James

If media, ESPECIALLY Māori media could stop doing Knobson's Plebs work for free that will be great.... no need to show the billboards! THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT! They've taken the billboards down, but that's because they've achieved the goal - get the media to spread them across the country for free

This! Whatever they paid for fixed billboards has been paid for tenfold as it's now gone far beyond those two locations. They're likely genuinely sorry for hurting the kuia, but they know what they're doing.

Whatever the new system the coalition comes up with needs to balance learning to pass exams and assessing a student's knowledge/learning.

6th form subjects which were both internal and external I shot back up to near the top of the class grades-wise. So it's fair to say I was a reasonably educated student, but the old system didn't help reflect that.

By comparison some of my friends would struggle with the internal assesments (essays, project, assignments and whatnot) but then get 70%+ in exams.

I was getting B's, B+ occasional A's on internal assessments, but in the end I could only muster School C te reo Māori, Eng, and Sci. I was "scaled down" in Accounting and my strongest/favourite subject, History and bombed expectedly in maths.

I was one last to go through School C, bursary etc, so don't really know how NCEA works - but I do know the old system didn't work for me... I hated maths (couldn't get my head around it), went OK on other subjects, but really struggled with the external exams.

Why have I also been hearing "New Zealand is racist af" in Taika Waititi's voice all day?

I look forward to cheaper Air NZ airfares as demand drops due to Racists not wanting to with them anymore because "the Indian is charge"... 🤦🤦🤦🤦 go on then walk, just make sure your shoes and socks aren't made in India though...

Watching #NPC last night, only for my son to ask me to put to bed. Auckland was up by 20 points, thought yeah, ok let's go to bed. This game is dusted... check the score later and Waikato won! Dammit! What'd I miss? 🤣🤣🤣 Provincial footy - it's where it's at!

Yeap. I updated mine 3 days ago, and after opting out of using RealMe, all I had to do was download a form, provide a Drivers license number, email the form back and wait. Confirmation of updated details came 5 minutes ago... no verification needed. Can't believe it.

Never thought I could cheer on an Aussie sportsman, but Inwas riding that Tom Wright try all the way home. Aussie rugby needs this win, or at the very least put in a credible performance, and they're nearly halfway there already. #LionsTour

Words on passports, gender identity, voting eligibility.
That'll make things easier on the household budget...

So much laser focus!

I'm a week late to this, but dayum Aaron Smale did not miss! archive.ph/SLHTy

Our next St Stephen's get together will be AMAZING if they both show up. I might even consider covering both of their rego costs just to make it happen... 🤣🤣🤣🤣

By that stage, I'm wearing clothes straight out of the dryer because the rest are still waiting to be washed or dried. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Rainy days combined with a dryer that takes 3x as long to dry clothes as the washing machine does to clean them just make it feel like laundry doesn't end. We can wash 4-5 loads a day, but we can only dry maybe 2 at best.

If they have the support (and social media comments indicate they do), Oriini should win the seat regardless of how many opponents. To want to deny the democratic right of all of us TM voters tells me they're not confident of keeping the seat.

I have queries around Labour selecting Peeni, but it's kind of disheartening to hear TPM being critical of Labour running a candidate in the TM by-election as if they should be given it by default. TPM shouldn't be worried if they believe they have the support of Māori...

Embarrassing Seymour's time as DPM by ending it early would be in Winston's Top 3 of most satisfying achievements I reckon. Being able to do so while also stopping Seymour's flagship legislation would rocket that up to #1... Winny has ended more powerful PMs - Deputy Dave needs to tread carefully

Drivers who travel at 30km in a 50 zone, building up a line behind them, but then speed up when the lights turn orange because they suddenly can't be inconvenienced 🤬🤬🤬 we could've all made it on the green ya f***wit!!!!

This game should never have been a decider. This game should not be 20-0 to QLD at half time.

#Queenslander #Origin
There is no way this game should have been a decider, but here we are. Backs against the wall, nothing to lose #DoItForSteveMunster

Wow! Red Bull sacks Christian Horner? F1 certainly knows how to provide drama... I imagine it came down to an if "Horner stays, Max goes" or "Horner vs Marko"...

Kiwi content creator offered half a million to promote online gambling Louis Davis, a content creator with a following of over 3 million across all platforms, has taken a strong public stance against gambling.

Interesting. If he was offered $500k (not saying he's lying) I wonder what the others like Millie Elder-Holmes accepted.
She was fined $5k. What is the incentive to not do it, other being a reasonable person?

www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/07/k...

Watching what is effectively a Scotland 2nd XV against our Māori ABs, shows how much Scottish rugby has developed in recent years. Good to see, though not so much for us MABs fans 🤣🤣🤣.
*Luckily my family can trace links back to Renfrewshire, so either way I win #MāoriABvScotland #Rugby

If little Johnny and his mates can't play this year because their team can't scrape together 3 parents/supporters to pick up a whistle, well then, it's the parents/supporters problem, not the poor unpaid refs already doing the game a favour.

Obviously, you couldn't have these refs controlling their own teams games, but too often these days a small number of volunteers are asked to ref multiple games each week, and getting abused.

Random thought in light of Horowhenua-Kapiti RFU postponing this weeks club games due to Referee abuse what if all schools and clubs had to nominate 1-3 refs per team, per year. It will allow enough refs available across the region per week, and make team and teams take ownership of behaviour.

E aroha atu ana, Alice. Koro Don, was a close relation of ours through our Māhaki whakapapa his wisdom and knowledge will be missed, but always treasured amongst his Mangatū whānau who I believe arrived to him today. Kia kaha tonu kōrua ko Bailey, koutou katoa e tangi ana.

3am, NYC subway back to our Brooklyn BnB, 4 of us, and 2 other young women in the train. One interrupts us to ask (in thick Brooklyn accent) if we're speaking Māori.
"Yes"
"Thought so. My dad is Māori, from NZ"
Six questions later we discover she hails from the same marae as 2 of us 🥰🥰🥰