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6:00 am, January 21st, 2026 - 17 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 …
Adrian Rurawhe to retire from politics next month | Stuff
Best wishes for his future. I thought he was a good Speaker and MP so leaves a bit of a hole to fill. Georgie Dansey is the next Labour list candidate so will be in Parliament in a few weeks unless she declines the candidacy.
The Anglosphere has it's De Gaulle.
This is a historic speech, because it calls time on the global neoliberal order fantasy that still forms the basis of our wishful thinking foreign and trade policy.
Terrific speech. His statement that economic integration has become a tool for great power coercion is telling. But whether it's calling time on the neoliberal order or trying to preserve some less coercive form of it among the middle (and lesser) liberal democratic powers, I'm not sure. Time will tell I suppose. And is it really 'Anglosphere' or actually EU-Canadian? While Albanese might have the courage to sign up to Carney's vision of things, Starmer and Luxon won't. Oh, and I notice that Aaron Bastani stole your De Gaulle comparison.
I see Canada has agreed to be on Trump's Board of Peace scam. That seems like it's contradicting all the good things in Carney's speech,
Seymour: the housing debate has become politicised.
Seymour 2 seconds later: 50m towers among single family homes looking at pools and swing sets! Poooor pooor pooor alarm! Waoh waoh waoh!
who would want to be such an asshole.
It's amusing how Nat / Act dismantled the RMA and Labour's reforms so that 'objectors' had little to no influence on development, then that development turns up in their extreme base's neighbourhood. Oooops…
What's the bet we hear SFA about RMA reform between now and the election from both or either party.
I found this economist on the left who evaluates normal economic policy:
Normalcy requires incompetence in both arenas at the top, so things are looking good for Hipkins. Only the financially ignorant can blame him for anything.
He may issue a tut at any epic financial grift he notices, or even tut tut if it looks serious. We haven't seen elected leaders confronting technocrats here in public – even if Orr retired hurt (as cricketers say). A little delicate head-patting from time to time is as bad as it ever seems to get. Must be an element of gumption missing from the kiwi diet.
This was good reading.,Leadership in the circumstances we are now facing has to be a whole lot better than it is.It can't be an accident that we have such poor leadership most places you look
Alach is also terrific on matters educational , a breath of fresh air
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2026/01/21/the-western-world-is-governed-by-intellectual-pigmies/
290 days to go…… and counting……. until 7 November 2026. My 20th election, and one election only in which I cast a vote for a winning candidate. MMP enabled me to vote for the winning party in 5 elections.
Labour has been in power for 24 of those 57 years since 1969. If we win in '26 and in '29 then I will have seen a Labour government for half my voting lifetime and I'll be 80.
Further, New Zealand is the third oldest continual democracy by one set of criteria, and we are the oldest democracy with universal suffrage, since 1893.
How many countries have been self-governing continuous democracies since WW2? It is a precious right, even more so with the rise of fascism, the threat of more wars and the downgrading of the UN's importance..
If nothing else, we should all vote just to celebrate that right in 290 days time……
Not sure if 7 Nov is such a great date.
Clearly, luxons gambling on giving the economy as much time as he can to see a turnaround.
We can't say whether that's a clever move or not, although the economic stats on Friday might give a better idea.
What we can predict, however, is that the US midterms will be throwing the world in chaos as many Trump voters have seen the light but Trump won't give up power easily. Trump is Republican. Act and luxon are seen to be cut from the same cloth.
I wouldn't want to be totting on behalf of the conservative ticket on those terms at that time.
I still wouldn't bet on the mid-terms changing anything, even if they're allowed to go ahead. A suspension – temporary or permanent – consequent on some "Reichstag Fire" event (engineered if necessary) is still very much a possibility in my view. And even if they do take place: if Ol' Four-O's doesn't like the way the count's going he'll find some way to invalidate it – and who's gonna try to stop him?
If ever the US Mid-Terms are allowed too proceed, unfettered by the Trump administration and his multitude lies to deny an unpleasant to him outcome, and the Dems do take control of Congress – as he has predicted, he will be Impeached a third time and hopefully third time lucky – removed from office.
But as you suggest above, there will be every obstacle he can invent placed in the way to prevent democracy, overturning his tyranny.
All we want for Xmas is a real Government.
@^
Transcript.
https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2026/01/20/principled-and-pragmatic-canadas-path-prime-minister-carney-addresses
Quite sensible, eh?
Local opposition to the TPPA got quite hysterical a while back, until Trump rescued the left from their plight. Not that they ever thanked him, mind you. I agree that the logic of defining a common interest group that huge makes sense, so I will watch with interest to see how the left handles the prospect this time.
Realism, Carney advocates. Too radical for the left, I predict. I expect Hipkins to complain that appeals to those rules is the only form of behaviour most leftists know how to do. Well, he could lead by example and tell everyone that Carney is right. Or he could lead by example and tell everyone that Carney is left. Both would work.
Trump is all about personal enrichment for himself, his family and his filthy rich mates. As if we didn't know, but it is great to have the background spelt out in detail:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2026/jan/20/why-donald-trump-really-wants-greenland-podcast?lid=reyog6eqn8s3