Walt

Sad and disappointing post Ravioli. I hoped you'd be able to muster up something more than inane drivel but it's clear you've be sucking on a lot of lemon's lately over the election result and your mind is a befuddled mess. Get well soon mate

Hey Blackie, Cheers for that. I know when Ces retired from driving he gained a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from Kevin and Bonnie's deeds and would be very proud now. What a legacy Ces left with his horses and their deeds. False Step may have won three NZ Cups but for good reason he rated Lord Module his best horse. The people that worked with or for Ces went on to fly the flag superbly in the game and of course Bonnie. I was working at the Easter Show in Christchurch in 1975 when Ces and Vonnie approached me. As a harness fan I knew who he was and his no nonsense reputation but I found him engaging, chatty and charming. We went for a cup of tea that should have lasted ten minutes but it was more like an hour and ten minutes. I only have fond memories of him and Lord Module is still my fav horse over forty years after his final race. When we look at who he beat in the Matson FFA in dramatic circumstances, it tells it's own story. Gammalite, Armalight, Hands Down and Bonnies Chance. NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club Inc Saturday, 21 November 1981 Race 8 - Allan Matson Free-For-All (Gr2), $15,000, C9 MOBILE PACE, 2600m Weather: Fine Track: Fast (Addington Raceway) Race History SHOW STIPES Participants for Race 8: Allan Matson Free-For-All (Gr2) Place Book Horse Barrier Hcap Stakes Fav Time Margin Driver Trainer 1 1 Lord Module fr 9,750.00 3/5 3-15.5 J W Smolenski Cecil Devine 2 2 Gammalite fr 3,000.00 4/4 W B Clarke 3 3 Armalight fr 1,500.00 1/1 R H Negus 4 4 Hands Down fr 750.00 2/3 5 5 Bonnie's Chance fr 0.00 5/2 6 6 Quiet Win fr 0.00 8/8 7 7 Idolmite fr 0.00 6/6 8 8 False Regal fr 0.00 10/9 9 9 Trio fr 0.00 11/11 10 10 Glen Moria fr 0.00 9/10 11 11 Superior Chance fr 0.00 7/7 Total Stakes: $15,000.00 Dividends $7.15. $2.25. $2.00. $1.35. Quinella $26.35. Margins 1 length, 2 1/4 lengths, 1/2head Times Mile Rate: 2-00.9

What exactly do you find underwhelming? Getting the balance right with all three parties has not been easy but it's been completed and with all three leaders seemingly happy with the result and with the other leaders involved. If we put bias to one side that must be seen as an encouraging success. What I've found disturbing is the way our alleged media have attempted to take the high moral ground at Winston Peters comments about the 55 million dollar journalist fund. They have been relentless and it's incredibly boring. The people of NZ know enough about the fund to form their own perspective and there is little interest in pursuing the topic but journalists today were incessant. The line of questioning of Luxon today was 100% about what the journalists wanted. Nothing whatsoever to do with what NZ wanted to hear about. It was truly nauseating. The only fail I've witnessed in the last three days comes from our alleged media. If you want further confirmation of a personal agenda at work, watch Jenna Lynch TV3 political editor tonight with their 6pm news. She absolutely hates Winston Peters

"Reversal of smoke free laws to fund tax cuts" Labour has attempted to take the high ground here and our media with it's agenda are pushing the narrative that the reversal will pay for the tax cuts. Context with both claims has been deliberately lost. Labour had been in Government for 312 weeks yet the smoke free laws were so important they didn't even get under way. Lets not forget that and let's also not forget that Labour had a great record of......wasteful spending. The new Government had vigorous coalition talks. Plenty of negative chat about the amount of time being taken with those talks. Part of the talks involved policies of the parties involved and their desire not to indulge any further wasteful spending. We all want fewer deaths on our roads but the road to zero was never going to make a meaningful difference. There is every chance the only time zero comes into play with the results would be that despite spending tens of millions of tax payer funds on the road to zero, it would make zero difference. The left wing media via their agenda have been busy trying to undermine the new Government from day one. With that in mind the question was asked "will any of the funds saved on reversing the smoke free laws be used on funding tax cuts?. The answer is likely yes but it would be the same answer if this question was asked. "Will any of the funds saved on reversing the smoke free free laws be used to fund life saving treatment in other areas?" Now, that "yes' answer has been used to lambast the new uncaring Government. What a load of old shite. Despite having my reservations, I feel optimistic about our new Government. The claims made that they will send race relations backwards are utter horse shit. Have these people not been paying attention? The previous Government has driven a bulldozer over delicate race relations. That's why the majority of New Zealanders felt Race Relations were heading in the wrong direction prior to the new Government taking over. You have a minority of New Zealanders feeling more entitled than ever to demand and receive whatever they want while the majority of Kiwi's were force feed an agenda they didn't buy into. All they received were big helpings of guilt over historical events that had nothing to do with them. That guilt was deliberate to then justify their agenda. Care and support should always be on the basis of need.....not ethnicity. The new Government endorse that. We all want better health outcomes for our Maori brothers and sisters.....but not at the expense of our non Maori brothers and sisters. I predict we'll see large scale rioting by Maori inside the first year of the new Government's term. Waitangi Day 2024 will be a taste of things to come. The now entitled Maori are being stirred up by the agenda of our alleged media and they don't need any stirring up. What I'd like to see is the Government given the three year term they won to bring in positive change. If they fail, vote them out in 2026. That's how a democracy should work. This bullshit of losing the election due to divisive incompetence and virtue signaling and then bleating about the new Government all day every day has already got old.

I had met Ces and Vonnie in 1977 and I know the year because Sole Command won the Cup that year . Every time I was in Christchurch I'd call in for a cuppa and a scone with them. Their daughter Bonnie married Kevin Williams of Master Mood fame. I became familiar with the trials and tribulations of Lord Module. The horse was none to fond of me or others I saw I was there as a punter and a stable supporter. Ces had another handy horse at the time called Sun Seeker. Both races were very memorable. His 79 Cup win was staggering. I feel he could have beaten anything that day despite some controversy during the race. His Matson FFA was filled with emotion. Big question mark over him even getting away. Addington racegoers knew all about Lord Modules motor but his antics were equally well known. I've never been on a race course since that had a buzz like that. I honestly think that moment is intrinsically linked with my love of harness racing over 42 years later. I didn't have much on him so that wasn't the reason the race was so memorable. He gave the best horses around a start and a beating that night. I must admit to having a little flash back on Cup Day when Chase A Dream won. That victory was very memorable. We were in the Owners / Trainers stand right on the finish line. Sorry to hear of Single Lord's death. I can well imagine under the circumstances that would have been very sad news. Did he actually race in the States and did he manage to win races? Same question of McShane?

These are the stories I can't get enough of Chief so thanks for sharing. Back stories in our game are what rock most for me. I was a fan of almost anything by Lordship with my all time fav being Lord Module. Spent many hours with him before and after his 1979 Cup win and his staggering 1981 Matson FFA win. Having a Cup Class horse like Single Lord in Nelson lifted the profile of harness racing in the area and I'm happy to say I won a few $$ off him. Did he produce any runners you know of in the States? I can't recall trotters that won heats of the Interdom's but know McShane did. How cool to learn about him almost 40 years after he last raced here. Cheers Would I be correct to say these two were the best pacer and trotter to come out of Nelson? Chesapeake was a very handy mare for Noel Berkett who also had another decent pacing mare in Lady Eastburn. Interesting to learn Single Girl was gifted by Ted Lowe. As you know, he and Paul Young had many fruitful visits to Nelson. They had a handy pacer called Dundas that won a decent race at Addington in the early 80's but I can't recall which race. Ted also had Wing Commander who won the 3 year old race at Nelson in 1978. He was another one exported to the US. I will avoid name dropping here but on Cup Day eve we had a very pleasant dinner and drinks with a man who is a legend in our sport and has been involved in winning multiple NZ Cups that are regarded by many in the game as iconic epic Cups. He was also the regular driver of some wonderful mares in both gaits. Hearing chapter and verse about the horses and the races was a memorable treat for a harness nut like me. I can tell you I'd pay good $$ to read the back story of the horses and people involved in our big races over the years but happy to admit I'm a harness racing addict. Always have been and always will be. I came back to Nelson last year after decades away. I've spoken to some prominent trainers that feel Nelson has an excellent track and would have been the perfect spot to race a Jewels meeting but the infrastructure is unfortunately just a bit average and in real need of an upgrade. That won't happen especially with harness racing on the slide and the winter meeting at Nelson being shitcanned. Having just one meeting a year at Nelson is incredibly disappointing but sign of the times I guess. Probably only a matter of time before housing replaces horses. Hope not.

Birdshit did win the Rowe Cup in 1981 with No Response beating Kenwood Song for Charlie Hunter and Nelson's McShane who also won a heat of the Interdoms prior to being exported to the United States in 1984. He was out of Single Girl who also produced Brian Hill's best pacer Single Lord who was also exported to the States in 1980 much to my disappointment as I was a fan of his. Chief will be very familiar with both of the Hill horses. The field No Response beat in the Rowe Cup was a good one as it always is. Thriller Dee, Cal Brydon, Sir Castleton, Stormy Morn and About Now etc. Will look forward to seeing your photos Gammalite. The Interdominions has for many kiwis lost it's allure. This is reflected by the lack of entries from here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXhpyDVk0hI

You are right Gammalite. In several big races he just needed to know where Jack Smolenski was with Melvander. Tussle winning the 1985 Rowe Cup was no cake walk and showed both Tussle and Pete at their best. Still don't know how he got her out to grab Dragon's Pride for Noel Taylor and the Kelly clan. Great finish. Great mare Speaking of the Barron's. Here's a trotter to mark down. Ken's 3 year old Create Time by Creatine. Two from two but the way he won on Cup Day says he's got a big motor. Will only get better which is exciting

100% Chief. Cliff knew exactly what he was doing. Highly respected man.

Reading between the lines can be an art form Gammalite. I remember yarning with Lex Nichols about the form in our race books many moons ago. I'd see a horse climbing all over them for a run in the straight and finish under a strangle hold out of the placings. Then I'd see the racebook form for the runner and it would read "Midfield, battle on fairly"....I was straight to the TAB .....my yarn with Lex came post race Prior to racing being on TV here, I had an advantage over many punters as I attended race meetings all over NZ. On average one meeting every week. In addition to that, the TAB would send me all the replays of the previous weeks races on VHS. As a result, I usually knew when mistakes with form descriptions were made in the racebooks. As for trotters. I tend to avoid those talented trotters these days that can blow to bits at any moment. We do have trainers that can fix just about any issues the trotters have. One of those trainers is the Dunn stable. A few years ago Sundees Sun. In the early days he'd look likely then blow to bits. Spells of Love is no Sundees Sun with just two wins in the bin but he does have the mighty trotting mare Tussle in his bloodline. He does have some of the family ability and I feel he will win his share. You'll note the name "Irvine" in the owner / breeder list. I'm confident he prefers grit over grass. He does have speed so I recommend you follow him over the summer, especially @ Nelson. I'll be surprised if he's not a 5 win horse by the end of January.

I didn't consider that option Galah but it's a definite possibility. We all make blunders along the way but it's a bit sad when you have to consider the possibility the comments person may have been referring to a runner other than the one you were reading. I don't bet much these days and didn't back Spells of Love myself, in fact, I only watched a replay later on Sunday. I agree about the drive. John is a very good driver these days and wondered where Sunday's race fit in with the horses plans. We are only six weeks away from the January meeting at Nelson. The Dunn's will take a good team there and they have an outstanding record and enjoy it there very much. Spells of Love ran a third and first there in January this year and I could imagine a similar or even better result in six weeks. This is probably irrelevant but I spoke with one of the listed owners on Sunday and they confirmed they have not been in the ownership for three years Not sure who is responsible for comments on horses in both codes? I always assumed harness runners were done by HRNZ. On Saturday I thought about having a nibble @Doomben but two of the runners I was interested in had confusing negative comments. One runner said 'No Appeal' and another advised to "look elsewhere". ....back in the day I would have trusted my own judgement but as I don't spend as much time doing the form these days it didn't take much to talk me out of having a bet. Both horses won easily paying around $7

I watched him win @ Nelson earlier in the year and think he'll win his share. The fact the mighty Tussle is in his bloodline sparked my interest. He looks to be getting closer to good form again so noticed he is in @ The Mot tomorrow. Have noticed some odd descriptions in the comments of horses in recent months that left me scratching my head a bit. The comments on Spells of Love fall into that category especially when you consider some punters place a lot of weight on the comments that long term are usually fairly accurate. It says "is grass and track specialist"...........As far as his grass track record goes, he's had three starts for one placing. That's ok but does it qualify as a grass track specialist? His track form is one start for an unplaced run. How does that constitute being a track specialist? I have no desire to be overly critical but surely accuracy is important with such matters?

My comparisons are a bit left field but that's how my brain works. Let's use crime for example. If we think a particular crime is hurting a community in say, Dunedin, we look elsewhere for answers. How did Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for example recognize there was an impacting problem in the first place and what method did they put in place to address it? Conversely, what did they try and then see that potential solution fail? Same mindset applies with unemployment, running hospitals and addressing road crash numbers etc etc. We look at other places to find the answers that have the best chance of success. Often those other places are offshore. As soon as we see NZ Harness horses being sold on mass to Australia, the red light starts flashing. Why is that a better option than racing in NZ? What is Australia doing right and what are we doing wrong? I'm incredulous that the only change I've witnessed in this very telling dynamic is that the numbers being exported are increasing and at a faster rate. Surely, this has been witnessed by the decision makers in NZ Harness Racing? Studs selling horses makes sense. Owners / trainers selling bread and butter NZ horses to Australia reflects a broken system. It's the opposite of NZ Clubs paying incentives to NZ trainers / owners to race at their NZ meeting. "Placing" horses in NZ has become an art. Some trainers are masters at it. We are ignoring the compelling evidence and those with the most invested in the game that have been shouting from the rooftops "THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN".....those steering the Harness train straight into the wall have so much power that they abuse it by putting punitive measures in place for those that speak out against the broken system. Unless urgent action is taken, R.I.P NZ Harness Racing.

I watched Lord Module win in 1979. He was my fav horse. Still is. I was there for the epic Hands Down victory over Delightful Lady in 1980. In 1981, I saw Armalight go to the front and bolt away from the field at exactly the time I thought she would likely be feeling the heat from her efforts. The last Cup I attended was in 1982 when Bonnie's Chance bolted away with her Cup. I went to the races that day with $30. I drove off the course with the biggest amount I've ever won at the races. It was well north of 25k. We went back to Christchurch on Monday to spend time with a wonderful family that have won numerous NZ Cups. They gifted us their Cup Day tickets and we had the best seat in the house. It was a fantastic day that was dominated by the All Stars. Millwood Nike was magnificent but Chase A Dream was legendary. I will never forget both victories. With a round to go I said Catch A Dream was still going to win. That win paid for all our expenses on the trip and then some. Probably won't need to pay for a drink for a while. It's been a while since a yelled a horse home like that The Cup was a bit of an anti climax for me but I concede I'm mostly talking via my pocket. Swayzee got a better start than any other horse I can recall in the Cup. Looked "almost" like a mobile start for him to my eye. The moment I saw Macandrew Navigator in front I knew the 3200 metre race was as good as done. Swayzee could amble to the top with zero resistance and then have Akuta exactly where he wanted him. The result was sealed. Good for the Cup to have the Aussie horses over here and Swayzee looked like a beast in his prelim. I received five texts on Cup Day from very good judges, two especially all telling me Swayzee would win the Cup. Biggest negatives for me were the far king Greyhound races blaring on the TV to patrons in the members / owners area. I didn't see one person watching them. Those races cheapened a very special day. The reporting of a "Mass Brawl'...What a load of bollocks. It was handbags at ten paces between a couple of roosters that had too much sun and too many shandy's. Why the media felt compelled to report it the way they did was perplexing. My last critique is using the 97 year old cure for insomnia Craig Thompson. Seems a decent enough man and I don't doubt his knowledge.....but fark me, he's the most boring man in the game. Surely, there's a better option as the front man for NZ Harness especially if we want to attract young people into the game. Can't wait for next years Cup Day.

You're right about Hipkins not being the leader into the next election. I'm very confident of that. Hipkins may be a nice man. He also appears to be a good team player. He's also a weak man who is totally unsuitable to be Party leader let alone PM. He stabilized Labour support after Ardern bolted off into the sunset but when the pressure went on, he steered the Labour ship straight onto the rocks. We've previously discussed how he did that. By retaining him as Labour leader under the absurd guise of a "clean slate" was even more farcical than the "reset" after the Kiwibuild debacle. What Hipkin's is actually saying is he's very happy to overlook his pathetic performance as PM and start over. I can promise him two things. Kiwi's will not overlook his track record and the best way to predict future performance is by looking at past performance. Labour desperately needed a new leader and to stop virtue signaling. Epic fail on both scores. The hopeless Carmel Sepuloni is deputy leader for two reasons only. Her gender and her ethnicity. Labour have learned absolutely nothing. Hipkins stated Labour will be a "formidable opposition". haha, yea right. Labour will be weak and they will bark at the moon while being easily swatted away like flies. Labour obviously need a clean slate, not more of the same. The sooner they realize that and be led by a leader, the sooner they can recover and move forward.

We all know the words "strong-stable" are nothing but election campaign slogans that both National and Labour use relentlessly in the lead up to every election. They mean virtually nothing. That aside, I'm feeling positive about the new Government. The fact ACT & NZF must work together to form a Government despite their leaders despising each other is a very good sign that anything is possible, including becoming a successful Government. The coalition parties want some different things which will likely result in certain things kiwi's want being implemented or discarded. The ban on foreign (Mostly Chinese) house buyers is a good example. I believe the majority of kiwi's want the ban to remain. NZF fall in to that category where as National want the ban removed. There is every chance the ban will now remain. Bottom line is we should reserve judgement and revisit this in six months and see how things are looking. I'm hopeful. As for Labour. Hipkins was a complete train wreck as leader yet he's been retained as the Labour leader. They are either totally bereft of talent or they have decided to completely ignore the drubbing voters have delivered to them......or both. Here's an idea. Why not consider a wealth / capital gains tax ? Haha. Is he serious or just having a laugh? He's a clueless and divisive clown....... but good enough to lead Labour. Very telling

Hi Freda, Thank you. I appreciate your support

Labour were in fantasyland from even before day 1. When Andrew Little was their leader he was a cast iron guarantee their losing streak would continue in 2017. Policies that he helped develop and lead them on such as "Kiwibuild" were totally unrealistic but it didn't matter that much because they had zero hope of being Government and putting that fantasy in motion. Nek minute, Andrew Little realized his one plan of being the PM was certain to fail, he fell on his sword. His plan of course was not to win the election on merit but by default as New Zealanders turned on National. At that time I don't believe even Labour MP's thought they had any hope of being Government in 2017. Up steps Ardern and the get in via NZF. It didn't take long to see how unrealistic Kiwibuild promises were and just how unsuitable Phil Twyford was to be the Housing Minister at any time, let alone during a housing crisis. They poured hundreds of millions into their fantasy in what looked very much like a drunk bar patron throwing darts at a dartboard hoping he may hit a bullseye. When the confronting reality became impossible to deny, Labour replaced Twyford with Megan Woods who is about as inspiring as warm flat beer with insects floating around in it. They hoped calling it a "reset" would divert attention away from what it really was. An epic disaster that cost New Zealanders hundreds of millions of dollars. Woods recognized she was so far out of her depth that she even joined forces with Judith Collins. What they came up with was another epic fail. Their idealism, incompetence and naivety have been their hallmarks all along.....along with dividing our country. When Covid arrived in NZ, they spouted off restrictions for all of us but said they had an "expectation" that tourists arriving for a very expensive once in a lifetime holiday here would self isolate in their motel even if they had absolutely no Covid symptoms. Everyone could see what complete horseshit that prospect was. Everyone except Labour. It was only when tourists arriving at our airports laughed at that prospect on camera did Labour do a complete and embarrassing U-Turn. This type of naivety epitomizes Labour. When Labour announced the wage subsidy at the start of the lockdowns, they used the alleged urgency to skip right over being fiscally prudent. Two weeks later they realized the scope for widespread fraud was so enormous that they started rewording the conditions for those accepting the wage subsidy. There were huge over payments along with several big business enterprises that were adding the wage subsidies to their record profits and the Government couldn't do squat about it. The Supermarkets rorting New Zealanders was an opportunity for Labour to fight for kiwis and make the duopoly accountable. Instead, Labour made pissy threats that the supermarkets laughed at and left the people doing the rorting to resolve the issue. That was a very predictable fail. The farcical Grocery Commissioner was then delegated to stop the rorting. Yea right. Another window into diabolical wasteful spending by Labour was their hugely expensive "Road to Zero" campaign. How typical of Labour to spend so much tax payer money on expensive virtue signaling advertising that had a 0% chance of success. We all want to see big improvements in our road toll but bullshit advertising was never going to save 40% of the people killed on our roads in their quest to road to zero. Labour's legacy has been one of enormous wasteful spending from a bunch of incompetents that in many cases only got in off the back of Ardern's popularity at the time. We celebrate their departure. My sincere hope is they are never afforded the opportunity to repeat their costly and divisive incompetence. Fingers crossed, National do a sterling job in Government. One thing for sure, they will never be as woeful as Labour.

When you consider Luxon has a long standing relationship with JK who is his political mentor, it makes sense their election campaigns have strong similarities. When you line up the cornerstone policy from both parties, you can't help but question WTAF Labour were thinking. We have a cost of living crisis that is hurting big numbers of people. The right time for Tax Cuts to give folk some meaningful relief even if we know the data highlights creative license has been exercised with the actual amounts people will receive and how they will be paid for. One -nil to National there. Up step Labour and contradict their own finance minister with their cornerstone policy to win the election. Remove GST off fruit and veges. If it's implemented, it would take effect in late 2024-2025 despite people needing relief immediately. If untrustworthy supermarkets passed on the savings to kiwi's and that's a big "if", Kiwi's would save $4.50 a week ffs!...that was an own goal by Labour. Result, Two-nil to National. Further compelling evidence Labour were leaderless and unfit to Govern. So pleased Hipkins has a new partner. Toni with an "i". I'm sure we have all been very worried about that. Yes, I am harsh on Hipkins. Cunliffe apologized for being a man. Hipkins has effectively apologized for his own ethnicity. He's weak, he's helped divide our beautiful country to suit the Labour agenda and he's a far king liar. I'm sick of the way he sold himself as "the boy from the Hutt" while he stuffs another sausage roll into his mouth while surrounded by an ocean of brown faces. NZ needed and deserved way better than that nonsense. He will be replaced as leader early in the New Year. I don't trust Luxon but I do feel they will do much better than Labour. We are already seeing a well overdue tougher stance on gangs. Labour gifted gangs a free run and I like many others, celebrate that now ending.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/racing/300997111/diggers-desecrate-grave-site-of-champion-racehorse-cardigan-bay-to-make-way-for-car-park

The situation regarding prioritizing Maori is akin to the original mindset associated with Speed Cameras and how they were sold to the public. Government of the day flew a kite about tolling many NZ roads as another tax grab. They learned there was zero appetite for it but they also learned at the same time speed cameras and the revenue they gathered would be a much easier sell especially if it was under the guise of "Road Safety"....Speed Cameras are just the collection of tax and have made little if any difference to the number of people we lose on our roads. "Better health outcomes" for Maori is also an easy sell. We all want better health outcomes for everyone, including Maori but when you dive in here you see far more at play. It's an unmistakable agenda. Kiwi's recognized that agenda and rejected it. Maori do have poor health outcomes. A big part of the cause there is their reluctance / refusal to engage with the system. An alternative option is put in place and the result is invariably similar. The usual situation is to blame the system rather than question the motivation etc of the person refusing to engage. Ironically, if you wave boxes of freebies, supermarket and petrol vouchers , boxes of KFC etc, all of a sudden motivation is quickly found. This does not go unnoticed. Our health system has been turned on it's head in a one size fits all approach to Maori. If you're Maori, you'll be gifted priority over non Maori even if your health condition is self imposed. You have Jane on the waiting list for breast screening for 10 months. Slowly, she made her way up the list. Then Moana arrives ten months later with the same condition as Jayne. Moana, due to being Maori is hoisted up the waiting list while Jane and others that are non Maori are shunted down. This has not gone unnoticed. I've seen the prioritizing of Maori at both Te Whatu Ora and in Primary Health Care. These nurses want the best health outcomes for everyone but have had an agenda rammed down their throat even in areas where Maori are few and far between. They've tried to correct this blunder in recent months when confronting evidence highlighted non Maori were being discarded in favour of Maori in bigger numbers that top brass realized despite nurses making them aware of this many times. There was a mad dash away from the public eye to correct those figures. In truth, balance had been lost and that's reflected far and wide. I've witnessed this with my own eyes and have multiple family members involved. One of the fav tools to gain widespread compliance is "guilt" over distant past history. In addition to that, anyone that has the audacity to speak about it is quickly deemed a racist. I believe many of the people frustrated by what's unfolded decided to hush and get their revenge on election day. Then we have the law and order issue. When the Government decides to lower the prison population by big numbers, Maori are the main benefactors of this. Their serious crimes are routinely downgraded so they can be gifted Home-D to keep the prison population down. Cultural reports are another tool used to keep Maori out of prison. Do you think Maori offenders are 100% aware of this? Do you think they heard the Police Minister remarkably state NZ Prisons are no place for Maori? As for ram-raids. Ardern appointed the most useless Police Minister in NZ History. Poto Williams. This was yet more virtue signaling from Labour. Williams stood by doing absolutely zero while the ram-raids got a foothold right across the criminal fraternity of NZ. Ardern said she had confidence in Williams despite the rest of NZ knowing she was the epitome of an incompetent fool right out of her depth. Nek minute, Ardern sacks Williams and states she had lost her focus. How is it possible for the Police Minister to lose her focus during a diabolical crime wave? It's not!...the reality is Williams never had any focus. Another big issue for Kiwi's is the relentless pushing of Te Reo. Kia Ora are the start of the news bulletin turned into longer and longer sentences spread through the bulletin despite the overwhelming majority of Kiwi's not understanding what was being said and only a very small percentage of viewers being fluent in Te Reo. The name of our country was forcibly being changed right under our noses as it's rammed down our throats. Zero mandate to do so and feel at least some Maori use the word Aotearoa as a way of saying fark you to all those non Maori that resent the forced change of the tail wagging the dog. My father, grandfather and great grandfather fought for New Zealand. Not Aotearoa. When you start changing really important words and names and with no buy-in, the resentment will grow. The changing of place names and road signs to Te Reo is not a huge deal but it's another forced change on the majority that creates resentment. I had numerous contacts will Bill Rowling in the early 1970's at the Nelson races. Lovely man but a lamb to the slaughter against Muldoon. I don't believe Bill was weak, just born 50 years to late. Chris Hipkins on the other hand is weak and pathetic. I find him nauseating. I'm convinced he got rid of Michael Woods over the Airport Shares nonsense as an insurance policy for when he inevitably lost the election. Woods was the very obvious replacement for Hipkins as leader post election and Hipkins knew that with bells on. He's also a liar. The fact Hipkins needed a coaching lesson on fighting from Helen Clarke is a very good indicator of how weak he really is. It also didn't go unnoticed that every photo opportunity Hipkins created during the campaign showed him with a group of brown faces. It was as if he wanted to rub the biggest demographics nose in it. Labour have completely lost their way. The election was still winnable even after Mrs Ed bolted and despite the Kiri Allan circus. Hipkins only got fired up during the debates when three subjects were raised. Maori, LGBT and Beneficiaries. Very telling and again, this didn't go unnoticed. Luxon is not stupid, hence his continued narrative of looking after the squeezed middle. The exact group Labour have delivered nothing to.....except guilt. Farmers are not the problem in NZ and neither are the mum and dad investors with two homes yet these two groups have been vilified by Labour. Will Hipkins be gifted a knighthood? A fair question. My pick is no but John Key said the knighthood was a right of passage so who knows. If you rephrased the question to "Does Hipkins deserve a knighthood? "...the answer is absolutely not.

Being "wealthy" is relative. A home owner is wealthy in comparison to somebody sleeping rough on the streets but a hard working family struggling to meet their mortgage payments and increase their standard of living are not wealthy in comparison to people on the rich list donating to political parties. Politicians are well known for blurring numbers so they say exactly what they want them to say. In 2014, The National Party farcically claimed the large increase in reported crime was the result of people having more confidence in crimes being solved so were reporting crimes they previously wouldn't have done so. A insult to crime victims and the intellect of most people with a brain bigger than a sultana. Earlier this year, the Labour Government copied the National Party playbook and made the same ridiculous claim. Back to reality, many New Zealanders that work hard for their modest success voted for National. We can't say for certain what their motivations are but we do know the majority of New Zealanders believe Race Relations are on the wrong trajectory. We know Labour have exacerbated that situation by prioritizing care and support based on ethnicity rather than need and the majority of offenders benefiting from Labour's quest to reduce the prison population were Maori. This was making NZ a less safe place to live and work. We also know the tax system has been used in a punitive manner against successful people by Labour and that needed to change. My contention is National are now in Government due to a large scale rejection of Labour by New Zealander's across the board. We shouldn't be pointing the finger at the wealthy for this. Labour have been their own worst enemy. I, like many celebrate their departure. I hope Labour do a complete reset. A very good place to start is with Hipkins. He's weak and light years from being a leader. It's also clear he appears to be ashamed of his own ethnicity. We already have a Maori Party. How well did it work out for Labour and Hipkins being the second Maori Party?

Unfortunately, your taste appears to reside in dark orifice. I have seen very little evidence that you've accepted the election outcome. What I have seen is a repeated accusation that National are now in power due to the donations of wealthy supporters and a bunch of fearmongering bullshit. If that is accepting an election result, I'm curious what you think having a tanti over the result would look like. For your own mental health and well being, at least try and be honest with yourself. FYI....hundreds of thousands of voters gave their vote to National in this election. NZ doesn't have hundreds of thousands of wealthy people so by simple mathematics we know the overwhelming majority of people that voted National are not wealthy. Why then do you keep pushing a narrative you know is false?

I was only highlighting your ....highlighted words. You're being far to hard on yourself. Did you not get Jacinda's memo? "Be Kind"....even to yourself I can see you're having another bad day H.R. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Don't give up. You're special.

You're forgiven H.R but please try and retain at least some of your dignity. You're just looking foolish and bitter now. Yes, I did post a thread several weeks prior to the election and spoke about sharing perspectives constructively. Apart from an odd exception ... that occurred but I have no desire to be a school master standing over the naughty ones. You've already been humiliated enough and this thread is post election so the same guidelines were not in play. As an aside, why did you feel compelled to use an obscenity when that was completely unwarranted?......unless of course you know you've made a fool of yourself in the debate and frustration has got the better of you. In that case, put an extra dose of cream on that hurt butt of yours.