Open Mike 06/09/25

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 25 comments
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25 comments on “Open Mike 06/09/25”

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  2. 2

    I'm getting to the point politically that I'm open to which ever party gets the most votes is the leader of the house, and all the other parties are confidence and supply parties, and policy is always a matter of getting 60% agreement in the house, let's grow up and stop have sides, supposedly all politicians are in it for the good of the country.

    1. 2.1

      A few years ago Nat and Lab were statistically the two most agreeable parties (90+%). And even now their differences are usually a couple (only!!) of big ticket repeals (ERA, Oil & Gas) everything else remains unchanged or slight tinkering.

      1. 2.1.1

        When you got act nzf and tpm as coalition options , I'm starting to feel grand coalition is a better option, I voted and supported mmp but I'm becoming very blah about it.

  3. 3

    Interesting shift in Thai governance:

    The man who will become Thailand’s next prime minister after securing the backing of the majority of lawmakers in parliament on Friday is a staunch royalist and conservative with an eclectic mix of passions and hobbies.

    Among other things, Anutin Charnvirakul, 58, is an advocate for cannabis legalisation, a pilot who has used his private jets to deliver organs to transplant patients, a saxophonist… Anutin is a shrewd political operator. The son of a former cabinet minister, he comes from a family that owns one of Thailand’s biggest construction companies responsible for some high-profile developments, including Bangkok’s main airport. He has helped build his party (Bhumjaithai) into the main conservative force in parliament, carefully navigating old power struggles that have long dominated Thai politics, building alliances where politically expedient… Anutin has previously served as a former deputy premier, interior minister and health minister, and was responsible for the decriminalisation of cannabis.

    The latter has proved controversial. The legal change was criticised for being clumsily rushed through without any safeguards, creating an explosion of weed shops… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/06/pro-cannabis-karaoke-meet-thailand-next-prime-minister-anutin-charnvirakul

    So there you go Lux. All them empty shops up & down the mainstreets of cities and towns in Aotearoa could easily be filled with neon lights and cannabis products just like those in commercial centres overseas. Don't keep on waiting for the neolib tooth fairy lad – go for gold instead!

  4. 4

    The Conversation publishes great stuff.

    https://theconversation.com/what-is-prepping-and-how-does-it-work-in-australia-264481?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Weekender%20-%206th%20September%202025&utm_content=The%20Weekender%20-%206th%20September%202025+CID_eebf22685d592a69d56211dc9a6f84a6&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=What%20is%20prepping%20%20and%20how%20does%20it%20work%20in%20Australia

    A lot of this probably applies here. Think of Tom Phillips.

  5. 5

    Starmer's broom sweeps out the trash… https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-starmer-reshuffles-top-team-restore-authority-after-rayner-blow-2025-09-05/

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought in a new deputy and foreign and interior ministers on Friday in a sweeping reshuffle intended to restore his authority after the resignation of his deputy, Angela Rayner.

    Starmer could do little to protect Rayner after Britain's independent adviser ruled that she had breached the ministerial code by failing to pay the correct tax… "There is a sense at the moment that they don’t know what they are doing and what they stand for," Chris Hopkins, political research director at polling firm Savanta, told Reuters.

    How common is this sense? Well, the Conservatives screwed themselves so thoroughly in recent years that they ended up with a black woman as their leader. For British traditionalists to do such a thing, they really had to be desperate!! I wish her luck, btw, because she will need it to retain parity with Reform. So yeah, any British observer of politics is likely to see the Labour situation as equivalent to the Tory situation, and both as examples of common sense conspicuous in its absence.

  6. 6

    Tempting fate… I think that I have the periodic overwhelming of the site by AI bots under control. Shorter functional lifetimes on spawned processes, more of them for loads and dropping long connections earlier seems to be working.

    The bots appear to have a diurnal cycle and get really intense in our evening.

  7. 7

    Interesting get together of what I would have thought were two diametrically opposing political views have now become 'bedfellows' (politically speaking of course). I honestly don't know what to make of N Z First apart from the fact that they – God forbid just may become a force to be reckoned with come this time next year. Just maybe ole Winnie may run out of puff before the election cycle gets into serious gear – no harm in being hopefulcheeky

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360815550/former-labour-mp-stuart-nash-guest-speaker-nz-firsts-annual-meeting

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572298/former-labour-mp-stuart-nash-not-closing-door-on-campaigning-for-nz-first

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572293/former-national-party-mp-harete-hipango-joins-new-zealand-first

    1. 7.1

      The master of the back-stab, gives as good as he gets.

      However, he would not criticise Labour

      However, he said his apparent shift in allegiances was "not personal at all"

      I don't think that I've abandoned the Labour Party. I suspect the Labour Party has probably abandoned me, and I suspect it's also abandoned a whole lot of other people who grew up with those values and are looking at the Labour Party, going 'this is not the party that my grandfather or my father talked about."

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572298/former-labour-mp-stuart-nash-not-closing-door-on-campaigning-for-nz-first

      1. 7.1.1

        It has always been all about him. I remember when he was the candidate for Epsom and wanted to run a "Nash" campaign rather than a Labour campaign. His LEC told him in no uncertain terms that they had no time for show ponies, that the Electorate's job was to get the billboards up on the major arterials, to maximise the Party Vote, and to get all the volunteers who were mobile working in surrounding electorates on Election Day while the older members showed their charming faces and their Labour rosettes as scrutineers.

          1. 7.1.2.1.1

            +100 SPC. Nash is is a complete A-hole.

            I have this theory that people in NZ tend to be brought up to think for themselves. Certainly my two kids are like this.

            It follows that we wont go down the Trump path, but will reject this for a more egalitarian, democratic path.

            Seymour, Peters and Luxon (and Bishop and Willis and Jones and and and) are all slaves to Trumpism-they will lose next year.

    2. 7.2

      Nash turned out to be border line corrupt and always suited national more, so nzf is the home for him.

      And even hardened nat supporters in my neck of the wood s couldn't stand hipango.

      The home of arrogant crooks is what nzf has become

    1. 8.1

      our electricity to power their oligarchy enrichment projects.

      Yep. And amongst all the amazon cheerleading there is this (I'm sure you already know all this..but for others..)

      Amazon profits surge 35% as AI investments drive growth

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/568676/amazon-profits-surge-35-percent-as-ai-investments-drive-growth

      On the backs of..(amongst other)

      Union busting by Amazon

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_and_trade_unions#Union_busting_by_Amazon

      And this…(which I didnt know so much about a year ago..: (

      Project Nimbus

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nimbus

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