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Kaleb Cooper’s mother is a dog groomer and his father is a carpenter. He inherited no land. He spreads ninety thousand tonnes of muck a year, cuts thirty thousand bales and runs eight hundred hectares of arable contracts.
Every argument about British farming starts from the assumption that the gate is bolted. Grass is making close to nine thousand pounds an acre. You inherit or you never get in. The whole trade is a closed shop in a wax jacket.
At thirteen he was handed three chickens and four acres. Within months it was four hundred and fifty hens and he was selling eggs to his own teachers. At fourteen he was breeding sheep and working on a dairy. At fifteen he spent five thousand pounds on a Case 1394 and two thousand on a topper, then knocked on the door of every house in the district with a horse and a scruffy paddock and told them their field would look considerably better mown.
Not one acre of it was his.
When Ukraine sent fertiliser vertical, he and Jack Tuckey spent a hundred thousand pounds on two spinning disc spreaders with not a single tonne booked to go through them. Then they went and bought the chicken muck nobody else wanted and put it on at variable rate.
That is the whole business. He sells the one asset in agriculture that has never required capital behind it, which is knowing how to do the work and turning up on the day he said he would.
Jeremy Clarkson’s farm was already a customer before a camera was switched on. He was doing that ground when the previous farmer gave up. The programme did not discover him. It filmed him explaining a field to a man who had never drilled one.
Fourteen million people watched that and came away talking about the accent.
Land is the most expensive barrier in British farming. The tallest one is free, and nobody in the industry will say it out loud: we have spent thirty years telling every capable fourteen-year-old in the countryside that the way in is a degree, a placement and a graduate scheme, and they believed us.
There is a lad in your parish this morning who would do exactly what Kaleb did.
He is being told to finish his A-levels first.
A real school that starts them young.
Farm kids just built different
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-2HFasphm4M?feature=share
A short.
Hands on with all the bumps & scrapes with some hard knocks to bounce back from.
Life excitement is beaten out of kids when they hit school. sit down, be quiet and don’t ask questions.
Don’t ask questions because the teacher is so dumb he/she doesn’t know the answers.
You all wonder why I post so many different topics.
Here is the answer.
I have long believed that you should learn something NEW EVERY DAY.
Be inquisitive. You never know when that something you learned 10 years ago somewhere will gel into an idea or a product.
Oh, and never believe the establishment. They went to school.
i too believe in learning something new every day. think thats why i bounce around jobs etc and do random side hussles, when i stop learning or sussing things out i get bored and look for a new challenge or new skillset to develop.
It’s a ✨Miracle✨, Viking and SB agree about something! 😜
Morning all. Have a good day.
Dont jinx it.. Actually I suspect SB has a twin. Posted a lot of sense over the past few days.
No miracle, actually.
SB just bows to my superior intelligence every now and then.
If you take out his bullshit and bluster, we agree more than you realise.
I note he’s still in the sack so far this morning. Get up, you lazy sod. the cows need feeding.
been out n about since 5am old boy
To see a need.
To create a desire,
That becomes part of “demand” in a ‘market.’
Put your self in that “market” to supply, a service, a product.
Good luck is when preparation (save some money) meets opportunity.(to work an idea)
“knowing how to do the work and turning up on the day”.
And here I am crudely over anayalizing, & the over regulating “experts” pushing the concept that business management, & that a Batchelor of Commerce, a clip-board with tick-boxes is reputable.
Look after the pennies & pounds, will look after themselves is a part of the preparation.
Putting one’s own skin in the game, means one has to figure things & learn quickly & keep observing, monitoring.
So many wise words can be used, but it is simply, got out & about, where people were working, listening to people & effectively sorting through the chaff & the straw to then act on the opportunities.
Hasn’t Kaleb done well!
Nude nut is a dead man walking!
Who’s going to take him seriously.
Is Chris Penk, the best of the rest, is he a worry to leadership?
Same goes for the ginger idiot, is that the best you can do?
well if luxon dosent grow a set of fucking balls and deliver a huge blow to the scum media in the next few days then all this drama was for nothing and there will be more leadership drama before the election.
it should be their first move, they need to do several to distract and move on from this. the media is number 1 tho cuz theyll spend the time nats silent to snipe and inflict more damage.
knowing how pussy and useless the nats are it aint gunna fucking happen, i suggest restocking popcorn as youll need it sometime in the next 12wks.
Mr. Luxon did well to sign that agreement with Singapore whereby they supply NZ with the fuel we need. Can you imagine the mess than Labour or the Greens would have made?
You mean can he keep his trap shut and stop putting his foot in it when he has a brain fart and thinks everything is a good idea.
He can’t, and in his speak its my way or the highway.
If anyone thinks that it’s all roses nd pink blooms in the Nats, they are dreaming.
The PM said his caucus was united and he had their full support. Different story yesterday when he said “division and disunity are a major distraction
To stand and say they are all united is a lie for a start. There are a lot who will be in the job market, and the survivors generally will be as useless as the Labour Party.
He is a tool walking.
https://ysb.co.nz/have-your-say-841/#comment-485960
Hipkins has just proven that the Opportunity party, are just Labor in drag by saying he can work with them. (Course, he canh he’s had his orders) But not with the natives, mind you do we need more weird clothes horses with chin scribbles dancing in the house. But we do need a speaker with bigger balls not this squeaker!
TOP: Nothing more than a Trojan Horse party for the 2026 elections:
Labour: Dr Evil
TOP: Mini me.
A vote for TOP is a vote for Labpur.
Labour leads National as Opportunity Party hits 8% in 1News-Verian pollThe Opportunity Party has surged well above the 5% threshold, potentially giving it a decisive role in forming the next Government, according to the latest 1News-Verian poll.
The poll, carried out from August 8 to 11, put Labour on 30%, down two percentage points from the previous poll, while National was unchanged on 29%.
The Greens fell one point to 12% and Te Pāti Māori dropped one point to 1%.
Among the coalition parties, Act gained three points to sit at 9%, while New Zealand First fell three percentage points to 8%.
Sounds like they did the poll in a phone box outside TVNZ. Anybody who votes for TOP is either mad or hasn’t read their policies in which case they are deluded. Someone should take a very hard look at their leader, her past and where her allegiances really lie. I don’t believe that picture of her in a Chinese military uniform is that far from the truth.
“Anybody who votes for TOP is either mad or hasn’t read their policies in which case they are deluded.”
Same can be said about those who vote Labour, Green, and TPM.
Labour, Green, and TPM. (and TOP). Batshit crazy.
The LGTTB parties.
Mad yes but just think how many vote watermelon. Hopefully some of the Top support will come from the greens.
The nice little packages that Greens drop out all seem plausible, to many with good intentions.
But as Ani OBrien points out it the complete package that many people are unaware of that will bring about serious consequences.
…… The Greens are not just proposing cleaner rivers, cheaper buses, and nice ideas about fairness. [Which all seems very reasonable within those points]
…… The party wants a larger state, wealth redistribution, power transfer from the private sector to public, more iwi control, heavy market regulation, and constitutional reform based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Matike Mai. …..
https://aniobrien.substack.com/p/the-greens-are-being-remarkably-honest
And shows much more on how they are setting out like TOP as did Ardern, to totally change the institutions of New Zealand.
So one can see they will work with TOP, and where Labour Te Partly will already be in agreement.
Those proposals as outlined in Ani’s article will slide ride to be activated if there is a change of government.
The mistake like Chloe made was from the “river to the sea” and some of that would have stuck as being so irrational.
The real point is what Ani picks up on, & the “reasonable” glib packages of their campaign will be based on that seem more reasonable.
Note also the line up on the Maori issues too.
The talk around her electorate is that Chloe is not going to win. The Nat candidate is beating her hands down.
If this comes to pass, she will be more than just the batshit crazy bitch she is now.
She would sill get in on the list, if the polls can be believed.
Greens at 10% – how do you like living in a country where 10% of the population is insane?
That would make my evening…..
Hell hath no fury like a woman with a moustache scorned.
If Chloe lost her Auckland seat on 7th November, you definitely would not want to visit the Rug Muncher Mansion that night.
Images of Burt Reynolds and his moustache would be ripped up and strewn everywhere.
Can’t see Tamatha getting in either. That’s Robbos old seat and I’m sure Labour will want it back. That would be a real shame.
I doubt that very few of those who say they will vote TOP have ever read any policies of any political party. No doubt they will have heard various soundbytes put out by the media outlining a few details that satisfy the “I want it now- Me Me Me” crowd who have no idea or care about the wider ramifications.
The only hope is that this lot will not be bothered to go to the actual polling both come election day.
HP, despite what the MSM would tell you and want you to believe, if you walked around a crowded room anywhere in this country, I betcha you would not get one person who would admit to pledging to Vote for TOP in November.
Also, look at who commissioned yesterdays Poll, yes the MSM by the name of TVNZ.
TAH, the trouble is the welfare bludgers and socialists who would vote for TOP would not be in that said crowded room. They would be at home or out doing dole-bludger / socialist action stuff.
UBI is music to the ears of the socialists, but not high enough.
The good news is it would appear most of them are too tired to vote or have a fear of polling booths due to colonial oppression.
NZ Observer August 2026
NO ONE CAN FIX THE MESS NEW ZEALAND IS IN..
(NZ Observer has no affiliation with the National Party or any political party; we pride ourselves on our independence.)
Before Christopher Luxon became Prime Minister, mainstream media invented a phrase to describe NZ’s crumbling standard of living. They called it a “cost-of-living crisis”, and for years NZ media has used this fictitious phrase to blame all sorts of problems on. But not one journalist has come out and explained what the ‘cost-of-living crisis’ actually is.
For the last 18 months, the problems facing Kiwis have been directed at the current National government. In particular, Christopher Luxon. Kiwis are facing a slow — some would call it rapid — deterioration, not only in their own financial circumstances but also in the services offered by government and councils.
The standard of living Kiwis enjoyed before John Key became Prime Minister is gone. It is still declining, and things are set to get worse. But there is nothing wrong with NZ. In fact, everything is exactly as it is supposed to be.
For the last 18 months, journalists in NZ – many of whom possess no financial literacy – alongside opposition parties, have blamed the problems facing Kiwis on the current National government. There have been repeated calls asking why the coalition isn’t fixing the fictitious cost-of-living crisis. Not one of the politicians or journalists asking for improvements has provided a solution, and none will.
Why? Because there aren’t any.
There is no secret money fund, no secret debt-free solution, and there is no one in NZ who can fix the mess that’s been made, not even Luxon.
There is only the opportunity to make things even worse if the political parties who have buried NZ under our biggest debt obligation get back into power at the next election.
Now NZ pays for John Key, Jacinda Ardern, Chloe Swarbrick and the record debt, money printing, and disastrous immigration that Key, Ardern and Swarbrick — and, to a lesser degree, David Seymour — used to manipulate NZ’s economy for their own political and personal gain.
There is one thing everyone agrees on though, and that’s the big issues facing Kiwis every day.
Government Debt.
Ardern, Hipkins, Robertson and Swarbrick borrowed more debt than any government in history — around $130 billion. Total government debt in 2026 is over $200 billion. To put this into perspective, government debt when Helen Clark resigned was $10.3 billion. The debt burden is enormous, and every day Kiwis have to find $24.5 million just to pay the interest on the outstanding debt.
This debt can only be paid back by taxpayers, not by Luxon or anyone else, and it’s having a huge impact on government services and the affordability of the welfare system. This debt burden will become generational.
Rates
In all NZ’s main centres, rates and council debt are at record levels. The main cause of the record debt is the cost of providing and upgrading infrastructure for the hundreds of thousands of migrants brought here by Key, Ardern, Swarbrick and Seymour. Immigration has been so strong that Indians and Chinese now replace Maori as the second largest demographic in NZ.
Since 2008, media and politicians have written and lied about “economic growth” and a “rock star economy”. NZ has not had any real economic growth since before 2006. All we have had is massive population growth, where none of the migrants have been asked to contribute one cent towards NZ’s infrastructure.
The cost of upgrading infrastructure is in the billions of dollars. Now ratepayers are being confronted with huge bills from councils.
None of the political parties can fix this. Luxon can’t fix this. Only ratepayers can.
House Prices and the Associated Mortgage Debt:
Under John Key, house prices went up around 79 percent in Auckland (a staggering number) while other cities and towns across NZ also saw record revaluations. The associated mortgage debt is crippling many mortgage holders’ standard of living.
Recent media reports of falling house prices – thanks to Luxon and Winston Peters, and the stopping of disastrous immigration – are being met with derision by economically and financially illiterate journalists. From every economic perspective, falling house prices are a huge win for our economy and welfare system along with those buying them.
NZ’s housing market under Key and Ardern was the biggest bubble in our history, on an income to debt ratio, caused by demand from immigration, while Australian banks were taking billions in profits to Australia. Luxon and Peters are trying to fix this.
Devaluing the NZ Dollar by printing money.
Ardern, Hipkins and Robertson were told that printing money would have an enormous impact on NZ.
The Reserve Bank printed around $70 billion to help pay the costs associated with Labour Party policies. Labour used billions for their own pet projects.
Now Kiwis are paying for the inflation, especially on property prices and rents. The money printing has lowered the Kiwi dollar -Robertson knew this also — meaning imports such as fuel, medical supplies, cars and electronics are now all more expensive for Kiwis to purchase. Luxon can’t fix this. Nobody can.
Employment
Key, Ardern, Hipkins and Swarbrick used disastrous immigration to manipulate a couple of things, but debt-funded employment was one of them. Keeping Kiwis employed building houses funded with hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage debt allowed Key and Ardern to lie about fictitious economic growth and employment numbers.
Immigration has been environmentally, socially and economically the most disastrous government policy in history. Environmentally, NZ produces more pollution and has destroyed more of our environment than ever before. NZ’s environment is our real economy.
Luxon, Peters or any politician in NZ can fix this.
This article could go on and on. The homeless crisis, the cost of congestion, the cost of poverty, the cost of welfare and more. But Kiwis, especially those in the main centres, are living with these problems.
If you look at what Luxon and the coalition are doing, they are winding back the mess that has been made. There is pain, but there has to be because of what’s been done. The current government is being austere and economically prudent, and not using debt, money printing, and disastrous immigration to run NZ.
The other option — to continue what Ardern and Hipkins did — will destroy our welfare system, our environment – which is our real economy – and standard of living.
Because of how NZ produces wealth, and what’s been done, many Kiwis are going to be stuck with a lower standard of living.
Now we are paying for the lies we’ve been told and the debt that’s been borrowed to artificially manipulate NZ’s economy.
No person or politician can fix many of the issues confronting Kiwis.
But there are politicians who can make things even worse, much worse.
——————
NZ OBSERVER.
NZ Observer is 100% independent.
We survive thanks to the generosity of our readers. Our donation account is below if you would like to help. Thankyou.
There is an easy fix to the cost of living crisis. It’s basically remigration. Housing costs drop. Road wear and tear drop. Health costs drop. There will be some negatives, but the negatives but GDP is a blunt tool of measurement. Borrowing to pay for doctors, nurses and pensions of migrant retirees that have never worked in this country as positive GDP, but it’s clear that it’s all a negative.
‘Remigration…mass deportation of non-white minority populations, especially immigrants and sometimes including native-born citizens, to their place of racial ancestry.’
So only those of us who are white get to stay? I can see that being popular…
I will just leave this here for you to ponder.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is committed to ensuring emergency housing does not get “out of hand” in Rotorua again if his party is elected to Government. But he stopped short of an apology to the city.
He also says voters are looking for change and he believes Labour has the Rotorua and Waiariki candidates to topple the incumbent MPs.
Hipkins chose Rotorua to announce Labour’s small business policy on Tuesday – tactically two weeks after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon copped criticism for comments he made to the business community at a breakfast.
Hipkins spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post about the upcoming election and Labour’s reputation in the city, admitting there were lessons it could have learnt following the influx of hundreds of needy people to Rotorua for emergency housing in the post-pandemic years.
“I think the emergency housing situation got out of hand, absolutely. And I think we do need to accept responsibility for that and I’m absolutely committed to making sure that doesn’t happen again.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2026-chris-hipkins-regret-over-rotoruas-emergency-housing-crisis/premium/7MR5O3OMKVFRPESGW73O6GYDOU/
What an arsewipe he really is. He is not capable of doing any such thing. He will pour money back into HNZ.
Has Chris Hipkins ever apologised for anything.
I bet he never apologised to his Wife of a couple of years for rooting his Lover while still married either. A most despicable little untrustworthy, Weasel.
You too kind. He is blight on humanity. There are despicable arseholes in the world, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler etc, but they didn’t pretend to be otherwise. He does.
He didn’t say he would fix the current situation though.
You would be insane if you booked a hotel/motel in Rotorua without finding out whether it was being used as ’emergency housing’ still, else you will have some interesting meetings with other inhabitants.
Rotorua was a firm favourite of places to vist many years ago when we first emigrated. Now days its best avoided. Expensive, dirty and full of crims.
First thing we did when staying in Rotorua last week.
Where did you stay? Be good to know a safe place that someone has actually been to.
It was only one night. We stayed at Ashleigh Court Motel in Fenton street. The place was a homeless let until 2022 but was refurbished in 23 and just takes regular people now. Room was clean, tidy, warm and was quite large. $110 for the night. Is managed by an Indian though if anyone has a problem with that.
Fentanyl Street
If you’re still using a motorhome then Willowhaven Holiday Park would be my recommendation. No sulphur smells & no Maori culture that I noticed.
There are some new motels on the way in. Built in the last couple of years. Chinese guys. Just along from the best fun in town.
Rotorua has had a big up in the last few years, and its kinda unfortunate that there are still some crap elements there.
Better than South Auckland. The local tribe are generally good; it’s the Tainui and Nga Puhi crossbreeds that are the scum.
Chris Bishop is a lying prat, and not very good at it. What a bunch of absolute tossers the Nat’s are.
Live: Senior minister Chris Bishop denies role in failed coup attempt | Stuff
Most politicians have a loose association with truth. The really honest ones never succeed. Reagan is probably an exception.
Immigration will permanently change the demographics of this nation. Which (if any) of the political parties are featuring immigration on their websites?
If none, then why not?
I can’t understand why New Zealanders complain so much about immigrants and yet do not demand that the topic be brought into open discussion? (Old property owners moan about Indians and Chinese, yet happily sell their old houses to developers to put four times the density of units on.)
Kiwis don’t have a sense of community preservation and continuity. Mind you, neither do the Irish, the Canadians, Australians, the English, or the Minnesotans…
Cultural erasure. Everyone’s doing it.
Don’t worry. As Saffa land collapses further and further, we will continue the great traditions of Queen Victoria here, in the most Eastern Province of South Africa.
Trouble is maori radicals would love to impose Sth African style black politics in the South Pacific Socialist Republic. It works so well for your homeland. //
Ahh but at least the yoke of colonialism will be lifted. I mean, what good did the Romans ever do for us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ
Sad to see the total destruction of an advanced economy because of ideological stupidity. This is not a defence of Apartheid. That was counter productive and imoral. But taking a 1st world infrastructure and reducing it to the Stoneage is equally abhorrant.
Meanwhile in deepest darkest Wairarapa just down the road from the notorious Nasska Towers in the Mc Anulty family dacha plans are being hatched. Wee Keiran is working feverishly on a way to topple the ginga leader, speed is of the essence he must take the top job before the Brylcreme cowboy rides back into town. If only I had the balls of Penk he whines, looking like Karl Marx probably doesn’t help either. Never mind, he knows the media will never report on his secret plans. And there folks is how the MSM start a story, doesn’t matter if it’s a total fabrication as long as it’s pointing in the right direction and can gain legs.
The feeling is surreal. As a humble retired farmer I am living adjacent to Komrade Keiran & I am likely to witness the glorious revolution.
Masterton will be the hub of tractor production & turnip fields will replace the lifestyle blocks of Wellington’s civil service yuppys.
Nasska, I was in and out of Russia during the 1980’s early 1990’s every 6 weeks and was able to travel throughout the country quite freely due to my Ship Chartering business for the Russians. During Glasnost and Perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev sold off a lot of the Soviet Diesel for Hard Currency as they had a huge shortage of foreign currency which they needed to function, like most Communist states did. This fuel shortage caused huge problems for Russia, particularly around the Ukraine and city of Nikolayev in the Oblast region where, because of the shortage of Diesel, the farms could not operate their tractors. The Oblast was basically the food bowl of Russia. As a result during harvest time in 1989 up to a million tonnes of potatoes alone, rotted in the fields per week. Troops were sent in to harvest by hand but this too was a dismal failure.
Masterton, under Commrade McAnulty could become like Russia in the late 1980’s too. Look forward to it, if Labour get in in November.
I’d forgotten about the likely problems with the potato harvest. Getting the beetroot over the Rimutakas to feed the unwashed may be tricky without diesel.
I’m certain that Kieran will sort it out. 🙂
Don’t concern yourself peasant, Komrade Keiran will have diesel to get himself to Wellington.
PS: he does look like Karl Marx
Amen to that brother.
Peter Williams sums it up:
“The PM survives another bungled coup
The National Party is a shambles with a leader and senior MPs whose egos matter more than the good of the country.
That’s the only conclusion to be drawn from the disaster that unfolded in Wellington on Wednesday, August 12.
Christopher Luxon is a poorly performing Prime Minister. The first time I saw him appearing in public was at a public meeting in Wanaka in the winter of 2023, probably about four months before the election. It was highly likely then that he would be Prime Minister before the end of the year.
Yet his speech that night was less than memorable, infused with cliché and lacking any inspiration or specific ideas about the country’s future beyond the slogans.
The first question from the floor came from former finance minister Ruth Richardson, who’s had a holiday home in Wanaka for years. She put it to him bluntly. “What are the most important things you’ll do in your first 100 days in office?”
He was completely flustered. He didn’t have a clue. He had no specifics. He was completely unprepared for a basic question.
I came away that night thinking this guy might have been a CEO of Air New Zealand but he seems incapable of connecting with an audience.
Nothing much has changed in three years. Poor Rachel Smalley, if she’s still on the payroll, must be tearing her blonde hair out. Brought on board to improve his public persona and make his communications more impactful and precise, she must wonder what kind of politician she’s dealing with when he has brain farts like the comments on small business, MMP and the Opportunity Party.
When he told a post cabinet press conference last year that there was “nothing at all” he liked about the Treaty Principles Bill then his caucus colleagues and hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders must have wondered what is he thinking?
A Bill which wanted to legislate equality for all New Zealanders was just dismissed out of hand by the Prime Minister. Seriously?
That’s all history now. But he’s also proved he has an extraordinary ego too. One of the more cutting lines about him that I’ve read is that when he steps into a room he automatically believes he’s the smartest person in it.
That ego has allowed him to twice stare down his caucus and retain the top job. But the damage is done. National can’t beat Labour in the election and if we want the right of centre coalition to form another government then we have to hope like hell that Act and New Zealand First can somehow lift their numbers by November 7.
Act, according to the latest 1News poll are heading in the right direction, but New Zealand First is sadly going the other way thanks to silly policy like buying a bank and a rugby team, and needless insults of a Chinese born MP.
The National caucus must take a huge share of the blame for this fiasco too. If Chris Penk was doing the numbers could he not count? Or was he calling around to see what kind of appetite there was for a change in leader and one of the recipients of his call leaked to the New Zealand Herald? The move against Luxon became public and the leader stared down the dissenters with the Wednesday morning caucus meeting.
Either way it was another inept move by those who wanted to see Luxon go. If the egos of Erica Stanford and Chris Bishop could not allow one or the other to be the main contender for the top job then they are just as much to blame.
The party has lost a strong political talent in Chris Penk. Being cut from his portfolios was expected after he was outed as the first mover in the coup but he would be expected to be reappointed to cabinet under a new leader in future.
Now by resigning as an MP as well, it means another distraction while a new candidate is selected in Kaipara ki Mahurangi.
Maybe Nicola Willis could relocate from Karori?
After this fiasco the chances of her making it back as a list MP have seriously deteriorated. National currently have 44 electorate MPs. The 1News poll had them on 29 percent which means only 35 seats, all of which could be electorate members.
National’s polling is likely to only go further south in the next three months thanks to this leadership bungle.
Worst of all, the redistributive Marxists of Opportunity are now firm favorites to be in the next parliament, polling at 8 percent for the second time in two weeks. That shows you how terrible policy can be so well politically managed that voters are conned.
It’s painfully obvious what has happened in the last few weeks. Urban liberals, those who believe in the transgender fairy, treaty partnership and an overheating planet have been conned into believing that a new way of doing politics is actually possible and Opportunity can lead the way.
Their bonkers policies on taxing the bejesus out of us , making everyone a welfare beneficiary and increasing the annual government deficit by 20 percent don’t seem to matter when the leader looks good and talks a smooth game.
It’s nonsense of course. Politics has never been anything but a dog fight for every vote and the National Party have some serious scrapping to do in the next three months to stay within reach of a 30 percent vote.
On May 14th this year, the National Party marked 90 years of existence. August 12th 2026 will go down as one of the darkest days in their often illustrious history.
Many more like that and the party will struggle to be around to reach a century.“
Sadly NZ is going the way of Britain. They get Fabian, slogan weilder, mascara wearing Andy Burnham, a David Brent impersonator from The Office. NZ gets another ‘communicator’, Q. someone from the economically illiterate squad. Both flute playing Pied Pipers leading all the children of previous democracies toward the drain of doom.
“I came away that night thinking this guy might have been a CEO of Air New Zealand but he seems incapable of connecting with an audience.”
From Air Newzealand staff I have spoken to, they don’t rate him as a CEO either.
He is a salesman, and salesmen make wild statements and promises for others to pick up the problems. Nothing new about that. In a Marketing role, he would be great.
I have dealt with several from Unilever, and their training in that area was always tops.
Doesn’t make him a CEO.
Is there anyone in this mans inept history who has actually said a good word about him in his working career?
Bald men praised his ability to sell shampoo.
It seems that New Zealand has its own Jason Arday; that confounded Cambridge university.
As also the implications show major deep rooted problems. ……
23rd September 2017. The day NEW ZEALAND died.
Thanks Saggy.
A perspective about Chris Penk by Ani OBrien, figuring she was half right, & half wrong:–
…… learnt that what Chris Penk was actually canvassing was support for an Erica Stanford–Chris Penk leadership ticket.
To be clear that is: Stanford for leader and Penk as her deputy.
And to be equally as clear: I have not been able to determine the level of involvement of Erica Stanford in the discussions.
Anyway, Penk was sounding out colleagues about whether there might be sufficient support within caucus.
Things had not progressed much beyond initial discussions.
Then somebody talked.
Another MP leaked what was happening to the media before the possible leadership ticket had been sufficiently supported.
Suddenly what was supposed to be an exercise in determining whether an alternative leadership team was viable became an immediate public leadership crisis.
The story was out, journalists were ringing MPs, ….
learnt that what Chris Penk was actually canvassing was support for an Erica Stanford–Chris Penk leadership ticket. ….
https://aniobrien.substack.com/p/chris-penk-took-the-fall
The other treason, was who put it to the media.
Far too much damage goods, with too many now carrying various baggage.
Really shows that National over all should be finished up.
Today’s admission from NZ Steel that they could have upgraded to electric furnaces without Labour’s corporate welfare is another example of why New Zealand needs to end its reliance on corporate welfare while the country is billions of dollars in debt,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
We pay $24.8m a day servicing the interest on our debt. By the time you have finished reading this press release, another $50,000 will be gone. In 2018/19 it was $10.1m a day.
https://www.act.org.nz/news/aussie-steel-giant-laughing-at-labour-but-the-joke-is-on-taxpayers?fbclid=IwY2xjawTpwlxwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMW1RaWo2bHhlY1VLMDlHZXRzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEerjOdjQr57zJr2x-ftdV2n4P-nxtABjggeixXyTHtzT_-Cv4B_POWAqinuPo_aem_I_RGlFelLpm0NjRiL7Tqgg
In fact, they didn’t even need to go electric if we didn’t have these stupid carbon-busting rules, which, in any event, change nothing.
Plenty of good clean coal around to supply the energy and plenty of good systems to clean the flue gases.
China is still building these systems and cleaning up its air quality.
All that happens now is that the small consumer is paying a lot more for power every day because you can bet the NZ steel isn’t paying our price.
I wonder how many people realise that?
Below is an excellent article by Peter Williams.
PETER WILLIAMS: National’s Bad (Really Bad) Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H11OwcLDJcw
Tousi on latest with Iran
The US blockade of Hormuz Strait has been reinforced with complete air coverage by US helicopter and attack drones over the Strait, critically including the small fast attack boats of the IRGC. Heavy crude oil has covered beaches as the storage capacity becomes critical. The financial blockade is taking it’s toll and causing rationing and a predicted “growth” drop of -5.5%. Chicken is 3x the price and milk has more than doubled. Households to pay more tax. The plan by the leadership is to wait out Trump’s presidency for another two years…
Not something I was aware of
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/08/11/more-than-200-homes-damaged-by-solar-panel-fires-in-a-year/
“Safety concerns mount as increasing numbers of homes have devices installed
Faulty solar panels triggered 212 rooftop fires last year, new figures show, raising concerns about the technology’s expansion across the UK.
A leading insurer has found that fires involving solar panels were up 37pc in 2025, damaging 102 homes as well as other hospitals, schools and retailers.”
Might be a case of get what you pay for?
Cheap panels and cowboy installers will be chasing this latest rort, all while being subsidised by the taxpayers.
Under NZ regulations solar panels have to be hooked up by a registered electrician. No certificate of compliance equals no insurance.
https://www.mysolarquotes.co.nz/blog/how-solar-power-works/solar-power-is-not-a-diy-project/
Because NZ Herald likes to paywall everything here you go on what Shane jones said
SHANE JONES TAKES AIM AT WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
New Zealand First Deputy Leader Shane Jones has hit back at the Waitangi Tribunal following its criticism of the Government’s proposed Treaty reforms.
The Tribunal recently released a strongly worded report warning that the Government’s plans could undermine Treaty obligations.
But Jones has rejected those concerns.
He says the Waitangi Tribunal has gone beyond what it was originally intended to do and questioned whether it has become too influential in government decision-making.
Jones said:
“The Waitangi Tribunal is not the House of Lords. It’s not the Supreme Court.”
He argued that the Tribunal does not have the power to strike down legislation passed by Parliament.
Jones has also accused the Tribunal of “scaremongering” over the Government’s proposed changes.
The Government has already committed to reviewing the Tribunal, with NZ First campaigning for changes to its role and powers.
The issue is now becoming another major flashpoint between the Government and Māori groups, with supporters of the Tribunal arguing that its work is an important part of holding the Crown accountable to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
An article from Ani OBrien on TOP
Yes as I thought no problem and supportive of the Waitangi Treaty & all.
Mar 26, 2026 …… Canadian-born candidate Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb’s academic and professional focus is on Indigenous rights, environmental governance, and Treaty-based constitutional change.
In her writing, she says “whether you’re in Zambia or New Zealand, you cannot begin to grapple with any conservation or environmental issue without first countenancing the matter of Indigenous rights.”
She advocates for a framework that places Indigenous authority at the centre of governance, including over land, water, and natural resources.
That perspective directly aligns with the intellectual foundation of He Puapua, the report she helped develop as part of the government-appointed working group tasked with designing New Zealand’s implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The report itself outlines a pathway toward expanded rangatiratanga, including models of autonomous separatist decision making structures.
Whatever language is used to describe it (co-governance, partnership, or constitutional transformation) the underlying project is a rebalancing of political authority.
….. if TOP correct their strategy and pursue the Left vote, the conditions are actually in their favour.
The Greens are vulnerable, Labour is searching for direction, and voters are fragmented.
If they do this the party may well perform better than it has in the past.
https://aniobrien.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-top?utm_source=publication-search
Many more on the left will now be more confident that it will not now not be a wasted vote & see as a way to overthrow Luxon, ACT etc..
Some may see it as land tax & universal benefit party, and believe that actually that will not come about, even with Labour or the hand-brake of NZFirst.
But just look at all the other parts they want to bring about, on the down-low, that will more than seep through.
The real problem is will the voters look past the nice intentions, and really consider that if delivered; just what will be the consequences.
Well it is surprizing that Luxon ruled out the TOP party, as Tama Potaka would have been very ok with this part of their TOP manifesto.
……… Support devolution of services — backed by real resources and autonomy — in key areas where outcomes are unequal, especially health and justice. ……https://www.opportunity.org.nz/honouring_te_tiriti
Thanks Ed.
Nice words from Shane Jones & Winston Peters who also sat in government when the He Puapua Report was done, but remained shelved.
In the meantime National’s maori minister Tama Potaka has pointed out that the Waitangi Tribunal has made about 3-4,000 obligations, rulings yet to be applied.
Then there are another 10,000 applications of obligations to be worked through with Treaty of Waitangi according to Tama Potaka.
Strangely enough would line up with the Green’s maori policy as written up this morning & linked to by Ani OBrien above.
https://ysb.co.nz/have-your-say-842/#comment-486042
I have not bothered to read much about TOP, but figure they will be ok with all the maori Co-Governance, even close enough to full authority via the sly Judiciary regulatory rulings.
If you believe you’re too small to make a difference, than you’ve never spent the night in a closed room with a mosquito.
…… taking left-wing blogger Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury to court under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
[Ani] O’Brien asked the Auckland District Court on Thursday for the order preventing her identification to be lifted.
Judge David Sharp told O’Brien, who appeared in court via video link, that it was an unusual step. “Normally we would preserve someone’s identity. I’m just making sure that is what you want.”
O’Brien confirmed it was. “I want the name suppression lifted because of the amount of speculation.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361019596/free-speech-union-board-member-revealed-complainant-censorship-court-case
I’ll leave it to others to check what “Bomber” now spiels on.
How deluded is Nude Nut.
If you believe that Pal, you will believe anything.
“Asked if he had confidence that Erica Stanford and Chris Bishop weren’t involved in any challenge for his leadership, Luxon replied “yes” but didn’t elaborate.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pm-christopher-luxon-sacks-chris-penk-from-cabinet-strips-portfolios-after-leadership-challenge/F25RE2AILNBIJLMAXWGERERXEU/
He needs to say that, otherwise the media would run with it.
“Common sense is not a gift, it’s a punishment — because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.” — George Bernard Shaw
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1 vs18 : King James Version
Then whether in commonsense or wisdom, must also match the attendant ability to cope with the punishment or grief.
In part that at first, “Physician, heal thyself” or you will be doomed.
Don’t know about some of these biblical proclamations, going by that Andrew Little must be a genius.
So that is why Andrew Little become the genius mayor of Wellington?
An Amen or an Omen to Wellington !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Aml6Qb3J0
ML Makes Sense Of The Last 24 hours – NZ Politics Is In A Funk
The Post is turning ferral: Matthew Hooton, Jenna Lynch, Andrea Vance
gosh
you pathetic corrupt leftard silly cow “bloke” shit-house journo’s
WHAT WILL YOU DO……………..
WHEN “”LAWS”” BECOMES BROADCASTING MINISTER?????
YES MICHAEL LAWS………BROAD-FUCKING-CASTING MINISTER !!!!!!!!
RNZ
TVNZ
FUCKING GONE BURGER !!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA
…
“”I KNOW””
YOU CAN FUCK OFF WITH NOTHING OTHER THAN SUCKING DOG SHIT
AHHHHH HA HA HA HA
AHHHHH HA HA HA HA
Couldn’t think of a nicer person to do that. Just got to get the Nats to allow it.
Something to trigger your favorite leftists with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drbufuM0zbQ
Bye bye democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzk3ScMppA
Three Waters Sneaking Back? Hastings Council Defies Government Advice
Duncan Garner | Editor-in-Chief
Hastings District Council has pushed ahead with controversial co-governance arrangements, placing unelected, paid mana whenua representatives onto all council committees with full voting rights. Despite central government asking local councils to pause co-governance decisions ahead of upcoming legislation, Hastings has openly defied ministers. …
Could it be that Alopecia Jesus has actually learnt something about how to handle MSM questions after his recent clusterfucks?
#. “He has refused to answer questions about whether Chris Penk’s leadership challenge took him by surprise: “Guys, I addressed it all yesterday. Not going into it.” ”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361017190/live-christopher-luxon-leadership-vote
He’s not very bright but he’s slowly getting the idea of what a loaded question looks like.
Not very bright? shit, you would need a hundred. of him just to go outside to the longdrop
Helping you become Godfree one religious myth at a time:
Hmm, Not sure how “beleive on the Lord Jesus Christ” sits comfortably with “I am an Atheist”. True, Salavation, as commonly defined as”Going to Heaven for a very, very, very long time” is premised on beleiving in the idea that JC popped down from heaven as a human, lived a hippy life style, performed some “miracles” said some wise words about living in a Communist Utopia, died , was raised from the dead etc etc. but it would be a bit boring without pomp and ceremony, Holy Water and Smoke, Lovely Statues, and a leader who dresses weirdly. Catholicism perfected this over 2000 years, and aboout a Billion or so just love it. I’ll skip the usual invoice, just this time, as I am feeling charitable….
Thanx.
Stole an air-rifle from Gun City and drove to Sylvia Park mall. Shot dead by cops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtzjdI-HP4
Auckland mall put into lockdown as police shoot armed man dead | Stuff.co.nz
Stuff
A person is dead following an incident at Sylvia Park Mall in Auckland’s Mount Wellington.A witness told ThreeNews police shot a man around 3 pm on Thursday, as he was running towards the mall with a gun.
…