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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 21h

I am puzzled as to who is their comms manager. They are doing a total disservice.
I also think that Hipkins is a liability. People don't like him and no amount of self convincing will change that. No amount of "you just need to get to know him better" helps Luxon. McAnulty on the other hand...

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 1d

So I emailed. Again. I would like to be a fly on the wall of that office when the poor staffer has to read all the angry emails.

#nzpol

An email to Erica Stanford:

I'm furious that your government is not backing teachers, students and their parents, by not offering anything more than a pay cut to our hard working teachers. You should be ashamed of the pitiful offers you have been giving them and of the (failed) attempts to get the public to be mad at them. We are not. What we are is mad at you. Your government has money for landlords, money for tobacco companies, money for polluting industries but not for education.

I'm also furious that you, as a very well paid Minister, do not know that teachers do not supervise NCEA exams. Or perhaps you do know and just wanted to spread misinformation.

The public will not be angry at teachers, but we are certainly angry at your government.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 2d

I don't trust Peters to do anything that is in the best interest of the public.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 2d

I hope you have some ideas because this is ruining our democracy. I'll be happy for you to use urgency to pass it 😆

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 2d

Duncan, a question if I may - how do we prevent such abuse of the democratic process going forward? What mechanism can you put in place to prevent this?

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 2d

Awesome! In today's job market any young fella that not only keeps its job but gets a promotion is a huge relief. Great employers know how to retain good staff and I'm happy for them that they have work going forward. That's a relief too.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 2d

The next step is explaining why women should not vote.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 7d

I don't think it will work this time round.
House prices are so cooked, a decrease in mortgage rates isn't going to do much. And when people are losing their jobs on a daily basis they don't feel safe enough to start splashing on over priced houses.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 7d

Taking away their pay equity claims wasn't on the bingo-list for Mother's Day 2025 of the hard working, poorly paid women either!
The pearl clutching from that privileged woman!

#nzpol

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 7d

They hate anyone who isn't their 1%er donors.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 12d

Aotearoa NZ never had a rockstar economy. Perhaps one day, Brad Olsen will join the adults in the room and realize that.

#nzpol

Tony from Welly @tonywelly.bsky.social · 13d

John Keys mini me, Brad Olsen, has the declared the NZ economy fucked.
Behold the incompetent National led Coalition led by the "it's just a house budget" Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

#nzpol

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

New Zealand’s ‘rock star economy’ is over, economist tells Sam Hayes

New figures released by Stats NZ on Thursday continue to paint a grim picture of the New Zealand workforce.

www.stuff.co.nz

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 14d

Classic! 🤣
One thing we all agree with Luxon.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 14d

If he's a business leader, then he fails at that too.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 14d

He's been studying leadership his whole life, and this (waves hands) is the outcome of it?
Man, you receive an F and should go back to primary school as you have failed in every possible parameter.

#nzpol

Foxy @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 14d

ARE YOU PREPARED TO HATE THAT CUNT LUXON EVEN MORE?

Sincerely the most tone deaf, will not listen, Dunning Kruger prime minister there ever was!

#NZPol

Christopher Luxon assesses his own leadership amid criticism
Audrey Young 1/2

Leaders aren’t necessarily the best people to talk about their own leadership styles, but in Christopher Luxon’s case, he is an expert.

He is not only the leader of the country, but he has studied leadership his whole life - particularly of politicians and sports teams.

And he was talking about it with Scott Robertson just last Saturday, after the All Blacks beat Australia in the Bledisloe Cup match in Auckland.

“I’ve been a big follower of high-performing sports teams since I was very, very young - read, studied them, watched documentaries on them,” Luxon tells the Herald.

“You always have moments where there’s lots of criticism and coaches going through a period of rebuilding a team or dealing with a tough set of circumstances.

“You’ve seen it actually with the All Blacks in the last week. I spoke to [coach] Scott Robertson about it on Saturday night.

“They’re jobs where everyone’s a critic, and actually, your job as the leader is to say, ‘stay calm, let’s not catastrophise when things are tough, let’s not go cock-a-hoop and get arrogant when things are going well’.

“Just stay consistent and even-tempered and calm, and see through the noise and stay focused on the prize that you’re trying to get to.

“That’s how I’ve always run my teams, you know, from when I was very young and having senior jobs at a young age.

“That’s the same way we’re trying to run government.”

National’s inability to fire in the polls, and Luxon’s average personal ratings as preferred Prime Minister, have fuelled commentary about his leadership.

But Luxon’s leadership has been the subject of more comment than usual in the past week after the CEOs in the Herald’s annual Mood of the Boardroom survey ranked him just 15th among Government ministers (he was sixth last year). Finance Minister Nicola Willis also rated low at 13th (3rd last year).

He cannot dismiss it. That would look arrogant. But nor can he suggest it represents a failure on his part. That would fuel further leadership speculation.

Instead, he adopts the view that the rating is born of a sense of frustration that the economic recovery hasn’t been faster, and he empathises.

“I get it. You know, many business leaders like myself and like all New Zealanders want to get over this pain and suffering we’ve been in, you know, experiencing economically.

“Nicola and I are the face of the Government in the economic sense, and I get it. And so, you know, I’m with them.”

So does Luxon get unsettled by the talk about his leadership and his own performance?

“Well, for me, I’m always dissatisfied with the performance of myself and everyone in general. You know, I’m just wired to be constantly constructively dissatisfied...while being incredibly optimistic.

“But it’s just because I want to get to a better place quicker, faster, that I drive quite hard.”

He said he had a lot of options in terms of what he could do with his time and what he could do pre- or post-politics.

“Instead, I choose to do this job.”

He said he would naturally look at his own performance.

“But I also don’t take offence from people I don’t take advice from. It’s a pretty simple rule.”

He was one of those people who was informed by social media but not consumed by it, because he went into politics four years ago to realise the country’s potential.

“When you’re connected to that mission and purpose, yes, I can listen to all the all the noise out there, but you also have to lead through noise.”

For many years, in fact since he was a schoolboy, Luxon has studied leaders. He likes to pick one a year and study them, although he took a break last year in his first full year as Prime Minister.

But this year, he has gone back to studying one he really admires, former US President Ronald Reagan.

“There’s a lot of life lessons in the histories of other leaders, whether they’re business leaders or political leaders or community leaders,” he said.

Luxon’s leadership is worth a study in itself - he took over the National Party leadership after just a year in politics. More importantly, he led its repair from the divided and chaotic party it had become in Opposition, to victory in 2023.

He has led the first three-party coalition under the MMP system with two experienced and wily politicians, Act leader David Seymour and NZ First leader Winston Peters, as coalition partners.

At a micro-level, he has a distinct style, preferring to work in his Ninth Floor office with music playing (on this day, it was Dua Lipa and Men at Work) and a can of V at hand.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

Even then they will say, somewhat apologetically, that it simply was too complicated for them.

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

#nzpol

PM: ‘We will recognise Palestine. We just don't think that time is right now’

The Prime Minister said the focus at the moment was on stopping the conflict and therefore the time for state recognition of Palestine was not now.

www.stuff.co.nz

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

#nzpol

They sit on the fence because it's easier to confront no one.
They are the enablers, the centrists who do their best to keep all options available.
They are cowards and will forever be cowards, even when one day they will have to explain why the hell they didn't take a stand.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

#nzpol

People who say "it's complicated" are not doing so to justify why they are doing nothing.
They are just expressing their unwillingness to clearly declare what is the right thing to do and what are the values that should guide their actions.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

And engineers who should have been designing the buildings they did.

Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

The insurers will say we will raise our premiums very high, thank you very much.

#nzpol

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 16d

#nzpol

Yep. Her tone is like the worst teacher you ever had.

Foxy @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 17d

Nicola Willis talks to us like we’re twits
Verity Johnson
Verity Johnson
September 29, 2025 • 4:00am #NZPol

Nicola Willis talks to us like we’re twits

“Last week, Willis came out and blamed our even more dismal than expected fall in GDP for the June quarter on international pressures from Trump,” says Verity Johnson.

www.stuff.co.nz

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 19d

Funny that.
2 years into being PM, and he still doesn't understand how things work.
Probably 99% of the submissions are against the bill, yet he claims NZers think the Electoral commission is too slow.
Maybe he was referring to himself.

#nzpol

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 19d

#nzpol
This will pass because they don't listen to anyone. Our response should be two fold:
1. Make sure EVERYONE who wants to vote, will be enrolled in time and do so.
2. Those working for the Electoral Commission to work so slow it will actually take 4 weeks to give the final vote count.

D Jukic She/her @dejanajuk.bsky.social · 19d

Lol. The worst bloke at his job in NZ has the cheek to criticise the ethical meticulous work of people ensuring our votes are accurately counted that he probably underfunds. Do it fast and rubbish says Luxon, thats how we pass laws. #nzpol

Christopher Luxon calls vote counters the 'slowest folk on the planet'

The prime minister says he expects the Electoral Commission to speed up the official vote count after an election.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 19d

It is not for me to define. Perfect response from Hipkins.

#nzpol

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 20d

Everything is possible to do and there could be complexities etc. But it will not lower prices. Supermarkets will just pocket the difference, and there's no one who will stop them from doing so.

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Me & Coffee ☕️ @thembird.bsky.social · 20d

You figure it out by comparing yourself to others at school or the workplace.
The question is why you want to know and what you would do with the diagnosis.
As a side note, we as a society will be so much better off if we appreciate more the different ways in which those on the spectrum think.

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