Comments for Eye of the Fish https://eyeofthefish.org A wide-angle view of architecture, urban design and life in Wellington Mon, 08 Jun 2026 07:11:25 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Comment on Councils and Amalgamation by nemo https://eyeofthefish.org/councils-and-amalgamation/#comment-146991 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:21:20 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9464#comment-146991 You’re absolutely right there !! Otaki is a stronghold for a couple of iwi and has a proudly Maori wananga, whereas Paraparaumu seems to be a place for predominantly retired Pakeha suburbanites. The common factor is the great Kapiti weather up the coast, and that everyone up the coast seems to be there because they want to escape away from Wellington.

]]> Comment on Councils and Amalgamation by Henry Filth https://eyeofthefish.org/councils-and-amalgamation/#comment-146990 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:56:47 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9464#comment-146990 Fear makes for strange bedfellows. Kapiti of course, is not a single entity – southern Kapiti is afraid of Otaki, and G*d only knows what Wellington would make of it.

]]> Comment on Councils and Amalgamation by Dawid https://eyeofthefish.org/councils-and-amalgamation/#comment-146988 Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:58:10 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9464#comment-146988 I think we should claim the upper South Island and put a toll on the cook straight.

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by 60MPa https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146980 Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:40:01 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146980 Yep they’re definitely not the cream of the crop, this lot
Funny how hard they resisted the idea of uniting Lab and Nat, I reckon there are about 20 effective pollies across all of the parties

Word I’m hearing is that apart from the first home buyers at one end of the market and the recession-immune high net worth folks at the other end, people are remodelling rather than moving

The 3 D’s (Death, Desire, Divorce) are barely an eddy current rippling the flag of our fine housing market ship; the HMNZ Ponzi

Development wise the only ripe pickings are all of the neglected 2nd tier mid rise office blocks that can’t get tenants since the rise of work-from-home – get in there with a new floorplan and convert to build to rent so the exasperated Gen Xers can finally kick out their last dependent children who are, ahem, 26 years old FFS

It’s interesting watching the big companies fishing for work in the smaller provinces, I did a double take seeing an LT sign in Palmie a few weeks back

Our local shower installer is booked 3-4 weeks in advance so I reckon it’s a nesting, vege growing mend-and-make-do vibe abroad in the land where people will splash out on one of those godawful louvre roofed pergolas on the patio and replace the shower but cautious, careful..

As long as no one starts seeking spiritual guidance from Gwyneth Paltrow we should muddle through

The money is all in defence drones, new strains of kiwifruit and cow collars that are wifi-enabled

Aus looks like it is coming to it’s own debt reckoning, the Gulf tax-free jobs are drying up quicker than a bombed desalination plant in the desert and Blighty is having another one of their self-inflicted conniptions over weak leaders such that they are losing their heads and looking favourably at someone called Nigel who cannot reasonably explain just where that 5 million quid actually went

Those Greek islands are sounding mighty good

Sell the house and whack the lot into NVidia shares and you’ll be away laughing

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by nemo https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146978 Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:53:27 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146978 More mis-information from National :
“Fixing the basics, building the future and backing families from day one.”
Day One of the Budget: We’ll have all women giving birth staying for 3 days in hospital care.
A video posted shows a number of female National MPs describing their birth experiences, followed by the health minister saying: “That’s why this Budget is extending post natal stays to three days for all Kiwi mums.

Day Three statement: Whoops, No we won’t. We mis-spoke, we will phase that in over the next 3 years (ie when we are not in power).

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by Kumara Republic https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146974 Sun, 31 May 2026 19:30:43 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146974 I can sympathise all too well. From our islands surrounded by the world’s biggest moat, we’re seeing what happens when Reaganomics & Thatcherism stubbornly refuse to die, and turn undead. The end result is MAGA & Brexit/Reform UK respectively – demagogic populism that’s very good at demolishing, but terrible at building anything except walls.

Australia, Canada & of course NZ aren’t immune despite all the guardrails in place. “Sane” conservatism is in freefall, and political arsonists are taking its place. But we still have a chance to halt the rot before NZ has another 1981 Tour moment, only this time HART is now “tax the rich & honour the Treaty” and “we want rugby” is now “taxation is theft & one law for all”.

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by c https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146956 Thu, 28 May 2026 14:33:51 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146956 Hang in there Fish (also pls watch out for anything identifable – it’s a small town – to get smaller)

I agree it is hugely frustrating that the government strips back Wellington first, rather than looking at new ways for the public sector and govt employees to support schemes for economic growth and development. Which many good governments do.

Nobody ever cut their way to growth.

They could also incentivize private businesses, start-ups, global firms etc to choose WLG as a home, as well as other parts of NZ to address the looming Auckland problem.

Why invest in all these lovely new trains and tracks in Wellington if nobody is travelling regionally or commuting. It’s an incredible place – and yes the movie industry helps with diversity as does the associated tourism – but it really needs more of a global czar (ugh, i know) with vision to drive the good things forward – and crucuailly – to publicize those to the world.

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by starkive https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146938 Sun, 24 May 2026 01:50:27 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146938 oops:

https://www.facebook.com/simplicitykiwi/videos/2404664400016992/

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by starkive https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146937 Sun, 24 May 2026 01:50:06 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146937 You could always consider the provinces. Even Shamubeel Eaqub admits he gets it wrong sometimes…

]]> Comment on Getting the country back on track, fixing the economy, creating jobs by Henry Filth https://eyeofthefish.org/getting-the-country-back-on-track-fixing-the-economy-creating-jobs/#comment-146936 Fri, 22 May 2026 18:07:14 +0000 https://eyeofthefish.org/?p=9457#comment-146936 You can find more on Kazakhstan here & here.

https://en.tengrinews.kz/

https://thediplomat.com/regions/central-asia/

There is some stunning architecture, And some stunning weather. And some stunning geography.

Good luck. . .

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