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6:00 am, May 20th, 2026 - 22 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 …
Will those applying for their jobs once again be asked
1.If they have used drugs while in a public service job and have their answer published so the public can come forward and question any denial?
(will the drugs include marijuana, magic mushrooms and ecstasy, as well as cocaine?)
2.If they have used drugs before having a public service job?
3.Will all Ministers before confirmed (or continued employment in their role) be asked this question?
Will questions about power imbalance sexual relationships in the workplace be included, or forced sex on a partner, or exploiting a drunk person – again with answers published so the public can be involved in their vetting – as per honesty?
Also cheating on their partners, or being with the partners of their co-workers, or one of a a married couple?
After all do we not want anyone in government to be above the standards required of others in society?
PS The Stasi are seeking new recruits of moral guardians of the public service, it might be a growth sector.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/595709/senior-public-servant-misses-out-on-top-job-after-anonymous-tipster-reveals-prior-cocaine-use
Only 1% are worthy to be the oligarch and only 1% fit to work with them in government
(It is called the God-like and the filthy rich that love their wealth more than other humans – unnatural allies)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes
Contact Energy chief executive Mike Fuge told Morning Report's business correspondent today that recent investment in solar and geothermal and the new Huntly firming deal means that NZ no longer runs as high a risk of running out of power in dry years as it used to.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/businessnews/audio/2019035797/business-news-for-20-may-2026
Fuge says the business case case for the LNG terminal must stack up.
Maybe there is a massive and embarrassing u-turn coming on the LNG terminal. But Seymour backed it yesterday so he will not be happy-Luxon usually lets Seymour have his way. The Coalition of Chaos may be about to become even more chaotic.
BG Ive said before that, IMO, the coalition of NACT1 are by far majority, Climate Deniers. The only difference I see is the belief system behind them. IMO some…are Irrational (the actual Climate Science/Experts are not relevant, or of import to them )
And some are RW Ideologues with agendas. Not too hard to pin them….
Notwithstanding any of that….NZ's Environment (and our Planets) is at great risk.
Some big names have written (and I am sure there are many more Scientists and other Experts, Legal and Environmental)
To save us and Our Planet, we need to : ditch the pricks '26.…..
Totally!
Looking at that interesting surname I got thinking about a 'fugue'. Apparently it ends with a tonic. We need one too after all the ongoing financial expositions, developments, and then what comes after?
GWS….your reply was maybe to BG ? But Fuge is indeed an interesting surname…there is another (not sure if related).
Paul Fuge is Powerswitch and also Consumer (a great NZ Advocacy organisation !)
Groundswell for electoral reform in UK getting traction: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgpzp87p11o
Aristocrats will call for the smelling salts, which butlers will bring on silver platters. Those holding fans will wave them more vigorously for a while. If those 5 political groups (pentad) form a united front, and an aristo hears the news while driving, there's a real danger of apoplexy and crashing the Rolls.
Gordy examines oligarchs playing chess with media corps in the USA: https://werewolf.co.nz/2026/05/gordon-campbell-on-james-cameron-and-the-paramount-bid-for-warners/
I share his concerns around this trend. However, Gordy audaciously issues a should:
Well, I guess it must have been due to a lapse by the Behaviour Police, huh? They've been flying under our radar too long and we expect better performance than that. So I'm with Gordy, but note that instead of advocating a solution to this problem, he changes the subject. Classic left-wing evasion strategy. Tut, tut!
[Note: for some reason, the quoted text in this comment has been slightly ‘edited’ (aka altered) by Dennis Frank]
Good take on the Burnham uprising in UK here:
[deleted]
https://unherd.com/2026/05/why-brexit-is-back/
Gosh, if she's right neolibs will have to mentally relocate backwards out of the 19th century! A big ask. Wearing swords again will make it cool tho, so could happen.
[you absolutely cannot alter text you are quoting. If you want to edit it down for length, you can, just make it clear by using some formatting marks. eg … or [ ], or [snip] [/snip] etc – weka]
Burnham trying to reinvent Brexit in the face of a Reform-risen local electorate pretty much dooms him from even getting an electorate, let alone some future tilt at the leadership.
Burnham is toast.
Burnham is a Blairite. Probably just as bad as Starmer policy-wise but with better political skills.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/19/painful-starmerism-left-cautious-andy-burnham-greens-labour
mod note. Please let me know you have read this and agree to not do that again.
Ok. Have been editor of a print journal so I defaulted to an old norm to ease readibility. I accept you use in-house rules that permit abridgment but don't permit textual abridgment. Happy to try & keep that in mind & be banned if I slip back into the default due to being elderly & forgetting…
Seymour – BLOATED!!
"The Ministry for Regulation had 93 full-time equivalent staff as of Dec 31, compared with around 22 at the Productivity Commission when it was disestablished by the coalition in 2024, figures released to the Labour Party under the Official Information Act (OIA) and shared with BusinessDesk show."
BLURRRRRRGGG!!!
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php
"Labour said it would repeal the legislation that created the regulation ministry within 100 days if it won office in November. “We’ve always held a position that the Ministry for Regulation is a vanity ministry,” Dansey said. “It’s a pet project of the Act Party and their neoliberal programme. "
"Vanity ministry"
That's very clear.
Well that's one Ministry that should see the axe fall – and with it the Minister – Oh hang on! Has Davy just written himself out of a job!!??
Definitely – provided the people employed in the Ministry are redeployed to other government jobs.
It is fundamental to the proper functioning of our tradition of government that for any proposed regulation, the relevant Agency and Ministry should be the primary drafter because they know the actual industry or behaviour that needs regulation, together in drafting for consideration by Cabinet by Parliamentary Counsel's Office.
Once it is agreed by Cabinet, it is then up to the enforcers of those regulations and those charged to bring their case to court, and for the courts alone to then test it.
The busybodies in the Ministry of Regulation are not a body with any specialist knowledge, are not part of the executive, are not enforcing a regulation, and are not a court.
They have absolutely no part in any of it, are simply an invented useless layer of bureaucracy, and should be immediately liquidated.
Seymour defended his vanity ministry eloquently in the House today.
Stand down, losers!
Much as I dislike Seymour with a passion, his performance in the house today amply illustrated how inadequate and incompetent the
CEOPM is. Our CEO is like a broken record; at least Seymour has glibness on his side.No, I won't provide a link – if anyone is that much of a masochist, go to Parliament TV and beat your own brains out! Don't expect me to help you do it!
busybodies in the Ministry of Regulation are not a body with specialist knowledge, are not part of the executive, are not enforcing a regulation, and are not a court.
Those 4 things they aren't make a tetrad. As analytical algorithm, these become systemic. So the bods will have a systemic effect of negative nature.
Don't write Seymour off as a loser on this until someone sees what the devil put into the fine print of the law. A good media account of this is necessary before we deem it an own-goal. Little Hitlers are endemic in bureaucratic culture, so any law designed to render them powerless compels our sense of intrigue…