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6:00 am, July 17th, 2026 - 69 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
This is one of those rare moments that a comment overshadows the article it was made under.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/16/a-governing-partys-lament-why-dont-they-appreciate-us/#comment-653703
Thanks Incognito, good spotting. That comment is a keeper.
Anyone having any difficulty matching each head to a particular coalition party ‘leader’?
The good news: mobile phones don’t cause brain cancer.
https://theconversation.com/no-evidence-mobile-phones-cause-brain-cancer-new-study-287581
The bad news: mobile phones cause brain rot, particularly in youth.
It’s apparently so bad that RW libertarians and staunch free speech advocates [of RW speech] want to ban smartphones for under 16s.
It's not just cellphones, there's a move now in some schools to limit all devices, even used as teaching aids, in entrant classes. You can get addiction issues, where for example, young children refuse non-device teaching activities.
Do you have a link for that? Who’s the mover, what are the limits, what’s the reasoning, and is this supported by sound evidence or based on beliefs and/or ideology?
Again, tell us more about those ‘addiction issues’. Are they genuine addictions or hard-to-break [in-class] habits? How young are those children and what do the educators do about those children’s refusal?
Given the degree to which hormone receptors are involved, I think it's reasonable to call it addiction. That's with social media at least. Not sure how big a factor that is in small kids, but advertisers have long known how to manipulate at any age.
Anyone who has toddlers, or indeed any other children, in their household knows that screens are addictive from s very young age.
shrug
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2026/05/06/global-studies-show-negative-effects-of-kids–screen-use-.html
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/27/screen-time-damage-under-twos-development-study
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-06609-1
Just a few recent findings regarding screen time. There are others showing that physically writing vs typing improves learning: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain
There many good reasons to consider how much screen time we are requiring of children.
Thanks, but the context was the class room (in NZ?) and refusal by young children (in NZ?) as a sign/symptom of ‘addiction issues’, as ‘diagnosed’ by unspecified people (in NZ?). None of those assertions has been backed up so far, and the convo never got lift-off from unsubstantiated common sense and hearsay that is often a mark of an exercise in futility and a waste of time. Hence, my shrug.
I believe this is the local story being referenced; https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/708131/primary-school-returns-to-pen-and-paper-after-ditching-ipads
I think there is ample evidence, and that the New Zealand context is similar enough to allow for a wider discussion about the use of screens by children and young people. I agree that the current drive to legislate away social media for young teens is misdirected and most probably futile but I would also disagree that the concern that underlies it is akin to vaccine denial.
Thank you for that link. If that was indeed the (one and only?) source for the comment @ 2.1, then that comment paraphrased it very liberally, to say the least. Unfortunately, that commenter did not follow up, so there’s little point in me continuing down this path.
I didn’t see anything about vaccine denial though!?
https://thestandard.nz/open-mike-18-07-2026/#comment-2067393
Apologies, I was also responding to the wording of your post on OM today given their related subject matter. The current attempts to legislate solutions are misplaced and reactive, I agree but the science does support a more considered approach around the screen time of children and teens. And this needs discussion; the positive social / parental change requires wider understanding of the issues and possible solutions. I wouldn't like to see that conversation restricted or forestalled by an ignorance of the evidence or by a dismissal of concerns because they are deemed ideological or idiotic.
" young children refuse non-device teaching activities."
Children have done that since long before "devices" came on the scene:
"I don't want to do folk-dance/high-jump/colouring-in!!"
In the Indian pizza takeaway recently a little girl of about two years was very restless. So she was sat down, handed a cellphone and was immediately entranced, still and quiet.
Very insidious those devices at capturing the mind and interest. Perhaps there will need to be a brain test every year on one's birthday to see how many facets of the brain are shining or if parts have gone dull. The brain is a wonderful thing; looking at this link* it reinforces in my mind that we are random miracles which must show up in small daily amazing ways in each of us, though not recognised, taken for granted.
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVGlfcP3ATI | Brain anatomy & Functions | Nucleus Health
Terry Pratchett was one of the larger miracles and in one of his ironic books about lif called 'Small Gods' – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Gods – his character Brutha a young goer who is illiterate, lives and learns:
(You see how useful and interesting speculative fiction will be for ideas in our millingenium!)
Nah, the little girl was tired, hungry, cold, forced to tag along, and bored. Even a Rubik’s Cube would have done the trick.
Well that is a point to note – she was too young for Rubiks cube, about two years old. (I know this – I am senior and still can't manage this cube. Of course I have more important things to do.)
You’re missing the point.
May not be able to do the puzzle but it can be sucked and bashed onto something and that can be a useful distraction, probably better than the car keys that were lost in our family (see below)
Create a fake phone with a screen filled with clear gel and lots of tiny, colourful plastic hoops, stars and other shapes that float slowly about when the "phone" is tipped one way or another.
Problem (never) solved!
Surely, there’s an app for that.
https://theconversation.com/why-is-everything-an-app-now-stores-must-step-up-to-tackle-this-spread-281348
There will be but what it will lack is the story, which is the best bit.
Used to be car keys in our family as the ultimate distractor until one day they could not be found in the shop where she had been propped up playing with them…..and never more were found!
Ever!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/728388/thousands-more-on-the-benefit-but-increase-in-jobseekers-finding-work
Go forth and be productive!
In other words, forcing people into servitude in a tough economic environment that’s been made even tougher by Upston’s self-entitled Coalition is their ideological target. With the help of the RBNZ [lifting the OCR] the Coalition will ensure youth unemployment stays ‘on-target’ too.
"This government can be understood best as a machine for the relentless upwards redistribution of wealth." It’s all going according to plan – drip drip drip…
Corporatisation of healthcare in NZ has been happening for some time but under the Coalition this has become privatisation on steroids that will soon be a bursting boil causing a festering wound that will poison NZ society.
https://theconversation.com/corporatisation-of-healthcare-is-on-the-rise-in-nz-with-likely-impacts-on-access-and-quality-of-services-286641
This is the most impartial part of the piece:
I believe the real power of language comes from its innate beauty which may shed some light on the origins of language and (for some) the pivotal question what came first, written/carved or spoken/heard language. No LLM-AI will ever be able to appreciate this in the way we humans do.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-ao-maori/729863/maori-word-kaitiakitanga-named-world-s-most-beautiful-by-language-app
This may be too hard to swallow for the culture destroyers of the mono-culturist Coalition and I foresee an ACT or NZ First policy banning language apps for under-16s with the nodding approval of Daddy Luxon.
Yes, kaitiakitanga is beautiful – I have always thought kotahitanga was smoother and slightly more beautiful, but, hei aha!
The team that chose the list were a very woke crew, weren't they! No hard, left-brain concepts in there; even this gem seems thoughtful and considerate. None of them will have been found in an ACT Party dictionary.
Mercurio, are you taking the piss with your Finnish finish?
Erittäin hyvä, Mac1!
'Poronkusema' is 7-7.5 km, the distance for a reindeer before stopping for a pee. I walk that distance every Thursday for a pie- steak and mushroom with truffle cheese. That experience needs a word, too……… 'superb' doesn't quite cut the mustard, as they say.
That's a long way, Mac!
What is "truffle cheese"?
I want some, but is it worth a 7-7.5 walk??
Cheese flavoured with truffle, from Italy. Yes the pie is worth it, Three to six friends and I have done this for years, weekly. Described as a "a near-religious experience"……. a local firm regularly sells out daily of its large range of pies. The walk there is mostly along a river bank- quiet, good views. Retirement has its compensations!
You guys!
Keeping it real.
Question: what is retirement compensating for?
A very good question. Retirement compensates for forty plus years of work, taxes, bosses, committees, work-related illness, stress.
It offers a quieter period for reflection, writing, making compost and music, enjoying friendship.
But the actual question is what does retirement bring in compensation for the onset of age and its attendant shortcomings- the lessening of opportunities, physical weakening, illness, lesser income, less influence, less energy, dealing with knowing more but yet knowing less.
Jung (and others, myself included) would recommend taking the Great & Perilous Journey Inward once you've retired from the frantic life such as you've described. It's not for the faint-hearted, that's for sure, but it certainly not without excitement!
For the rest of the day, there're riverbanks to be walked along, truffle-cheese to be savoured…
All those woke words wear out my keyboard k-key.
Stop hitting it.
Okay, thanks for the good advice; I’ll try stroking it instead.
The Taxpayers’ Union is kicking a corpse courtesy of the Coalition.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2607/S00109/callaghan-losses-show-government-must-stop-picking-winners.htm
As usual, TPU misses the point by miles about the role & responsibility (duty) of public funding in the science and innovation system for the public good, so we can file this as yet another shot in the abyss of RWNJ dogma where investors & shareholders should be the primary (and often only real) beneficiaries of their investments.
Who gave Winstone permission to name our new ferries, the old coot seems to do whatever he likes.
He'll be gone before they get here.
When you say gone do you mean passed away Mercurio or just gone from the political scene, like retired
We all eventually get to talk to the ferryman……. our question is who will pay, and how much…….in Hades?
He’s gone cashless and passengers can pay by credit card but word on the street is that the surcharges are killing them.
No credit on the Styx.
How did Orpheus manage the crossing?
How did he pass-by the tri-headed Dog?
Music – it soothes the Savage Breast.
The Ferryman, reputedly, drives a hard bargain.
I'd go with the flow.
That said, if you do find yourself in Hades, surrounded by lost souls, what would you do?
I'd irritate, like the grit that produces a pearl, if I could.
You?
Yes, I do.
Winston Petters is 81.
Shane Jones is 66.
Michael Laws is 70.
Paul Henry is 65. His chief cheerleader at the Herald Audrey Young can't be reliably dated without referring to dendrochronology.
These boomers and geriatrics are all political dinosaurs from the 1980s-2010s
One thing TOP has going for it is it's top 4-5 candidates all seem to be under 40 – so if Labour stand aside in Mt Albert for Qiulae Wong and she brings five MPs with her at least we'd start to be rid from the government of all the old drunk uncles.
Ageist and very
Age is no guarantee of efficiency, and youth is no guarantee of innovation.
If by some miracle Labour really did do what it has never done before in any electorate, and stepped aside for Opps, to give them a guarantee that Opps could form a coalition with whomever, you then run into the problem of running a country.
None of the Opps top 10 have been close to the Wellington system, which means they run a very high risk they will be railroaded not by the Ministers, but by the bureaucrats.
The only one who has Wellingotn experience is way down their list Kayla Kingdon-Ebb, and in reality she will go straight back to her job as CE of World Wildlife Fund once this is over.
It would do Labour no credit to our democracy to stoop to the same "principle" as National continuing to gift Epsom.
Who knows, maybe elected office is mostly a retirement gig for those over 60.
Sound comment, Ad.
Or the split vote gifts the election to NACTF. If TOP get 4.8% of the vote and half of that is people that would otherwise vote left of centre, that 2.4% might swing the election.
btw, the problem isn't older men, it's the system that enables those kinds of men. I remember when the Listener, bastion of liberal thinking, ran an article on Shane Jones at that start of his political career, he was the great new hope. Pfft.
"Audrey Young can't be reliably dated without referring to dendrochronology."
Harsh, but.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/petrol-and-diesel-prices-down-again-in-june/
Don’t expect milk or dairy products in general to get cheaper in future. Apparently, farmers operate with tight margins and are squeezed, so they have to squeeze us harder too, because they’re ‘the backbone’.
https://en.edairynews.com/rising-inputs-lift-new-zealand-dairy-breakeven-to-8-79-kgms-amid-margin-squeeze/ [HT to Newsroom e-mail Newsletter]
Kiwi dairy farmers can't take much more of this – they must be nearly 'on their knees' by now, just like the NZ tobacco industry.
https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/opinion/beyond-the-plateau-rethinking-growth-in-dairy/
My GP says I have spinal arthritis. Not sure my backbone can take more squeezing, but I do like my dairy, and since I tolerate milk products well they have recommended an increased intake (low-fat only though) along with more omega-3 fatty acid-rich foods.
Tofu, soy milk, or canned fish are your best calcium replacements for bones.
Maybe the global market in our key export is telling us to change our diet, and leave milk on the shelf for the global export market where the wealthy who can afford it can buy it.
Thanks for that Ad – might give tofu and soy a go, but aren't they a bit 'woke'
Found this handy PDF too.
https://www.bones.org.nz/media/anhhkuqk/onz00065-bone-health-factsheet-calcium-9-0.pdf
Some nitwit Millennial actually fed me soy milk in my flat white at 8am this morning, and I forgot to notice.
Obviously, you were not woke yet.
Do you mean, “some young person” …
Wake up, Ad!
Hi Mac, make sure you take/eat Vit D and also plenty of veg with K. Needed for the body to deposit calcium in the bones instead of the rest of the body.
whole greek yoghurt cheese and sardines on toast, broccoli and spinach plive oil/butter.
Treat your back well, use a trolley to move things, learn how to save your back from stress when sitting sleeping etc.
It is a whole of life situation to avoid surgery and chronic pain.
All the very best. (You probably know all this
.)
Thanks for the advice Patricia – I knew some of it, and all of it was welcome.
It’s them compliance costs that burdens them hard and the red tape that’s strangulating the economy, allegedly, and we as customers must pay the price.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/677632/almost-40-percent-of-dairy-farmers-not-meeting-fertiliser-reporting-rules
Fortunately, for the NZ farmers and NZ customers, David Seymour is stripping all the red meat off down the bare backbone and NZ economy endoskeleton.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/14/by-hokey-whats-it-going-to-be-nz-the-money-or-the-red-tape/
If your backbone is squeezing you, you should seek medical help.
Or the nearest toilet.
Sara Paretsky is a USA writer whose character VI Warshawski is a female sleuth with determination. She often writes about financial crime rather than centering on murder.
This synopsis of her book seems to echo some of my own experience of acting with others for better systems and outcomes, with some success but more, seeing preventable deterioration and even deliberate abandonment of beneficial practices and institutions.
@greywarshark
During covid I thououghly enjoyed the Di Warshawski series on BBC sounds. Unfortunately the BBC has since geo-blocked their entire sounds library but I did find this.
https://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-Drama&series=V%20I%20Warshawski