Open Mike 19/01/2026

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 27 comments
Categories: open mike


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 …

27 comments on “Open Mike 19/01/2026”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

  1. 1

    No earthquakes, no worries Auckland.

    The shake down of other regions has occurred (well is on-going) – pay the ever rising insurance cost each year.

    Auckland was spared.

    It never knew Melbourne, till autumn 2021.

    A 100 year flood (once a decade when they start coming), 1/4 of houses on a flood plain.

    (sandbags, stop banking golf course land, 2 storey homes (above a garage and basement)

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360925460/its-hard-care-about-climate-change-when-youre-broke

    1. 2.1

      I was reading some of the ascerbic highlights of the "Live of Poets" by Samuel Johnson (I have a weakness for the poison pens of 17th and 18th century English writers) and it struck me his biographical description of the famous coward, MP and poet Edmund Waller perfectly suits Shane Jones:

      "a prostituted mind may retain the glitter of wit, but has lost the dignity of virtue".

      1. 2.1.1

        So true. But I'd be more inclined to say "lost the virtue of dignity" if this morning's interview was anything to go by.

        But he gets full marks for not attempting to hid or spin his blatant xenophobia, everyone knows exactly what he thinks.

      2. 2.1.2

        Yes – but wit without virtue goes, and eventually sounds, rancid. Nowadays, Jones attempts at wit are dull, unfunny and they stink of putrefaction.

    2. 2.2

      Will Minister Shane do anything to deal with older Pākeha males who overfish our whitebait, four of five species of which are threatened with extinction? 250 gm of whitebait can cost over $40 in a fish shop.

      https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/1f8mkga/why_do_we_allow_fishing_and_sale_of_a_threatened/

      I bet there's not much tax paid by these fishermen on their sales. An overpriced delicacy, unaffordable to the ordinary public, looted to near extinction from our environment- once a common good that common folk no longer enjoy.

      See the motor homes and caravans parked along the river banks. Who are they, Shane? Probably your voters…..

  3. 3

    I am far from a Shane Jones fanboy…

    Even a prostituted mind has its uses. I understand behind the scenes, Jones was putting a lot of weight on James Meagre in his Holcim foreign crewed ship decision. Weight in favour of the maritime workers.

  5. 5

    The CFR have alerted us to the delusional nature of Trump's Greenland obsession:

    Europeans are signaling to Congress that the possession of an island that is much smaller than it appears on the standard Mercator projection map is not worth the dissolution of NATO. https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/everything-territory-europes-response-trumps-greenland-threats

    He wants it because it looks way bigger on a map than it really is. Naturally nobody wants to have a go at explaining that to him: "You think I'm stupid? Look, we just need to accelerate the melt. There's valuable minerals to be extracted from under that ice-cap. No way am I gonna let Russia & China get them." As a sop to left-wingers, he could point out that a Russia/China win would be deplorable – using Clintonesque doctrine would impress the hell out of pointy-heads in academia – but the European leaders are gambling on the fate of NATO as much as Trump is. Reciprocity.

    1. 5.1

      "it looks way bigger on a map than it really is".

      It really is a big island. It is, in fact, the largest island in the world. At 836,000 square miles it is larger than Mexico, more than 8 times the size of New Zealand and more than one quarter the size of the US.

      Your comment implies that it is really rather small which certainly isn't the case.

    2. 8.2

      I assume his officials will be working flat out to explain what a poisoned chalice this is, not just for Luxon (who cares what happens to him?) but for New Zealand, and that no number of brownie points with Trump is worth drinking it. There's no fixing Gaza and anyone sensible will avoid trying. NZgov's position should be "This is the Arabs' problem, they can feel free to rebuild the place if they want."

      2. 8.2.2

        When I read the following bit of the link I would say that there is no need at all for the officials to explain anything to Luxon. He isn't going anywhere near the proposal.

        "A spokesperson for the prime minister said he welcomed the beginning of the next phase of the peace plan for Gaza.

        He was invited to join the board and will give it "due consideration"."

        A better example of how to keep a mile away from the whole idea is hard to imagine. He has already determined he is not going to have a bar of it but sees no need to gratuitously throw it in Trump's face. What a beautiful way of wording it. It will get "due consideration"

        1. 8.2.2.1

          Good point. In diplomatic language, "We will give it due consideration" is the equivalent of "You must be fucking joking matey."

        2. 8.2.2.2

          At least everyone can agree the Board of Peace, which can't be disassociated from the US brokered Gaza peace plan, is a terrible idea.

          But the main reason, "(Luxon's) officials will be working flat out to explain what a poisoned chalice this is", is the US$1 billion membership fee.

          This is financial and political suicide for an NZ prime minister to sign up to but were the fee not there I'm sure Luxon would consider it a lot more closely.

          The event is useful for the global left movement because it shows how far conservatives and conservative apologists are now running from the Trump administration's mad agenda.

    1. 9.1

      National has been running on a slogan of 'fixing the basics, building the future,' but much of the speech was about the first part.

      'Rewarding the sorted, building their wealth' – NAct1 is 'government' by and for the sorted.

      Act is the make-the-rich-richer party and, at the same time, the attack-the-poor party. – Hager

      And Nat MPs are fast followers – the dropkick bottom feeders while they're down party.

      Christopher Luxon thinks he knows bottom feeders and bludgers and free riders and people he believes have no dignity because they don’t have his wealth. He does not know. He will never know…


      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/528762/louise-upston-rejects-official-advice-3b-a-year-needed-to-fix-child-poverty

  10. 10

    The privatisation of prisons and deportation.

    It is well established now to run down public services and use the private sector to take citizens money. education, health, welfare. The very system that allows the supposed Somali scams in the US allows bigger ones if you are the right (in NZ context maybe Wright) kind of people.

    ICE keeps growing, not because it makes America safer, but because corporations are raking in billions off cages, bodies, and suffering. ICE’s existence is a massive revenue stream.

    https://bsky.app/profile/cwebbonline.com/post/3mcqnvw4isc2k

    About 90 percent of people in ICE custody are held in facilities run by for-profit companies.

    https://www.brennancenter.org/series/private-prisons

  11. 11

    Labour leader Chris Hipkins has called the Prime Minister's State of the Nation address a "whole lot of management speak mumbo jumbo". I suspect he's right, but the chances of me ever reading or watching a Luxon speech have never risen above zero, so I'll take Hipkins' word for it. Chris A and Chris B both claim to have a plan, if we believe TVNZ. Luxon refused to admit that any passing breeze could deflect him! He

    promised there would be no deviation from its plan should it win a second term. https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/19/management-speak-mumbo-jumbo-hipkins-responds-to-luxons-address/

    No place for reality in that scheme, notice. Trump may huff & puff at him, but Luxon will not be moved. Random escalations of tariff percentages? Not a problem. Water off a duck's back. This comes across as not so much a macho stance, but simple acceptance of God's will. Let it be a lesson to all other simple minds across the nation…

  12. 12

    lol luxo

    /

    • The Trump administration is asking countries to contribute at least $1 billion to get a permanent spot on the new Board of Peace.
    • President Donald Trump would serve as the inaugural chairman of the Board of Peace and decide on who is invited to be members, with decisions subject to his approval.
    • Critics are worried that Trump is trying to build an alternative to the United Nations, which he has long criticized, with the Board of Peace aiming to promote stability and secure enduring peace in areas affected by conflict.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-17/trump-wants-nations-to-pay-1-billion-to-stay-on-his-peace-board

    https://archive.li/RBhxT

  13. 13

    Visiting comedian has a go at us: https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/360927008/youve-only-got-three-cities-jimmy-carr-roasts-new-zealand-tour-kicks

    “If I had to describe New Zealand to someone who’s never been, I’d say 1970s Amish,” Carr quipped. “It’s like you got to 1975 and went, ‘Yeah, that’s enough progress for us.’”

    Taking in Dunedin & Tauranga could be uplifting for him but it takes a while to get the feel of a place. I'd advise him to forget Hamilton and Palmerston North but looks like he already has. Keith Richards deemed Invercargill arsehole of the world in '64 but I gather Shadbolt turned the place around so he could try there, and/or Queenstown, which he would claim is a town. Google's gizmo agrees it "is technically a resort town, not a city, as it doesn't meet New Zealand's urban population requirement of 50,000 residents, but it functions with city-like amenities". Ok, I get it: pseudo-city. Full of pseuds.

    So the bureaucrats have moved the goal-post for aspiring towns. Everyone knew they became a city at 20,000 residents when I was a kid. When did they do that?

Comments are closed.