Jacinda Ardern admits to having suffered from "Imposter Syndrome" for the whole time she was PM of New Zealand. She made the admission to an audience of fawning students and staff at the Harvard John F Kennedy forum a few days ago. She suggests to the audience that if they ever find themselves consumed by self doubt they should think of her for inspiration. Frankly, I don't think it was any kind of syndrome. She was right to doubt her competence as Prime Minister. She saw herself as out of her depth because she truly was out of her depth, and in spite of the tales she told the clapping seal Harvard audience about her roaring success in the role, she was in actuality probably the most incompetent PM in NZ's history. @nzlabour @NZNationalParty @actparty @nzfirst #nzpol

If you’re a mug net positive taxpayer in New Zealand, you’re now paying for the food consumed at some Maori funerals. Why? The Social Security Appeals Authority explains. Quote- “The practices of kai and hākari (feast) during the tangihanga process are integral to Māori. Kai, or food, is considered noa (ordinary) and serves as a crucial element in lifting the tapu associated with death.” When her separated husband died, an unnamed Maori women asked MSD to reimburse her for funeral costs. Casket- $774.00 Petrol to transport the casket to the cemetry- $162.39 Food at the tangi- $1026.25 MSD granted reimbursement for the casket and petrol, but refused the food. The woman appealed this decision. First to the Benefit Review Committee who agreed with the MSD. She then appealed to the Social Security Review Committee, who granted her appeal on the grounds above. This decision didn’t just cost taxpayers $1963.53. It also cost the time of the two authorities hearing the appeals, and additionally the fees of the lawyers acting for the bereaved women New Zealand today is a de-facto feudal state where the productive sector, farmers, small business owners, wage workers etc slave away to sustain an arrogant indolent ruling class. No wonder so many people are leaving. Apart from those who have to, what sane person would hang around to be robbed in this arrogant entitled manner ?

Trump has cancelled Democrat plans to build 6000 EV charging stations in the US. Mr Luxon had similar plans in NZ, allocating $257 million of taxpayer funding to help build 10,000 chargers by 2030. Like Joe Biden, Mr Luxon is way behind schedule too. Having so far built only 300 chargers. Leaving aside the issue that EV sales have plateaued and its doubtful the chargers will even be needed. In spite of Mr Luxon’s supposed experience as a manager, he seem to have been completely blindsided by the logistical demands of installing the charging stations. Namely the need to network high capacity line supplies sufficient to power the stations at various isolated locations throughout the country. Perhaps Mr Luxon should take the hint from the US president’s actions and take another look at the economics of the project. If it isn’t viable he should abandon it too. As the waste of taxpayer’s money it always looked like.

Not a metaphor for the Finance Minister's management of the NZ economy one hopes.

This is the kind of thing the NZ National Party should be doing. It won't as long as blue-green Luxon is in charge.

@LuvAgent99 The kind of arrogance that suggests it could have been Bishop :)

@Andy_NZ1 So true Andy. Considering the times we are in right now, Mr Luxon is probably the worst National MP that could have been picked for the job.

@aum108 Wouldn't be the least surprising.

@RamptonJay1 Sorry John can't see it there. There was an amount of $8 million specified as coming from govt but I couldn't work out what it was for. Apart from this amount, as far as I can see there is no distinction in terms of advertising revenue received from govt/ private advertisers.

Maori corporations get tax breaks. Maori owned land is either not rated or given massive discounts. They were given their own TV station. They enjoy priority in health care & housing queues. Whatever Maori's problems are in NZ, they're not down to the rest of the country.

Another challenge to the accuracy of the @Panopticonomy USAID expenditure chart.

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Watching the full video of David Seymour sparring with the press gallery at Waitangi again, its remarkable how few of the questioning journos understand free speech principles. Of all sectors of society, shouldn't the press most of all understand the role of free speech in a democracy? Mr Seymour often had to explain this to them in response to questions that were too many times emotionally driven and demonstrating a surprising antipathy to free speech. They all seemed to be on board with this too. Amazing group think. Suggesting that somewhere, there is a massive glitch in the training processes for journos in NZ academies.

Almost forgot- #happynewzealandday The Howard Morrison Quartet from 1992 with a lovely old song from the days of the British Empire and a wonderfully enthusiastic singalong audience.

Mr Luxon's use of this word is not accidental or incidental. He has deliberately inserted it into these speeches. Think about why he would do this.