I can attest that Toni is a wonderful partner to Chris. Nasty smear tactics that treat ordinary folk as collateral are unconscionable and say more about the values of the perpetrators than they do about the targets. It also happened to me, just before the election, equally unfounded - a concocted fiction first published on The Platform and still to be found ( last time I looked) on an ACT affiliated website.
I think they have a small group doing this all the time. They target people who show them up, and they orchestrate attacks and smears. The book "The Hollow Men" showed how Politicians and their supporters did this. AI will make it worse imo
Right on the money John. I think if we ask the same question about having the guts to stand as Hana-Rawhiti did, of younger Maori in particular, we would have a solid Yes. Knowing they have the support from many sectors will help build the belief that their voice and vote really do have a place and impact in how our country is run will encourage them to take a stand against the Current Coalition.
I thought the State and speed were also illusions until a couple of hours ago when an agent of the State driving behind me flashed the red and blue lights on his car rooftop to pull me over and shatter my other illusion. 63 in a 50 zone is apparently illegal these days, so I suggest we all take care, just in case. Who knew??! It was all very amicable, we shook hands, wished each other Seasons Greetings and he took $50 off my fine because it’s the first I’ve had in decades. He didn’t believe it was Bob Marley’s influence that made me do it,as I was listening to him as I was driving. Have very Happy New Years everyone and watch out for the agents of State. They’re real and are out to get us!🎉🎉😁
😂😂😂very good, John. Maybe I’ll try it next time😀we both knew I was in the wrong. We had a laugh or two and I didn’t want to be one of those arses who makes their days insufferable. A fair cop, you might say.🙂
Well I’m Jeremy’s wife and it made me laugh out loud. No offence taken at all, there was no malice intended by John’s old joke or my husband replying he might try it next time (the next time part earned him a raised eyebrow because I won’t be thrilled if he gets another speeding ticket).
Yep John you nailed it. I would add the end of greyhound racing which knocked the socks off me as I thought it would never happen with Peter's being in charge.
Hmmm. So many. A political fightback (she said hopefully) as I watch my Labour friends and fellow union members picking themselves up day after day after the unrelenting attack on them, their workplaces, our country - and still determined to keep on fighting. Yes the haka in parliament was marvellous, and of course the hikoi, but I also saw our Labour backbench MPs doing amazing work in parliament in the dark hours of urgency. Try watching their work sometime as they battled against the Fast Track Bill and the many other horrors this government has pushed through. Also a reminder, there are many Bills where submissions close in early January. Te Tiriti Principles Bill of course, but also mad stuff like Seymours Regulatory Standards Bill and other bills that sometimes sound innocuous but is actually very harmful. Please keep an eye on all of these and submit if you can. Even if you just send a submission saying I do not support this bill.
The writer Barbara Kingsolver in her preface to the 2024 reprint of her 1989 book "Holding the Line - Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike" says "This is not a novel. It is a cautionary tale. Its lesson is: watch your back. Take civil liberty for granted at your own risk, Trust in leaders wh Ko arrive in power by means of wealth, and see what they protect when push comes to shove".
Best memories are all of Maori events that speak optimistically to our future - the Kotahitanga hui at Turangawaewae, the tangihanga for Kingi Tuheitia and koroneihana of Kuini Nga Wai hono e te po and the hikoi to Parliament.
Worst memories are of the 'sorted' PM and his abject failure to rein in his miserable racist colleagues and his failure to show up at events like Waitangi Day at Waitangi.
Sometimes I discover I've apparently said all sorts of idiotic things. Always on the rare times I don't obsessively proofread at least twice before sending.......
I used to be critical of spelling errors and always pointed them out, but have become much more tolerant in recent times - people do the best they can and we have no idea whether the writer is dyslexic or has some other learning disability. I try to understand the point they are trying to make
Stand out for me was the hikoi. Shout out to Jenian Homes, Hakes Bay who renovated our home after Cyclone Gabriella. Te Tirit o Waitangi protects us all from complete exploitation by greedy and self serving interests that seek to strip and plunder our resources and leave the tax payers to pick up the costs.
The Hikoi, Haka in Parliament, Barb serving it to them, Keiran serving it up, Chloe making me cry with pride in our wonderful generation of intelligent and empathetic women. I’m focused on the good. The bad is there to be seen every day. I had a conversation with an older neighbour who knows she comes from privilege and discussing equality versus equity. I’m hoping I’ve opened the door enough for some more discussion about not throwing away the keys and building an environment setting people up for success rather than building more prisons. We will see.
Yes Raewyn, it is easy to be impatient, but quiet thoughtful comments often work best.
Before the election I was warning my friends who leant towards National, that Luxon would not be skilled enough to dodge being used and that he had a high opinion of himself, and racism could become a problem, plus austerity has never worked and always raises unemployment. Now they are talking to me of relatives leaving for employment, Luxon letting Seymore bring in bad bills, and they are shocked at the obvious attacks on Maori and Pacifica. The Smoke free changes left two friends gobsmacked, and now they have grandchildren vaping. So though they don't say 'I will vote differently' the mood has definitely changed. My highlight, great treatment by overworked but dedicated Hospital staff for my husband's brain bleed after a fall (Middlemore) and my RSV (Lakes Care Rotorua). Next was Hana's reaction to Seymore's racist Bill, and the Hikoi. Labour The Greens and The Maori Party and past National MP, Chris Finlayson KC, who spoke out against the racism. How National has moved to the right was evident by the nasty comments. We have some great people on the left, and we must keep hope and courage.
Happy christmas and new year. Public submissions on bills are critical if any influence can be had over gvt direction. The policy focussed newsletters and links to relevant public submission opportunity have been very helpful.
Good people are the highlight. I particularly have enjoyed watching young people who manage to get on with life amiidst all of the chaos. My teen grand children on quite different paths but managing their way through:: playing music, finding relationships, studying science and finding work. One struggling more with finding her way.
Then the young folk who organised the hikoi. What a great great job they did.
“Were there people around the dinner table or the BBQ you encountered who had a bit of buyer’s remorse with the reality of this government being worse than even those of us who were concerned suspected? Or did they want them to go harder?”
I have found exactly ONE Nat supporting voter who has admitted that what I told him during the campaign last year (that their math was complete BS and they would finance his mythically-large tax cut with only more indebtedness) was spot-on correct. And that was refreshing from whence I hail, the U.S. of these last messed up years, because NO ONE in the U.S. admits you were correct about something and that implies they were wrong. That never happens anymore there.
But the dynamic that did sit the hardest with us across the multiple neighborhood soirées was the aggressive and loud climate change denialism that came up several times. And not precipitated by someone like ourselves who understand it is reality (science ya know) but it simply came out of nowhere as soon as the conversation threatened to present them with ANY uncomfortable truth about ANYTHING that is happening. Climate related or not. It was like being transported back to the USA of the 1990’s. Everyone sitting in a hair trigger to unleash a climate denialism tirade (PS: those almost never happen anymore there).
More and more, I am convinced that the foundation all of our current cultural and political dysfunctions are built upon is that of the actually undeniable and accelerating change to the climate and hence our weather and our natural world. It seems to me that even those exclaiming against the science are actually the ones who retain enough of a reasoning mind that their subconscious is driving them in more perplexed ways as the denial becomes harder and harder to maintain. They doth protest a wee bit much about Climate Change evidence here on the S. Island. They just aren’t ready for that reality yet.
In so many ways the NZ of right now, for an American like me, is a flashback to the U.S. or 20, 30 and 40+ years ago and I’m like, “I done seen this before guys! Pull up! Pull up!”
So, SO hard to watch. Yet again. I sure hope we can turn away from it here, there is still time. It’s OVER where I am from…
I'm convinced that this small country, which historically has often punched way above its weight, has the power to reverse what seems like a headlong dash to chaos. And what convinces me is how so many people of all persuasions align with Tangata Whenua.
There is more solidarity among us than division; it's just that those of the latter shout very, very loudly.
I think where we are ensconced here on the S. Island is solid ACT insurgency country. So from this neighbourhood, it feels to us, that ‘they’ are punching above THEIR weight. I want to be proven wrong. To witness them being consequenced. I simultaneously feel the same polarisation along the axis of the artificial binary, coming to get me here though…
Only because you're asking, Nick .... all the good stuff, and there has been no shortage of that in my world, has been eclipsed by the unending suffering of the Palestinian people. The same television screen that gives me hours of pleasure moves me to tears with Al Jazeera's daily 'Genocide in Gaza', as if it were fictional. I have come to reference this and other such ongoing human atrocities in performance with Joe Zawinul's 'Mercy, mercy, mercy' (no lyrics please). As a creative being, I balance that with John Lennon's 'Imagine'. So let that be my 2024 illusion ... "imagine all the people, sharing all the world". Jah Bless.
Wow - 2025, in younger times I used to wonder if I would ever see the new century - now the first quarter of that has passed. For all of the 20th Century I ignored politics pretty much, followed the mantra that business is important so that was the way I voted. Now in the 21st Century and I have taken an interest, I cannot justify my disinterest of last century with any any aspect of even a little political interest in this century. It seems that our political system is biased to promote the interest of the entitled minority to benefit from the economy provided by the many for the benefit of the few. The difference today seems that while the "many" have the majority they decline to take the control they have - influenced by some "unseen hand" - why is this so? There IS absolutely a message in the global political shift to the "right", not a dramatic shift but a shift there has been! We ignore politics at our peril - present bills under consideration by our government seek to entrench the role of the "few" over the many and as long as the "many" take no interest they will succeed. We must - somehow - encourage political interest and an ability to evaluate the messages being pushed out by the many media sources with simple spin comments of deception and misinformation - and often lies. There are no simple solutions, simple "bans"cannot solve complex issues - the needs of the "many" cannot be provided by any trickle from the few as they are completely dependant the majority providing the "wants" and needs for their benefit.
sadly not a great year for the entire world..the worldwide shift to the right is a hideous sight..2024 can piss off really quickly as far as im concerned.. i lost my only living child and our only 2 precious grandies to the land of snakes and money across the ditch had a heart attack in july..the up of that was the fantastic care i received from all the hard working staff at middlemore in spite of the mutt govt trying its very best to erode our health system even more..highlights would be of course the hikoi and hana serving it up to billy bunter brownlee in such an elegant and mature fashion and his naf bullying response was sooo on point from an old stale pale nazi nat..chloes speech one for the ages,,a truly superb human beinghow lucky we are to have that sort of intelligence in our country..good luck to all the folk of amerikkka turning out to be the dumbest country on the planet..they have 4 years of misery pain and self inflicted suffering to endure and hoping we only have 2 more years of hell..i intend to try my very best to remain positive and fight for our country along with like minded people i have found here.. kia kaha all
What stood out to me in 2024 - The shocking reality of a COC government stripping NZ of many advances plus such deceitful rhetoric and actions. Trump being re-elected.. To see the Maori, people stand up - stand out so proudly for their beliefs. How the health system has been so badly abused. How history repeats, particularly where demagogues have been able to con their people into wars and the like.
The most wonderful memories I have from 2024 are from the day of the hikoi in Parliament Grounds! Such a HUGE crowd of kiwis from all walks of life, tangata whenua and tangata tiriti, and all so friendly and positively motivated. I think I learned the meaning of the word kotahitanga that day! The positive vibes were so enriching. And as a matter of fact, a total stranger who came in on the same train I was on became my friend that day, as we made our way to Parliament and later onto the train to head to homes in different places along the line, but we had so much in common with our reasons for being there. The memory of that day keeps me hopeful for the future
I can attest that Toni is a wonderful partner to Chris. Nasty smear tactics that treat ordinary folk as collateral are unconscionable and say more about the values of the perpetrators than they do about the targets. It also happened to me, just before the election, equally unfounded - a concocted fiction first published on The Platform and still to be found ( last time I looked) on an ACT affiliated website.
How vile!
The TPU must know, of course, that follow-ups do not have the same impact, and invariably do not get the same coverage from media.
I think they have a small group doing this all the time. They target people who show them up, and they orchestrate attacks and smears. The book "The Hollow Men" showed how Politicians and their supporters did this. AI will make it worse imo
2024 political memories.
The deliberate destruction of our society as we know it. --Bad.
The Hikoi and the fellowship that engendered.-- Good.
Chloes end of parliament speech. --Bloody good.
Hana Rawhiti Maipi Clarke's haka in parliament. --Absolutely bloody marvelous.
I've asked a few people if they'd have the gutz to stand up and do what she did at 22 years old. Haven't got a yes yet.
Right on the money John. I think if we ask the same question about having the guts to stand as Hana-Rawhiti did, of younger Maori in particular, we would have a solid Yes. Knowing they have the support from many sectors will help build the belief that their voice and vote really do have a place and impact in how our country is run will encourage them to take a stand against the Current Coalition.
I thought the State and speed were also illusions until a couple of hours ago when an agent of the State driving behind me flashed the red and blue lights on his car rooftop to pull me over and shatter my other illusion. 63 in a 50 zone is apparently illegal these days, so I suggest we all take care, just in case. Who knew??! It was all very amicable, we shook hands, wished each other Seasons Greetings and he took $50 off my fine because it’s the first I’ve had in decades. He didn’t believe it was Bob Marley’s influence that made me do it,as I was listening to him as I was driving. Have very Happy New Years everyone and watch out for the agents of State. They’re real and are out to get us!🎉🎉😁
PS. The song is great!!👍😁
You perhaps could have tried that old chestnut and said
"I was speeding away from you sir, cos my wife left me last week for one of your colleagues and I thought you were bringing her back. Sir"
😂😂😂very good, John. Maybe I’ll try it next time😀we both knew I was in the wrong. We had a laugh or two and I didn’t want to be one of those arses who makes their days insufferable. A fair cop, you might say.🙂
I didn't think I'd find mysogynistic jokes here.
Well I’m Jeremy’s wife and it made me laugh out loud. No offence taken at all, there was no malice intended by John’s old joke or my husband replying he might try it next time (the next time part earned him a raised eyebrow because I won’t be thrilled if he gets another speeding ticket).
Sorry Helen, it did cross my mind as being inappropriate. If I ever tell it again I'll transfer the sexes
Totally agree with you, John! Love all those high points myself!
Yep John you nailed it. I would add the end of greyhound racing which knocked the socks off me as I thought it would never happen with Peter's being in charge.
Hmmm. So many. A political fightback (she said hopefully) as I watch my Labour friends and fellow union members picking themselves up day after day after the unrelenting attack on them, their workplaces, our country - and still determined to keep on fighting. Yes the haka in parliament was marvellous, and of course the hikoi, but I also saw our Labour backbench MPs doing amazing work in parliament in the dark hours of urgency. Try watching their work sometime as they battled against the Fast Track Bill and the many other horrors this government has pushed through. Also a reminder, there are many Bills where submissions close in early January. Te Tiriti Principles Bill of course, but also mad stuff like Seymours Regulatory Standards Bill and other bills that sometimes sound innocuous but is actually very harmful. Please keep an eye on all of these and submit if you can. Even if you just send a submission saying I do not support this bill.
The writer Barbara Kingsolver in her preface to the 2024 reprint of her 1989 book "Holding the Line - Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike" says "This is not a novel. It is a cautionary tale. Its lesson is: watch your back. Take civil liberty for granted at your own risk, Trust in leaders wh Ko arrive in power by means of wealth, and see what they protect when push comes to shove".
Best memories are all of Maori events that speak optimistically to our future - the Kotahitanga hui at Turangawaewae, the tangihanga for Kingi Tuheitia and koroneihana of Kuini Nga Wai hono e te po and the hikoi to Parliament.
Worst memories are of the 'sorted' PM and his abject failure to rein in his miserable racist colleagues and his failure to show up at events like Waitangi Day at Waitangi.
Ugh, 2 typos in that. Nga Wai hono i te po. Leaders who arrive in power
Typos OK. Especially by phone.
Sometimes I discover I've apparently said all sorts of idiotic things. Always on the rare times I don't obsessively proofread at least twice before sending.......
I used to be critical of spelling errors and always pointed them out, but have become much more tolerant in recent times - people do the best they can and we have no idea whether the writer is dyslexic or has some other learning disability. I try to understand the point they are trying to make
I've always been a grammar nazi. It seems very picky to me now. I hope it's not just because I've posted rbubish in the psat.
From one grammar nazi to another - I can't bear it when I post mistakes. I am not getting less picky with time, alas.
Stand out for me was the hikoi. Shout out to Jenian Homes, Hakes Bay who renovated our home after Cyclone Gabriella. Te Tirit o Waitangi protects us all from complete exploitation by greedy and self serving interests that seek to strip and plunder our resources and leave the tax payers to pick up the costs.
The hikoi to Parliament the standout for 2024
The Hikoi, Haka in Parliament, Barb serving it to them, Keiran serving it up, Chloe making me cry with pride in our wonderful generation of intelligent and empathetic women. I’m focused on the good. The bad is there to be seen every day. I had a conversation with an older neighbour who knows she comes from privilege and discussing equality versus equity. I’m hoping I’ve opened the door enough for some more discussion about not throwing away the keys and building an environment setting people up for success rather than building more prisons. We will see.
Yes Raewyn, it is easy to be impatient, but quiet thoughtful comments often work best.
Before the election I was warning my friends who leant towards National, that Luxon would not be skilled enough to dodge being used and that he had a high opinion of himself, and racism could become a problem, plus austerity has never worked and always raises unemployment. Now they are talking to me of relatives leaving for employment, Luxon letting Seymore bring in bad bills, and they are shocked at the obvious attacks on Maori and Pacifica. The Smoke free changes left two friends gobsmacked, and now they have grandchildren vaping. So though they don't say 'I will vote differently' the mood has definitely changed. My highlight, great treatment by overworked but dedicated Hospital staff for my husband's brain bleed after a fall (Middlemore) and my RSV (Lakes Care Rotorua). Next was Hana's reaction to Seymore's racist Bill, and the Hikoi. Labour The Greens and The Maori Party and past National MP, Chris Finlayson KC, who spoke out against the racism. How National has moved to the right was evident by the nasty comments. We have some great people on the left, and we must keep hope and courage.
Happy christmas and new year. Public submissions on bills are critical if any influence can be had over gvt direction. The policy focussed newsletters and links to relevant public submission opportunity have been very helpful.
I've still got to do my submission on the second bill on regulations (otherwise could be called "getting the treaty out of all laws").
But I'll get there.
Good people are the highlight. I particularly have enjoyed watching young people who manage to get on with life amiidst all of the chaos. My teen grand children on quite different paths but managing their way through:: playing music, finding relationships, studying science and finding work. One struggling more with finding her way.
Then the young folk who organised the hikoi. What a great great job they did.
Meanwhile we try to stop the worst of Coc.
“Were there people around the dinner table or the BBQ you encountered who had a bit of buyer’s remorse with the reality of this government being worse than even those of us who were concerned suspected? Or did they want them to go harder?”
I have found exactly ONE Nat supporting voter who has admitted that what I told him during the campaign last year (that their math was complete BS and they would finance his mythically-large tax cut with only more indebtedness) was spot-on correct. And that was refreshing from whence I hail, the U.S. of these last messed up years, because NO ONE in the U.S. admits you were correct about something and that implies they were wrong. That never happens anymore there.
But the dynamic that did sit the hardest with us across the multiple neighborhood soirées was the aggressive and loud climate change denialism that came up several times. And not precipitated by someone like ourselves who understand it is reality (science ya know) but it simply came out of nowhere as soon as the conversation threatened to present them with ANY uncomfortable truth about ANYTHING that is happening. Climate related or not. It was like being transported back to the USA of the 1990’s. Everyone sitting in a hair trigger to unleash a climate denialism tirade (PS: those almost never happen anymore there).
More and more, I am convinced that the foundation all of our current cultural and political dysfunctions are built upon is that of the actually undeniable and accelerating change to the climate and hence our weather and our natural world. It seems to me that even those exclaiming against the science are actually the ones who retain enough of a reasoning mind that their subconscious is driving them in more perplexed ways as the denial becomes harder and harder to maintain. They doth protest a wee bit much about Climate Change evidence here on the S. Island. They just aren’t ready for that reality yet.
In so many ways the NZ of right now, for an American like me, is a flashback to the U.S. or 20, 30 and 40+ years ago and I’m like, “I done seen this before guys! Pull up! Pull up!”
So, SO hard to watch. Yet again. I sure hope we can turn away from it here, there is still time. It’s OVER where I am from…
Really interesting comment Mark, thank you.
I'm convinced that this small country, which historically has often punched way above its weight, has the power to reverse what seems like a headlong dash to chaos. And what convinces me is how so many people of all persuasions align with Tangata Whenua.
There is more solidarity among us than division; it's just that those of the latter shout very, very loudly.
I think where we are ensconced here on the S. Island is solid ACT insurgency country. So from this neighbourhood, it feels to us, that ‘they’ are punching above THEIR weight. I want to be proven wrong. To witness them being consequenced. I simultaneously feel the same polarisation along the axis of the artificial binary, coming to get me here though…
Only because you're asking, Nick .... all the good stuff, and there has been no shortage of that in my world, has been eclipsed by the unending suffering of the Palestinian people. The same television screen that gives me hours of pleasure moves me to tears with Al Jazeera's daily 'Genocide in Gaza', as if it were fictional. I have come to reference this and other such ongoing human atrocities in performance with Joe Zawinul's 'Mercy, mercy, mercy' (no lyrics please). As a creative being, I balance that with John Lennon's 'Imagine'. So let that be my 2024 illusion ... "imagine all the people, sharing all the world". Jah Bless.
2 new grand babies this year. Family from 2 oversees countries for summer Family time. Summer holiday!
Wow - 2025, in younger times I used to wonder if I would ever see the new century - now the first quarter of that has passed. For all of the 20th Century I ignored politics pretty much, followed the mantra that business is important so that was the way I voted. Now in the 21st Century and I have taken an interest, I cannot justify my disinterest of last century with any any aspect of even a little political interest in this century. It seems that our political system is biased to promote the interest of the entitled minority to benefit from the economy provided by the many for the benefit of the few. The difference today seems that while the "many" have the majority they decline to take the control they have - influenced by some "unseen hand" - why is this so? There IS absolutely a message in the global political shift to the "right", not a dramatic shift but a shift there has been! We ignore politics at our peril - present bills under consideration by our government seek to entrench the role of the "few" over the many and as long as the "many" take no interest they will succeed. We must - somehow - encourage political interest and an ability to evaluate the messages being pushed out by the many media sources with simple spin comments of deception and misinformation - and often lies. There are no simple solutions, simple "bans"cannot solve complex issues - the needs of the "many" cannot be provided by any trickle from the few as they are completely dependant the majority providing the "wants" and needs for their benefit.
sadly not a great year for the entire world..the worldwide shift to the right is a hideous sight..2024 can piss off really quickly as far as im concerned.. i lost my only living child and our only 2 precious grandies to the land of snakes and money across the ditch had a heart attack in july..the up of that was the fantastic care i received from all the hard working staff at middlemore in spite of the mutt govt trying its very best to erode our health system even more..highlights would be of course the hikoi and hana serving it up to billy bunter brownlee in such an elegant and mature fashion and his naf bullying response was sooo on point from an old stale pale nazi nat..chloes speech one for the ages,,a truly superb human beinghow lucky we are to have that sort of intelligence in our country..good luck to all the folk of amerikkka turning out to be the dumbest country on the planet..they have 4 years of misery pain and self inflicted suffering to endure and hoping we only have 2 more years of hell..i intend to try my very best to remain positive and fight for our country along with like minded people i have found here.. kia kaha all
What stood out to me in 2024 - The shocking reality of a COC government stripping NZ of many advances plus such deceitful rhetoric and actions. Trump being re-elected.. To see the Maori, people stand up - stand out so proudly for their beliefs. How the health system has been so badly abused. How history repeats, particularly where demagogues have been able to con their people into wars and the like.
The most wonderful memories I have from 2024 are from the day of the hikoi in Parliament Grounds! Such a HUGE crowd of kiwis from all walks of life, tangata whenua and tangata tiriti, and all so friendly and positively motivated. I think I learned the meaning of the word kotahitanga that day! The positive vibes were so enriching. And as a matter of fact, a total stranger who came in on the same train I was on became my friend that day, as we made our way to Parliament and later onto the train to head to homes in different places along the line, but we had so much in common with our reasons for being there. The memory of that day keeps me hopeful for the future