As Mr Trump told the United Nations recently, he's never wrong. Since 1980 the US government has shut down for a total of 89 days (in Reagan's time 2 shutdowns were just for a few hours). .Last shutdown under Mr Trump's watch was 35 days. Last shutdown under Mr Trump's watch was 35 days.

2025 - when former prime minister Jim Bolger sounds more left wing than National, ACT, NZF or even Labour. #NZPol

For everyone who hasn't signed yet - primary teachers petition asking for teacher aides in every classroom, valuing educators and ensuring their work is secure, upholding Te Tiriti in education and defending quality early childhood education. #aotearoa action.nzei.org.nz/petitions/ba...

#Maga thinks the threat to them is from the left, but it is actually from their own children, who have been taught to fear and to hate, but are now starting to think for themselves. They've been trained as a weapon against a perceived enemy but those weapons are turning on their makers.

Our government invited the US to set up an FBI base here. The US attack on a civillian Venezuelan ship is a war crime. Russia and Israel are also committing war crimes. Trump is warmongering. The scary part for me isn't the likelihood of a world war. It's not knowing which side we'll be on. #NZPol

The system of 2-3 yearly contract negotiations for public servants does not work. The government, whatever their stripes, comes out wanting to keep costs as low as possible. Paying less than inflation is seen as good governance. We could save lots of angst if wages were matched to inflation. #NZPol

Nurses should be paid what they are worth.

Erica now wants to spend more money on ripping out the open plan classrooms that Hekia made schools put in. Why do we ever let National in charge of education? #NZPol

The new Amazon data centres were planned a long time before National got in so they're not actually something National can claim credit for & they're predicted to create around the same number of jobs as National has ditched from the public sector. Luxon's proclaiming a win, but it's not his. #NZPol

I'm concerned by Judith's threat to outlaw strikes completely. It is bad enough that we can no longer strike outside of our contract negotiations. If your workplace is unsafe,angry emails make less impact than an angry strike. The main power workers have is in their labour. #NZPol

When Judith "apologised" for saying teachers earn $147k, she then got another dig in by saying that teachers get 3 months holiday a year. By that measure, do MPs only work on the days parliament is sitting (about 90 days according to Google)? #NZPol

"You can't strike, you're too important" from a judge or government should instantly make you side with the people striking. They're *that* important but they get treated like shit? Nah. Naaaah. Let the government force better conditions.

Just been scrolling through the education gazette vacancies. Not counting principal jobs, the highest salary I've seen in the first 100 job ads was for a HOD at a secondary school. Their management units are $5k (a little more than primary). Total salary $128k. Not $140k Judith. #NZPol

Remember when Luxon was going to be the great white hope for National even before he entered politics?

#nzpol Let's list the government's record. First - education (one of my pet areas). Things they "can't" afford: More than 700 jobs in the MOE, pay increases that match inflation for teachers, support staff, MOE workers, or principals, lunches for kids (they've halved the price per child),

It's not as if this is a surprise Luxoff is a fraud in an ill fitting suit Poster child for talentless, white, male, middle managers that Aotearoa is plagued by The reason we're so unproductive is they're ingrained in business here Bereft of ideas, talent, happy to trouser large salaries #nzpol

Given what is happening in Washington DC, what happened in LA, what is happening with ICE (including the NZ mother and child who are imprisoned in a Texas interment camp) etc, maybe opening the doors to the FBI to set up an outpost here might not be the most wise move. #NZPol

So this government sacked nearly 10 000 public servants, leading to many businesses in the cbd of Wellington and Auckland failing due to lack of customers, but it is actually Labour's fault? #NZPol

Go home, Goodbye! We don't want the FBI! #nzpol #FuckoffKashPatel www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/31/f...

So I'm agreeing with Judith Collins now? Is this the first horseman of the apocalypse? #NZPol #VotingRights

#NZPol Looks like we're headed for one of the biggest strikes in my memory. Teacher aides were offered 1% raises per year. Their professional development fund has been cut -the best offer so far is that they can have PD related to "neurodiversity" but they won't be given a definition until ratified

I really love @mrs-frazzled.bsky.social . www.facebook.com/reel/1074188...

These people are the last line of support for schools who are struggling with the volume and intensity of children with neurodiversity, trauma, severe behaviour, vision and hearing problems etc. They keep up the support in the face of countless restructures, staff shortages etc. #NZPol

A bit late to the party but I discovered and binge watched #deadahead tonight on @tvnz.bsky.social It was riveting and I need another series. The fact that it is so strongly situated in a Māori worldview gives it a freshness that you can't get anywhere else. Brilliant acting, brilliant writing.

Pleased to see TV3's news calling out Luxon about his hypocrisy around Local Government. Apparently the only time Local Government should be completely free is if they are trying to avoid consulting with Tangata Whenua. #NZPol

So the same National party that forced schools to develop "modern learning environments" are now saying that they don't work and schools aren't allowed to build them any more. The implication is that they are reversing Labour policy but it was Hekia who championed them. #NZPol

#NZPol For a few years, it has puzzled me why Chris Luxon was touted as a future Nat leader before entering parliament. He was the great new hope, John Key 2.0. But when he got in he was so ineffectual. Key also answered questions with non answers but at least had some charisma. Luxon has none.

The new Manawatū gorge road - Te Ahu a Turanga - has been officially opened and will be open to traffic soon. What a relief that it was so far through when the coalition took over. Nicola Willis would have stopped it & replaced it with half the road in twice the time. #nzpol #FalseEconomies #ferries

I'm so sad about the sanctions given to the Te Pati Māori MPs. If you want to talk about conduct unbecoming an MP, Winston's comments about moko should have been far more offensive than the haka. I think the best way to protest is a donation to @tepaatimaori.bsky.social #nzpol

In life, be a Marilyn Waring, not a Ruth Richardson. A Don MacGlashan, not a Chris Bishop.

In today’s Weekend Herald #nzpol

Suppose it were a woman MP who was caught on camera, maggoted and ranting at an event. She'd be gearing up for a fortnight-long news cycle in which she'd be forced to admit having an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, encouraged to divulge personal information, and made to apologise repeatedly.

From Sam Sharpe Studio

Imagine being a music fan but not wanting to see politics as part of it. Just means you're a sad racist. Anyway, Don McGlashan has righfully got a lot of praise, but a big shout out to Stan Walker for making Bishop uncomfortable in the first place. Toitū te Tiriti! #nzpol

#NZPol Australia, Canada, the UK and Germany all soundly rejected the ultra right. So what does the NZ coalition do? They start passing bills through urgency to demolish protections for endangered wildlife and they scrap existing claims for pay equity & make future ones harder to get.

Hey if cancelling pay equity settlements is about saving money, why don’t we just pay men and white people less and equalise that way

Have been to see 2 iconic British comedians in the past 2 weeks. Ben Elton did a really long show that half worked - his traditional ranty style needed better topics than cancel culture (although funnily enough it worked for dicussing James Bond). He needs to watch #NishKumar

Our school was in the news a couple of weeks back when a child bit into a hunk of Perspex. Before that, we had a long spreadsheet of times when things went badly - meat in the vegetarian meals, gluten in yoghurt given to celiac kids (thankfully caught by one of our staff before it was given)...

I hope that’s exactly what they are serving to the investors delegation. I mean if it’s good enough for our kids…it should be good enough for our guests, right? I’m sure David will have made this happen. #NZPol

Our national greeting, kia ora, is one that has a beautiful wairua. It wishes people good health. It is far better than "hello", which is meaningless, or "good day" which is restricted to the next 24 hours. Those against it are essentially the same as those who hated Jacinda saying "be kind".

Listening to #PodSaveTheUK and the same things are happening in the UK, US and here at home. Public servants being sacked, disability supports being cut etc. It doesn't seem to be just politically right wing governments that do this any more. #NZPol

I seem to have heard the phrase "against official advice" a lot in the past year and a bit. So I did a bit of Googling. In the past year, ministers (about half of these are Simeon Brown) have gone against official advice on: 1) The appointment of John Carnegie to the EECA.

Way back, Chris Luxon was being touted as a future National Party leader even before he had any political experience, all because of his Air NZ job. Looking at how he has performed over the past few years...why? Is it that he is seen as a good puppet, like Trump has been for Putin? #NZPol

So this government has: Given tax cuts that didn't make much difference to most people when it was clear there weren't the funds to do this. Sacked over 90k people, many of whom got big redundancies. The ferry debacle - cost so far over half a billion dollars and we still don't have the ferries.

“The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told a reporter from state television. “This largely coincides with our vision.” Wow.

Trump wasn't talking about WW3 before he talked to Putin. Now it is coming up all the time. I have never hoped to be wrong as much as I am now, but I think plans are afoot. #NZpol #IStandWithUkraine #ConvictedFelon

#NZPol The Trump/Vance ambush of Zelensky today was so awful, it made our famously wishy-washy NZ PM Chris Luxon say this:

It turns out that Trump might not be good at making deals after all. Who knew?

Simon Court is welcome to use a menstrual cup the next time his period floods so badly that a super plus tampon doesn't even last an hour and removing it resembles a grisly murder scene.