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Open Mike 04/12/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 4th, 2025 - 17 comments
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17 comments on “Open Mike 04/12/2025 ”

  1. Patricia Bremner 1
    4 December 2025 at 7:00 am

    The Principal should take Seymour to court for slander, in view of his and Compass accusing the School of the latest debacle. Evidence does not support their claim. They are using might to control the narrative. It is high time this Minister faced his failures with less aggression, and faced up to this, in a. choosing such a company, b. making unsubstantiated accusations. Any other Minister would have to walk. PM Luxon is deaf and blind when his own future is on the line. imo.

    Reply
  2. gsays 2
    4 December 2025 at 7:28 am

    @ Patricia above, I would like to hear a fulsome apology.

    Not a corporate 'Sorry that you feel that way', one where there is acknowledgement of Seymour being incorrect, the hurt caused to both the children and reputation of the school leadership and the power inbalance,

    Irony much with the principal being called a frequent flyer where Seymour's existence in public life is thoroughly dependent on MSM.

    Reply
  3. Kay 3
    4 December 2025 at 7:30 am

    It's common knowledge certain politicians want to privatise the health system, but they aren't very keen on volunteering ideas as to how this can be done. In the meantime, many of those who once had the means for private insurance are being priced out.

    When Scott contacted his insurer, he was told the ageing population of its membership and rising medical care costs were to blame.

    “Given that the population will continue to age and medical costs increase, premiums are likely to continue to rise quickly

    Yet:

    AIA NZ chief product and marketing officer, said healthcare costs in New Zealand were rising at an unprecedented rate, with medical inflation reaching 14.5% this year – one of the highest percentages in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Another example of the great NZ rip-off? And why?

    “If the cost of private medical insurance continues to increase at very high rates, we will, like many people I talk to, have to drop medical insurance and rely on the state.”

    Which sees people who once had the option of private insurance, now having to join the ranks of waiting longer than forever on waiting lists in a deliberately run-down public system, and effectively preventing or delaying the treatment of those who have never been able to afford health insurance and rely on the state.

    This is starting to feel an awful lot like the US, where health treatment boils down to your ability to pay for it. And we should all be very worried
    .https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360906205/health-insurance-bill-outstrips-rates-car-house-and-contents-combined-says-retiree-kiwis-share-anger

    Reply
  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    4 December 2025 at 8:00 am

    Measles Immunisation Alert !

    Paediatrician worries new measles wave spreading undetected

    And Measles is not, as some seem to minimise, just some itchy scratchy problem we used to all get…It is a proven deadly disease !

    Chairperson of the Immunisation Taskforce Dr Owen Sinclair said the new cases were concerning, as measles was a deadly disease.

    "We should be really worried, as I think this is a sign that this is spreading.

    "This would be highly unlikely to be spontaneous international visitors [that's] occurring, this is transmission that's happening within our community."

    It was fortunate that sick children weren't flooding hospitals, he said, but he maintained it was only a matter of time if the spread continued.

    Sinclair urged people to view vaccination as positive.

    "Please just make a little bit of effort to do it. You could save your life, your child's life, and someone else's life."

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/580795/paediatrician-worries-new-measles-wave-spreading-undetected

    Reply
  5. PsyclingLeft.Always 5
    4 December 2025 at 8:22 am

    NAct1 and Climate Change : a sadly apt phrase.. "Smoke and Mirrors"

    Impossible to meet Paris Agreement targets without buying offshore carbon credits – experts

    It is impossible for New Zealand to meet its climate change commitments with only domestic emissions reductions, analysts say.

    One says there will "always" be a cost to climate change, no matter how the country chooses to deal with the crisis, and the government needs to be clear about how it will meet that.

    Finance Minister Nicola Willis said earlier this week that the government was not prepared "to send cheques for billions of dollars offshore" for carbon credits, in order to meet its 2030 Paris Agreement commitment.

    The Minister…is living in LaLa Land….

    In a written statement Watts told RNZ the entire target could be met domestically due to a coming "renewable energy boom" and "increasing confidence" in agricultural technology.

    "We believe it is possible … but acknowledge it will be challenging."

    A Reality Check..

    Compass Climate independent analyst Christina Hood said recent policy changes would worsen that gap, not close it.

    "The various decisions that the current government has made has actually put us on a higher emissions track than we would have otherwise been."

    The government could not simply lean on an even faster adoption of agricultural technology than was projected, Hood said.

    "There's no credible scenario that suggests that can happen.

    Why Indeed….

    "If they thought that, why are they weakening our methane targets, rather than strengthening them?"

    In the Link, Nigel Brunel has some very perceptive comment, I will close with this…

    "Science is pretty clear about climate change," he said.

    "The damage has been done and continues to be done. Stopping that, doing something about that's not going to be free, but inaction or doing nothing, many papers out there prove that's going to cost us more in the long run than actually doing something."

    He added: "There's no free lunch here."

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/580790/impossible-to-meet-paris-agreement-targets-without-buying-offshore-carbon-credits-experts

    Reply
  6. Drowsy M. Kram 6
    4 December 2025 at 11:14 am

    The NAct1 CoC (govt by and for the sorted) is speed-wrecking NZ – careful now RNZ.

    • Housing Minister Chris Bishop has admitted ‘slippage’ in the achievement of the Government’s targets of building 550 new social homes in the current year to June 30, and 1,500 in the three years to 2026/27, with officials saying 337 had been delivered in 2025/26 and 147 are on track for delivery in 2026/27. (RNZ)
    • Major foodbanks are warning they’ll have to close if the government does not provide ongoing funding next year. (RNZ)
    • Denials of applications to MSD for advanced support have doubled in the last year, with Minister Louise Upston saying she’s not concerned because “advances create greater hardship down the track”. (RNZ)
    • In more signs of financial stress, the Hawkes Bay Horse of the Year show for March 2026, one of the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, was cancelled yesterday due to a downward spiral in revenues. (RNZ)

    https://thekaka.substack.com/p/bishop-admits-slippage-on-housing-927


    Just up to her knees, or completely out of her depth and a GDP disaster? Time will tell.

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/20/the-secret-diary-of-the-gdp-disaster/

    Reply
  7. Ffloyd@49 7
    4 December 2025 at 12:06 pm

    Seymour is a gaslighter. He hasn’t got the intelligence to be anything else.

    Reply
  8. PsyclingLeft.Always 8
    4 December 2025 at 2:35 pm

    Must.Find.Something.To Sell. ( I wonder..what?)

    Government finances worse than expected as tax take falls

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/580839/government-finances-worse-than-expected-as-tax-take-falls

    Reply
  9. Adrian 9
    4 December 2025 at 3:45 pm

    No more evidence needed on the state of the economy with the much heralded IKEA grand opening with not full car parks, negligible traffic hold up, and the opening act of the Bald Clown and the Suplicants being a very damp squib.
    All this according to RNZNews with a “ crowd “ off about 50 or 60 ambling in in an accompanying photo. Great work RNZ most of the photos were featuring the Bald Clown and his supplicant entourage. They may have been almost the only ones there.

    Reply
    • tc 9.1
      4 December 2025 at 4:50 pm

      Or Jaffa's being savvy as it's such a clusterfk to get around on a good day.

      I read it's full now and adjacent to one of the worst choke points in NZ IMO, ye olde Tip Top corner. The future looks congested.

      Reply
    • Obtrectator 9.2
      4 December 2025 at 5:03 pm

      News coverage just gets ickier and ickier.

      Reply

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