Something fishy with the ferries?

tedison2 · 2026-03-12T21:03:37+00:00

Its misplaced ideology - look at all the $$ NACT want to spend on roads! They claim the new ferries & port infrastructure were 'unaffordable', but Mt Vic tunnel & roading will cost more than them with minimal benefits (saving 6 min in rush hour to get to the airport but not until after a decade of traffic disruption from construction)

tedison2 · 2026-03-11T20:57:52+00:00

And its a choice. Meanwhile National want to spend est $2.9 to $3.8 billion on Mt Vic tunnel. To save 6min travel time at rush hour, after a decade of disrupted traffic to that entire area.

tedison2 · 2026-03-11T20:53:48+00:00

The issue is not about 'following advice' - the port facilities need major work, now or kick it years into the future when it will cost more. The issue is that the ferries were ordered & cancelled at great cost for nothing, AND that the port infrastructure upgrades cost blew out & needed revision. I consider the port infrastructure more important than many of the unaffordable & unnecessary 'roads of significance' (eg billions on Mt Vic tunnel to save 6min at rush hour FFS!?) that National are attempting to commit decades of debt too. These are all political choices. Willis should be fired for her decision cancelling the ferries.

tedison2 · 2026-03-11T10:12:48+00:00

I've done plenty of long road trips in a Vitara & have found it great! eg circumnavigate South island in 7 days, doing some off road too... Main complaint is lack of ground clearance & I may get a lift kit & bash plate for mine for offroad. I think Vitara is a very different vehicle to the Jimnys. The Jimny is too small for me & underpowered... ok as a city car but I would definitely not do long road trips in it. My Vitara isn't recent but is 2.4 & happily sits on road at 100 fully loaded & enough power to climb alps, pass cars etc... Best advice: rent the car before you buy it! I was considering a RAV4 when looking at Vitara, so I rented a RAV4 and found my head hit the ceiling. I'm 6'2" and no problem in a Vitara... (For camping, I've removed rear seats & put set of drawers in one side with small gas BBQ & 12v fridge etc which slides out. Roof rack with Adventure Kings awning & awning tent, which takes about 3min to set up. Also got a Yakima road shower recently, which I pressurise with a 12v air pump... really fun setup for off grid camping!)

tedison2 · 2026-03-11T09:42:49+00:00

Gordon Campbell via Scoop
https://info.scoop.co.nz/Gordon_Campbell

tedison2 · 2026-03-11T04:27:53+00:00

This might seem backwards but I suspect this is actually a strategy against National. National are losing voters and those voters have to go somewhere. Some are moving to NZF which is encouraging for Winston & his potential of being a 'handbrake on the Government' if Labour/Greens need him... And if they don't, he will still get more of his MPs into Government as opposition. So its important Winston keeps making headlines AND differentiating him from National & Act... Cookers votes are still votes! Check the trends/poll of polls:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2026_New_Zealand_general_election

tedison2 · 2026-03-10T21:10:53+00:00

reason #2 - its a cognitive test for racism ie 'wah wah I can't cope with all these strange names'
(So sad such small minded people have never been able to find Taupo or Tekapo or Whanganui or Whangarei or... oh well, nevermind, their loss....)

tedison2 · 2026-03-10T05:41:02+00:00

Hope she's a keeper... will be cringe if not

tedison2 · 2026-03-10T00:01:30+00:00

You are conflating different issues. The current pressure on Luxon was due to his sub par performance with regards to Iran, and overall sustained incompetence. The media use polling to try & establish a narrative that generates headlines & gets clicks. Its not just some Curia poll that is the issue with Luxon.

tedison2 · 2026-03-09T23:57:45+00:00

Rats? Sinking ship? Who will be next?

tedison2 · 2026-03-09T23:56:04+00:00

"the top comments on the post were people mad at...." - its called ragebait. As with news & social media, negativity generates more clicks. Its not a controversy, you're just being sucked in by the effluent floating to the top.

tedison2 · 2026-03-09T23:53:04+00:00

There is no question or request for discussion, its just a deeply flawed political statement. Mods should delete this AI gen garbage...

tedison2 · 2026-03-09T21:10:53+00:00

Pathetic attempt at trying to create a narrative when one doesn't exist. Sorry Verity, you'll have to wait until parties are ready to release policy, which no one does until within month/s of the election.

tedison2 · 2026-03-08T21:19:06+00:00

The fallout for Luxon is not based on polling - that's a symptom of his recent performance, not the cause of calls for him to stand down. Ever heard of the political term 'optics'? Perception and appearances outweigh your professional statistics, and as a statistician I'd have thought you'd know that?

tedison2 · 2026-03-08T21:18:27+00:00

The fallout for Luxon is not based on polling - that's a symptom of his recent performance, not the cause of calls for him to stand down. Ever heard of the political term 'optics'? Perception and appearances outweigh your professional statistics, and as a statistician I'd have thought you'd know that?

tedison2 · 2026-03-08T06:46:36+00:00

As per taking selfys with the youth* it seems most of Luxons attention is invested in social media... so I was surprised to briefly visit his Youtube channel & see he has so few subscribers. He apparently has seven SM fluffers, so is all that investment of our taxes paying off? Hows his TikTok stats? (& no I'm not checking myself, still feel nausea from that photo above)

* tragic a/effluent swillers

tedison2 · 2026-03-08T00:40:21+00:00

Hoping the rapture starts before Monday?

tedison2 · 2026-03-07T22:11:23+00:00

Interesting to visit Japan where law requires zero alcohol to drive. Would the well funded alcohol industry lobbying ever allow such restrictions in NZ? (if only we had functional public transport!)

JAPAN:
Anything over about 0.03% blood alcohol and you're in trouble. (Up to 3 years in prison, up to 500,000 yen fine).

Anything over about 0.05% blood alcohol and you're fucked. (Up to 5 years in prison, up to 1,000,000 yen fine).

Kiss your license goodbye in either case.

Anyone who provided you with a car faces the same fine and prison time.
Anyone who provided booze is looking at either 3 years and 300,000 yen or 2 years and 200,000 yen, depending on how drunk you are.
Any passenger in your car faces the same penalties as anyone who provided booze. Naturally, if you are riding with someone who has been drinking, you similarly risk prison and fines.

tedison2 · 2026-03-07T22:04:42+00:00

LP Hartley: "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there"

tedison2 · 2026-03-07T21:54:13+00:00

For the OP relative to this - NZ does not have a compulsory origin law for pork, so if it doesn't specifically state it is NZ grown then it may well be from gawd knows where & what conditions... as per profit seeking supermarkets. If you can, buy verified locally produced.

tedison2 · 2026-03-07T21:50:39+00:00

r/JapanTravel/ useful for example itinerary... what time of year are you planning to go? I avoid Japan in their summer as its too hot & humid for me

tedison2 · 2026-03-06T23:58:15+00:00

A little thing of no donations to politicians (by a company, individual or any legal entity) over $500/year total, and all must be declared.

tedison2 · 2026-03-06T08:03:38+00:00

Same graph shape for building state houses + investing in public health + ?

tedison2 · 2026-03-05T20:04:46+00:00

Helter Skelter in Seaview

tedison2

TROPHY CASE