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6:00 am, May 22nd, 2026 - 20 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 …
Sometimes someone says what you are thinking and says it well.
In the comments section of the article about Willis retracting her
slogan to be repeated up to election daymetaphor reach, slowloris says this;"If you ask me the government should scrap the accommodation supplement altogether. It's a subsidy for landlords, plain and simple. Landlords will argue tenants can't afford market rates without it. But if the market could actually bear those rents, the supplement wouldn't be needed. And if it can't, then the "market rate" isn't really the market rate at all."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360981980/government-announces-plans-overhaul-social-housing-system
.
The truth is that, in a rare moment of candor, 'fair' Lady Willis reached for a metaphor from the heart. "The wrong metaphor" is simply the best 'regret' her big brain could come up with after the mask had slipped. I look forward to many a 'won the Lotto' quip (who says "won the Lotto" ffs?) both post-budget and during the election campaign; something along the lines of: 'Kiwis, how big is your Lotto win?', and it’s no mystery who the big winners are as the CoC continues to swing its wrecking ball.
Of the 800 comments made before they closed, here are the 3 "most respected":
When have NAct ever given a shit about everyday Kiwis – that's a rhetorical question.
Some Kiwis reckon our Finance Minister is "out of touch", and that's no metaphor.
She said, "Lotto"?
Musta been blotto.
Hipkins though, has hit the jackpot – can't wait till the next sitting of the House.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360982141/minister-seeking-tougher-accommodation-supplement-criteria-claims-1000-week-housing-allowance
She's entitled to her entitlement.
Never liked the mowing since she stayed silent as women minister while key repeatedly assaulted a waitress
Key said he was just horsing around. You know, My Little Pony.
Wikipedia says,
"The franchise is mainly targeted at young girls and their parents, and in the 2010s, it gained a cult following among adult men."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony
The winged ones were to be called, "My Little Pegasus" but it never caught on.
My Little Icarus would make for a nice Christmas gift for Chistopher Luxon this year. As a former airline manager, he’d appreciate it, undoubtedly.
Following his ex-airlines plunging profit-graphs, yes!
Mixing stories, but do you know this one and does it raise your spirits?
"According to legend, the Greek playwright Aeschylus met a tragic death: one day, an eagle that had just caught a tortoise mistook Aeschylus's bald head for a shiny rock, and accidentally killed the author by dropping the animal onto him."
Did not know that one.
It elevated my mood.
So, because the hair was a no-show, the tortoise won again.
Genius!
Incognito
Christopher Luxon is desperate (is he really?) to drop the mask of CEO but he can’t because it’s his real face and who he is.
https://theconversation.com/luxon-lives-on-as-leader-public-perception-is-a-tougher-challenge-281112
Nicola Willis is desperate (she really is) to don the mantle of CFO but she can’t because she gambles with numbers.
If key had done that to a woman in my family I'd probably be on jail
Any other Standardistas getting an unasked for web feed called "NZ Election 2026" popping up regularly in their Facebook feed?
At first it seemed fairly harmless and left-leaning.
Then I noticed it was favouring Opportunity in some of its posts.
I wonder who is funding this. I think we should be told.
Can you live, manage life, without your Facebook feed? An important question that.
I don't spend a lot of time on fb these days. But sometimes among the dross you find gold.
Not Make Love not war …but Make MUSIC, not War.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/three-to-seven/audio/2019033713/keeping-some-humanity-in-the-music-machine Dr Jesse Austin-Stewart, Lecturer from Massey University's School of Music and Screen Arts.
The good news is that humans with original ideas will tend to outdo artificial intelligence because it imitates the music of the mainstream, which is determined by the algorithms of streaming services like Spotify. The bad news is that because Spotify overlooks the original in favour of the marketable, those more creative humans are less likely to be heard.
Austin-Stewart spoke to RNZ Concert about the increasing influence of algorithms in our musical life, suggesting the best way to keep the humanity in music is going to live gigs.
Our Finance Minister’s "won the Lotto" metaphor came from her 'heart'. A hard (almost iron-like) but 'fair' Lady, she highlighted NAct’s aim to squeeze a few bloody dollars more from those stony social housing bottom feeders. Shhh, Nicky-No-Boats, voters might hear.
Onya 'The Spinoff' – go for it! Choice comments under the 'Echo Chamber' article too.
I bet she does.