Open Mike 23/08/25
Written By:
- Date published:
6:00 am, August 23rd, 2025 - 35 comments
Categories: open mike -
Tags:
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 …
CommentsOpinions
Today's Posts (updated through the day):
Van Velden pressures ERA to reduce worker compensation payments
New Post up:
Van Velden pressures ERA to reduce worker compensation payments
A light hearted start to the day.
Seems like Aussie has a lot of the same issues we have. Dealing with estate agents renting or buying.
Playlunch are a hard case Ocker band. If you enjoy this check out their song Keith. There is a touch of salty langauge.
Corbyn/Sultana's new left-wing party (at present called Yourparty though this will change) is considering an alliance with the Greens in the UK.
Presumably, given the crap FPP system over there, they would put up one YP/Green alliance candidate for every seat.
Owen Jones explains in the attached video that young people may well vote in droves for the party, and that given how the electorate is now split between 4 parties, Reform/Labour/Conservative/LibDem (see link to polling), a fifth YP/Green party might pick up quite a few seats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
Corbyn will be 80 at the next UK election. Bernie Sanders he ain't.
Overwhelmingly the young left already support the UK Green Party, so the move by OurParty is a merger for the same voter segment and on pretty much the same issues.
What is attracting 21% of Britons to the Green Party? | YouGov
This grouping will only matter if it surges ahead like Reform is. But it is Reform that is already taking that Northern Labour vote. Is there really a rationale for Your/Green Party to compete with Reform? Not currently.
Oops..? And of course, there is also that mistakenly…can be sometimes mistakenly…
The critical Crux of our Climate commitment…( I say ours, but its patently not NACT1's )
And again, onya Eloise Gibson and RNZ ! Keep asking them anyway..
Again Eloise Gibson of RNZ with an analysis that is informed,informative and on point.
Newsroom and the consultant Martyn Jenkins have done a good job showing where all the Council water organisations are amalgamating, and where they are not.
Go-it-alone councils brace for ministerial intervention in water services – Newsroom
Compared to the previous Nanaia Mahuta model there are a lot more water service organisations.
However it is still a massive amalgamation of services.
The core difference from the Labour model is that stormwater management is simply not included anywhere.
What it will represent for National as it goes to the polls next year is a very strong policy success in the most important infrastructure network we have after transport.
By Oct-Nov 2026, more of a propaganda success than a policy success I would think. It will be too early to see how the policy is working, e.g. how fast rates will go up, how metering will be accepted and the social effects of these things. Also whether safety/quality can be guaranteed and how impervious amalgamated systems are to privatisation and price hikes. Of course, for electoral purposes, a propaganda success is good enough for one or maybe two victories, before the reality of policy hits.
Customers will have no choice but to accept metering. Thankfully.
Quality and reliability has a whole national regulator.
The legislation forbids privatization.
The real question is: with about 33% of their business in a separate CCO, what is there for elected councillors to actually do? Whither democracy?
Some will pay up to $6000 a year for metered water!!
Ah PB..metering will only be a matter of concern for those who sadly, cant afford to pay. The well heeled will still carry on watering their huge lawns..filling their swimming pools etc etc…..
Not too dissimilar from the cancelling the iRex contract and proposing something ‘entirely different that’s better, cheaper, and more efficient’?
Perhaps, but successful because it was delivered with political skill.
Agreed, the Right are better at selling, but confidence and competence are different things.
They are better at applying lipstick to a pig, but it's still a pig.
Of course they are ignoring stormwater management. You can charge for supply of fresh water and for removal of wastewater. Stormwater however, just falls out of the sky and if not managed it floods, collects pollution from roads etc and discharges it all to the sea eventually. It is a cost, not a product or service.
It is however, the basis for the other waters so it is foundational. You neglect it at your peril.
On this. IMO there was a concerted attack on Nanaia Mahuta personally (and also Jacinda Ardern) by a very militant, hugely self interested and with a large racist component.
Which, sadly, led anti Labour voters to ignore the consequences of their hate vote. IMO sadly for those of us who will have to find money to pay. Not Farmer/irrigators..or the well heeled….
I have linked this before (also from Newsroom)…but again, the self interest is obvious. To the detriment of our Rivers. IMO will be much the same throughout NZ…
GovernmentFeudalism by the sorted, for the sorted – it's your Count that votes.I link (and attribute) the following to the awesome ActionStation. Have a say. Its easy as. Fight Back against NACT. I def appreciate you personally are, and seems have been, for many years…(its maybe for others who arent sure how/or what they can do?…)
Thanks for the Action Station link PsyclingLeft.Always – pleasing to see over ten thousand signatures for the 'Stop Voter Suppression' petition.
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-our-vote-stop-voter-suppression
Farmers have nothing to worry about now that the current government has got a growth at all costs approach.
The recent last minute amendments to the RMA laws will see pollution authorised: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/569776/farmers-won-t-need-consent-to-pollute-waterways-as-government-undoes-rma-rules
The RMA reforms are an exercise in the use of weasel words. The water discussion documents feature gems such as "enabling", "rebalancing", "pragmatic"; all of them intended to hide a plan for massive environmental damage.
This is a public service announcement:
What do vegans eat..?..a recipe for a healthy diet..
Phils' breakfast:
A cup of a blend of granolas/nuts etc etc .
Chop up available fruit .today it is banana/kiwifruit/pear/blueberries..
Add a couple of large dollops of wild berry plant-based yoghurt. .
Mix well…and drizzle in some vanilla flavoured soy milk .
Try it ..!..it is quite addictive..but in a good way..
If you’d like to read an excellent article on the shortsightedness, selectivity, and arrogance of the Coalition then I’d highly recommend this article in Newsroom:
Spending on addiction reports increases after cultural reports scrapped (https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/08/20/spending-on-addiction-reports-skyrockets-as-they-replace-scrapped-cultural-reports/)
Clearly, when there’s a genuine need then cutting public funding won’t make that need miraculously disappear because it shifts elsewhere. This another good reason why we need quality journalism and strong independent media to shine the light on things that governments of the day would like to keep hidden from the public eye because out of sight is out of mind.
Speaking of 'shining light on things'…
There is another unfortunate experiment being undertaken in the area of addiction treatment…
Someone had the brilliant idea of giving a life long addiction to methadone..as a solution for those with meth issues..
Now..in my experience stimulant addiction is not that hard to kick…(I did powdered cocaine..and then later on a crack cocaine habit..)
And they were a walk in the park…compared to heroin…
During my heroin years methadone was being handed out like lollies.. ostensibly to cure the heroin addicts..by getting them addicted for life..to methadone
I did some basic research on methadone (,a synthetic opiate..developed by the Germans in WW2 after the vagaries of war saw them cut off from opiate supplies..hence it’s street name:nazi-smack)..
and i discovered it was harder to kick than heroin…so I steered well clear of it..as any cure for my heroin issues..
And many of those who took the methadone 'cure'…are to this day.. hooked on this foul muck..r
I am dismayed to see these mistakes being repeated…this time with those with meth issues..
This is fucken madness..and is screaming out for some serious journalism to be pointed at it…
IMHO..
Methadone has been used for many years, and still is, in the Netherlands. However, it won’t necessarily work well here in NZ but not for medical reasons.
It would be a miracle if you were to support your reckons with verifiable evidence for once. For example, your source for your claim that it was developed by the Germans in WWII and the link to Nazis.
It's not my 'reckons'…it is my knowledge gained from my life experiences..so links are scarce..eh..?
You can choose to believe what I say..or not believe..(is there an emoji for 'shrug'..?)
And a Google search confirms the Nazi connections…
Here we go again.
I count 15 different claims/assertions in your comment and not a single shred of evidence in support.
I choose to believe that most if not all is untrue and that you made it up. You may even be lying, for all I know.
The onus is on you to back up your claims/assertions; this is how TS has been operating since August 2007.
Look it's great to give a personal view of your own treatment path, but the actual medical advice is that methadone and buprenorphine are effective tools to decrease drug addiction.
Medications for Opioid Use Disorder | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
You should at least cite to support your view.
I went and read your link..(I'm picking you didn't.).and it confirmed my claims .
Talking of people on it for 60 years .
..and a fascinating fact: methadone is ten times more powerful than morphine..
The cure is worse than what it purports to heal..
I actually have my own ideas for a 'cure' for meth/p addiction…that I think will work for some
I'll post it tomorrow…that's enough for today..hunger calls ..
[No, don’t bother posting your own ideas for a ‘cure’. First back up the many unsupported claims/assertions that you’ve made in your comments in this thread. I’ll put you in Pre-Mod for now – incognito]
[Your reply was disappointing but predictable. Take 2 weeks off, which is twice the length of the last ban (https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-25-07-2025/#comment-2039666) for the same pattern behaviour only a month ago. Next warnings will come faster if you don’t change and subsequent bans will double in duration each time – Incognito]
Mod note
Second Mod note
I don’t know what you’ve been reading but it doesn’t appear to be [in] Ad’s link.
Again, you’re making claims without any evidence.
Brian Easton's latest book though published in 2024 has just started appearing in my local bookshops.
The themes throughout his books over the last 20 years are pretty consistent, but this one has a particular urgency by underlining the number and scale of policy failures under the previous Ardern-led government.
In Open Seas: How the NZ Labour Government Went Wrong: 2017-2023 – Unity Books · Unity Books
Once I get a hold of the whole thing rather than sneakily reading chapters in the bookshop I will pull out some of his salient trends.
For all those infatuated with Ardern's self-hagiographic biography, the real truth from Easton that has changed from all his previous work is that her government actually accelerated New Zealand's slide into being non-viable and more likely to need to be absorbed at least as an economic entity into Australia.
No point trying to dismiss Easton, as he is the only economist who has written about New Zealand from a progressive viewpoint for the last 50 years and is still going.
Did he perchance forget there was a global pandemic raging for more than half the period in question? Can't believe that of one of our most progressive economists.
As for the those infatuated with Ardern's self-hagiographic biography… the phrasing comes across as a nasty dig at a 'woman' who had to face up to more major crisis during her term at the helm than any other NZ prime minister. But somehow she and her minsters were expected to be super-human and solve all the country's problems at the same time they were fighting to save lives and livelihoods.
I have not read her book yet, but I'm sure I will not come to the same conclusion as yourself Ad.