’t renege on the deal, he’s done his best to lose even more money by contradictory steps, like expecting advertisers to pay to promote their products next to neo-Nazi slogans, etc, which he allows coz ‘free speech’.Pope Punctilious II
Can you provide a link to any of those neo-Nazi slogans? I’ve seen plenty of nasty and ill-informed stuff on X, but I can’t recall seeing anything that I’d call “neo-Nazi” – not that I spend much time on X.
Conservatarian
“Moderate its own content”? You mean why does Twitter allow its users to embarrass the police or the State by pointing out obviously true things? The old Twitter was controlled by censorious leftists who know things that just ain’t so. Now X is a whole new ballgame.
Remember, Twitter board and management tried to block Musk from acquiring it despite his offer of 50% above market price (about $15b from $29b to $44b if I recall). This was despite his offer being an obviously good deal for Twitter’s shareholders, to whom the board have a fiduciary duty.
That $15b can easily be defined as the value of Twitter’s being able to influence or control the narrative for just one avenue of free speech.
That’s why the leftists are still fuming and have pressured ESG-addled corporate advertisers to drop Twitter from their advertising budget.
PurplePen
I suppose they could visit anyone they like, but under what law could they actually act or enforce? And the Green party leaders shout some pretty awful and disturbing things when in public. Do they then get a visit? TPM leaders also I might add.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
That has to stop. Police can now do whatever they want with no explanation.
Wide open to Police abuse.Mod88
Here is the link to that visit.
Simon Anderson on X
https://x.com/SimonRAnderson/status/1821647308351795271OlderChas
That is kinda scary! I have interacted with many police through sporting channels, and have had a high level of respect for our Police Service. Lately that level of respect has diminished, and a video like that hastens the process! What a complete waste of a short-staffed organisation’s time it was (a): tracking down the anonymous account holder and (b): Two officers spending that amount of time not actually doing anything constructive!
Conservatarian
That is chilling. Thank goodness he filmed that and contacted Simon Anderson for Simon to post it.
This is the banality of evil: the smiling, friendly face of two uniformed police officers just “doing their job” while investigating a father for making silly jokes on the internet. It will take hours for these taxpayer-funded goons to write up the report of this incident before they go back to the boss to ask for permission to contact the man’s lawyer to determine whether it is feasible to drag him down to the station to formally interview him to check his thinking. This will cost the man thousands in legal fees alone for the first handful of hours. There will be weeks of stress for him before the actual decision is made. All under the pretext of determining whether he is “fit and proper” to hold a firearms license. Of course, all of this is much easier for police than confronting an actual criminal.
Burtland
FFS – its here
Steve Otto(North Shore)
A thought crime?
1930s Germany.
PurplePen
Link to an interview with the guy that was visited. Ignoring everything else, a little scary that this is something police do.
NoFax
First, never let the police inside unless they have a warrant. Second don’t answer questions like Mr. Inbetween https://youtu.be/ul5oC-F-IF0?si=JxBO8A1knzJ0EFb4
NothingLeft
An X user was visited by the
policeaspiring NZ Stasi yesterday over posts they made on X
Yvette
Has the Government cancelling of Mana o te Wai also seen the demise of te Puna, the Maori Advisory Council (and Chair Tipa Mahuta) which under Labour controlled Taumata Arowai, the Water Regulator, which the National-led Coalition has retained, but altered?
Benedict Yu
No
pdm
Yvette lets not overlook my pet peeve Taumata Arowai which has a Mahuta connection as well.
As far as I can see Taumata Arowai should have gone when 3/5/10/All/Mahuta Waters did.
Pope Punctilious II
The government has cancelled Te Mana o te Wai? When did that happen?
Maggie Pie
And I wonder how many ‘STRIKES’ this creep qualifies for?
Whangarei man Anthony Smith (58) tells Police….. “he’s a pedophile at heart”
and “a sucker for punishment”.
Pleads guilty to unlawful-sexual-connection and sexual-assault on a girl under 12.Smith, who was involved with Church Groups, admitted he had violated the child “between 20 and 100 times” 🙁
Sentenced to 9years 6months jail. Out in ??
I remember when
Letter in the Listener this week under the banner “Widespread blame” wanting to know why the media don’t mention, draw attention to, the following –
* “that it’s all the state’s fault – is misleading and convenient.
* That, “We are all at fault, but the sections of the community I consider the worst offenders are rarely pointed to.”
* ” Protecting them from harm is now seen, in some Maori circles in particular, as cover for stealing children.”
* “That many of these children were in institutions to protect them from their parents was answered by the simple Maori expedient of whanau.”
* “My educated guess is that unreported incest is by far the most common form of sexual abuse of children.:
* ” ..a child molester is an ordinary person until convicted.”
*”We need to tread on the fragile, long-protected sensibilities of those who are unwilling to ask why children are taken into care in the first place.”
* “What was going on in the formative years of that child’s life before being taken into care?”
* “Further, why do so many troubled children come from homes without fathers?”Maggy Wassilieff
This opinion piece contains a couple of very important reasons why maths teaching in our primary schools has become so dire.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/08/09/a-maths-lesson-we-should-have-learnt/
However, I disagree with her conclusion:
We need to allow our teachers to adapt the resources to suit their own students, and for this they need time.
Rushing into a new mandated programme in 2025 is too much too soon.
I think it is imperative that the primary teachers who lack confidence (and knowledge) in their ability to teach primary-level maths are set on a pathway to improve asap.
cmm
Anyone who cares about the educational outcomes of their children should not be leaving it to the teachers.
Get some maths books from Whitcoulls or whatever (or print off some PDFs from the internet). watch some videos on Youtube and spend 1 to 2 hours every week teaching your kids.
If you do that, your kids will thrive no matter the crapness of their schools.
If you are not prepared to do that then sh*t schools are the least of your children’s problems.cmm
“I think it is imperative that the primary teachers who lack confidence (and knowledge) in their ability to teach primary-level maths are set on a pathway to improve asap”
Perhaps rather shown the pathway to the dole office?
Seriously, what hope is there for a person who is prepared to tax taxpayer money to influence the lives of others but is not prepared to put in the effort to get the training they need?
They don’t need more spoon feeding. They need firing.
Maggy Wassilieff
They need firing.
Yes, it doesn’t say much for the “profession” of teaching in NZ that it has been acceptable for so many of our primary teachers to graduate with little ability to teach basic maths and foundation literacy.
Mike
Inevitable result of turning training colleges into money-focused universities.
Maggy Wassilieff
I’m not so sure.
I did my secondary training at a Teacher’s training College, a couple of years before it was subsumed into Vic Uni.
I had intended Maths to be my minor teaching option, but I found the quality of the training instruction by the maths tutor to be appalling.
I was never comfortable with the try and discover approach we were meant to use with our pupils (as opposed to explicit teaching of a method).I only have 1 maths paper at Uni level and doubt that I could have extended/challenged a Year 13 scholarship -level maths class, but the year 9 – year 12 maths curriculum didn’t phase me.
If I couldn’t follow the point of some of the stuff we were meant to be doing in our Maths teaching training , then I shudder to think how the primary school trainees coped with the try/guess/group think approach to “discovering ” maths.
After about 1 term I dropped the thought of maths teaching. A few of my cohort continued with it, but they had maths majors in their degrees and were probably more comfortable with employing multiple approaches to teaching a maths concept.
cmm
To be fair this is not just a shortcoming in teaching. I even see engineers being very passive about their education.
No “professional”: teacher, doctor, engineer,…. should rely only on what they were taught at university or need spoon feeding. Instead they should be engaged in a self-led process of continual self-education their whole career.
When I went to university we were using COBOL and punch cards. Now I design chips and software for satellite communications.
Civil engineers need to keep current with new materials and methods; doctors with new procedures and medicines; and teachers – new teaching methods to keep them effective.
On this Mike is right – universities are now establishments that spoon feed people for the profit of lecturers and administrators and focus on getting bums on seats rather than on launching students on a path to self-education.
imalwaysright
You have to wonder how they got their degree without a knowledge of secondary school mathematics.
The universities are now reaping the rewards of their bums on seats funding model.
They have spent decades giving out degrees to unqualified punters, some of whom have become teachers, and now those same teachers are sending the universities students that struggle with even primary level maths and English.Pope Punctilious II
The universities didn’t choose the bums-on-seats model. The funding model was imposed by the Lange-Douglas government, and no subsequent government has shown any interest in replacing it with a better model.
Dudley Quaffquaff
Because the country is just crawling with highly motivated, competent, numerate, literate people eager to work for a primary school teacher’s wage.
Maggy Wassilieff
It’s a pretty good gig if you are a mum with school age kids.
Jake Dee
You have to work with what you have. Do you think that there are large numbers of people beating down the doors of primary and secondary schools desperate to be maths teachers but are being turned away because all the positions are filled?
Paulus
I would love to say that the quality of Teachers we have in Primary School (now all Kura) are capable of extending their ability to teach children elementary subjects, and leave social construction to after school activities, – but that is after 3pm when the Teachers have driven off for the day/week.
PurplePen
“the quality of Teachers we have in Primary School (now all Kura)”. Have they all been changed into Kura. What’s the difference? Maybe that’s the root cause.
Benedict Yu
Great point. And it needs to be done without shaming the teachers who need to up skilled. So long as the teacher unions refuse to acknowledge that some teachers have shortcomings, that is difficult.
rouppe
Teachers have had plenty of time to identify (though they keep saying they already know who is struggling) failing students and develop strategies to bring their skills up.
They never have.
Not this time. Not the last time there was change either. This is simply a delaying tactic.
PurplePen
Good lord. Primary school maths and any subject at that level, surely any adult would be competent in the subject matter. And if not, surely they could just teach themselves adequately as there’s mountains of resource on the internet. 2 + 2 = 4 BTW as a starter. I’ll agree more formal training might be needed in how to teach in general rather than topic content. But they all should have this already.
MCōs
Another subject where everyone is an expert
I talked to my 75yo pretty much retired small town primary school teacher sister the other day.
The government might be beating the drum about some test that indicates slipping maths proficiency as if that’s all that goes on in the classroom.
Disruptive kids can be an issue even for seasoned teachers let alone a relatively inexperienced one. You can’t eject the kid; they’re likely to create havoc. There may be nobody free to lend a had.
She said one school she knew used to get in the community constable whose office was nearby
Funnily enough some of those sorts of kids turn out to be highly respected lawyers, second hand car dealers and televangelists
Biscuit
Those Greeks, eh?
Was reading just before that the ancient Greek city of Megara held a version of the Olympic Games which included a kissing contest.
Only boys were allowed to enter…
Libertarians are right
My Favorite is the etymology of Lesbian.
Basically, Sappho was a poet from Lesbos who talked about her love of women.
So, when a woman loved other women they were regarded as being like Sappho, which became like that poet from Lesbos, which became like that Lesbian, which became she’s a Lesbian.Imagine if the famous poet was from Auckland, instead of Lesbians, they’d be Aucklanders. Any ancient city would work better as an example of course.
Mike
Sodom?
PurplePen
Do they have videos from then? I’m assuming boys means men lest I get unfairly labelled.
MCōs
No they don’t, but why are you asking?
Bridgenag
TSA, SSSS, Tulsi Gabbard, Pre-Crime and PsyWar
DHS has defined spreading mis- dis- or mal-information as domestic terrorism“Each of us has a choice to make. Risk the ire of the authorities at the administrative state, live with the realization that they may be at your door at any time – and if they show up they WILL have their way with you.
Or shut up. And lose a little bit of your soul.”
Steve Otto(North Shore)
NZCPR. Dr Muriel Newman.
MACA Marine and Coastal Area misinformation. Tribal claims for this area.Burtland
wow – looks like you soon might have to pay to go to the beach and go fishing
– thanks Chris Finlayson and “turn the temperature down” JK“Maori tribal groups were on track to gain control of New Zealand’s entire coastline right out to the edge of the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea“
Damocles11
The government already pays $1 million a year for us ‘second tier’ citizens to use Lake Taupo. Feels like we’re on the cusp of something special.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
J D Vance is weird. The United Spot. Lefties, this is humour ok?
Libertarians are right
The thing is that there is actually an argument that general Conservative values are weird these days. They are the counterculturalists even though they are a majority.
All of the institutions (except some of the Churches) treat Conservatives as others.
Maggie Pie
WOW! Polky sounds like quite the Lothario…..
Living proof you can’t tell a book by its cover 😛
kevn
Maggie… The extra gals must have practised ‘eyes shut’ for the duration, or maybe the pay was extraordinarily high to compensate?
ecco
Sounds like it was pretty tedious living with him if it took him 45 minutes every morning…
I think he didn’t need a wife, he just needed a piece of meat. Sad saga.
MCōs
This is worth watching re racism in the USA in the seventies
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8kFR8jptlE/?igsh=ZXBsajVmb2ViNWNwDamocles11
Nigel Farage video below, answering an Elon Musk question on why the mainstream media just parrot the UK government line. To make it applicable to NZ, just substitute the government part with the word ‘establishment’. There is a consensus amongst the establishment here that we must have mass immigration.
cmm
BBC commentator gets into trouble for “misgendering” someone and calling a female athlete “her” instead of “they”.
Call me old fashoined if you will, but surely if you enter the women’s event then it should be OK for a commentators to call you “she/her”.
Pretty ridiculous really. Are the commentators expected to have a whole phone book full of people’s preferred pronouns too?
PurplePen
Well thanks. I now have to reset “days without reading Stuff site” back to zero.
John Loveridge
How high had the counter got?
PurplePen
237
Tauhei Notts
When it comes to warfare Tim Walz thinks the pen is mightier than the sword.
Maggie Pie
TRENDING ‘X’
Wonderful citizen journalist ‘Simon Anderson’ posts VID of nitetime interaction
between NZ Police and anonymous Auckland Tweeter….Ghost
You are responsible for what you post online. if you say something on this blog that leads to a knock on dpf’s door, your information will be handed over. Just the other day people were annoyed with a comment posted on a leftie blog.
Yabster
“annoyed” is a long way away from cops turning up at your door- what a waste of resource. They even said no “law” broken – so why were they there?
Ghost
I’d say expecting the leftie blog is monitored by the police and hoping they pay the poster a visit is more than being annoyed. But hey, if you want to make a comment online that causes the police to knock on your door, then you delete your account so no one else can see the kind of comments that caused that, then I’m sure you will get some support from the kids loggers who demand one thing then are outraged when it happens.
Ghost
Well I guess he does live up to his name as a knob with such posts as
“I was to see this in N.Z. In Ireland politicians can’t walk the streets without getting lynched by members of the public.”
I personally don’t want to see that in N.Z. And I would hope no one ever calls for it. Looking at some of his posts in the cache, he is just another racist twit whose mouth finally got him into trouble. Looks like a nasty prick, who deleted his account to cover up what a sad nasty person he is.
Maggie Pie
Surprised at your comment Ghost. If you honestly believe dpf would hand over ANY information to a third party that has been entrusted to him, then you sadly misunderestimate his integrity as a Journalist.
Just saying.
Ghost
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/complaints_policy
Disputes are between the person making the complaint and the person who made the comment. If the police have a court order your details will be handed over
SimonRAnderson
That Simon guy is dumb and his floating head routine is weird.
Here’s the uninformative interview he conducted with the protagonist live on air last night during his boring SimonTV stream.
Inandout
Maggie, I believe Simon recorded our Speaker chatting with the expensive shopper GG.
Jack5
A virus is spreading in Africa. This one’s been bowdlerised, or should we say, wokered.
Mpox was known as monkey pox until the World Health Organisation renamed it on the ground the original name plays into “racist and stigmatising language.”
WHO declared both names were to be used simultaneously for one year while “monkeypox is phased out.”
So monkey pox became mpox last November.
The name change originated 29 scientists’ open letter on a virus discussion forum. They said “monkeypox” gave the impression the disease was only an African problem.
The scientists wrote:
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African, is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatising.
“The most obvious manifestation of this is the use of photos of African patients to depict the pox lesions in mainstream media in the global north.”
The disease was first identified in monkeys used in a research lab in Denmark in 1958. It wasn’t detected in humans until 1970.
The Guardian reports there have been more than 15,000 cases this year, with more than 450 deaths. Most cases have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the virus has been detected in more than 50 countries.
The disease comes from the same family as smallpox. It spreads from person to person, and from animals to people, through direct contact.
cmm
… and somehow it is a hom*ophobic virus that seeks out gay men in particular.
Calling m(onkey)pox an African virus (along with HIV) is like calling Covid Chinese. Accurate, but they have both spread.
DimChappie
Latest hate crime: 9-year-old Chinese girl bashed in Auckland toilet. Mother confronts suspect’s family who ask her not to call police. Chocolate fish for guessing ethnicity of attacker:
Maggy Wassilieff
Perhaps this a racially motivated hate crime too…
cmm
Damn. Two articles about Chinese ethnicity kids (*) being attacked in Auckland in one week.
50 cents and a servo pie say these were Maori perps again, explaining why the Somerville Intermediate staff are jumping through hoops to play this down.
5% of the population getting routinely attacked by 15% of the population. 8/8/2024 isn’t turning out to be lucky.
(*): Please pardon my ignorance: Chinese, Korean, etc all look pretty much the same to my untrained eyes.
Maggie Pie
Florida based Investigative Journalist, the beautiful Laura Loomer,
looks to have an awful lot of background info on ‘Tampon Tim’ 🙁It should be an interesting 3 months….
Mike
Not a journalist and doesn’t investigate anything.
Maggie Pie
Testosterone still coursing thru your veins I see milkey 😀
Chuck Bird
I have passed that on to someone in the GOP who has contact with Trump.
Maggie Pie
SteveO ?
Local Miller
I met with one of my clients yesterday, a company in the Health sector getting directions from Health NZ. They are consulting with me to get help and advice on moving their systems into the Cloud. I asked about the motivation for the move because my analysis of the system was that it would be significantly more expensive to host in the Cloud than their current hosting. Their response was “it’s political” and under the whole “centralize the health system” drive from Liebour, they were STRONGLY encouraged to do this. Although it was admitted that now that National are rolling the merger back this is all up in the air.
Here’s another example of a Liebour driven decision where no consideration was given to the cost. Not only would it cost my client a ton to get their app and databases into the Cloud, once there, it’s going to cost in the order of $100,000/year more than current to maintain, and this was only one of several systems.
While I’ve answered all their questions and given them ways to achieve what they’ve asked for, I’ve solidly asked them to review the decision given the “recent political changes” to see if they can get the internal decision reversed.
I’ve got nothing against the Cloud, but you have to be using it for the right thing, and you MUST do a proper cost/benefit analysis before you go that way.Maggie Pie
JUST IN
“Our government won’t be funding new ‘Speed Bumps’ or ‘Raised Crossings’ that inconvenience motorists , but we will be providing funds for the removal of those
on high-volume roads”– Simeon Brown (Min-of-Transport)
YAY!! Simeon for Prime Minister 😀 😀 😀
greybeard
I hope that they will also stop the installation of these in Thorndon Quay, as proposed by the idiotic Wellington City Council.
cmm
Naah. Rather make them double high in Wellington so they can remember.
Chuck Bird
Trump campaign releases brutal ad exposing ‘chief weirdo’ Tim Walz
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
The Treaty for Dummies, Article 1, Part 2.
https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/the-treaty-for-dummies-article-1-part-2/?
Video 20 minutes.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvr6ZEc7nrg
Then, this is what David Seymour is on about, which just has not been reported in the media:
https://issuu.com/esisite/docs/a_short_explanation_about_what_david_seymour_is_on?
Please read.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Mods, I think it is a good idea if I re-post in the morning. It is way after 6pm and Friday drinkies are fun.
[Mod – no]
Mike
I think you would be better summarizing these messages in your own words rather than the “here’s a great link” approach.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Why don’t you read it Mike? Then give us YOUR opinion?
Are you a moderator Mike?Mike
I’ve told you before that I don’t read a linked story if the Kiwiblogger can’t explain briefly why it is so compelling. I have sampled one or two of Batchelor’s offerings – they’re confused, to say the least.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
The description is in the link Mike. Read the link Mike.
Benedict Yu
A rare agreement from me. I never open these daily links for that very reason.
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Why not Mod person?
Now it is 7pm.[Mod – we are not doing this again. You have been told by Mod’s and DPF to cut back on how often you are posting these links]
Keith White
NMTB… my electric motorsickle charges off a portable SupercheapAuto solar panel through a Repco inverter and the economics of that are just dandy, thank you for asking 🙂
Steve Otto(North Shore)
Which hospital are you in?
Bed by the window?Keith White
Kingseat closed decades ago, so I am in my own NZ house for the time being before I self-expatriate again to work in a country that wants my skillset.
Bed has a nice view in the Manawatu 🙂
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