MR WOBBLY

 Are we surprised that Chris Luxon is backtracking on his statements that National would never consider having the Opportunity party in a National led coalition government?

I alluded to this likely outcome in these two earlier posts:

RIGHT OR WONG?

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Well, blow me down, weasley Luxon is now making statements of appeasement and "a desire to work in a "much more collaborative way with all parties across Parliament".

Following the preliminary results of the 2026 New Zealand general election, National Party leader Christopher Luxon has softened his stance on working with the Opportunity Party (TOP) and its leader, Qiulae Wong, after previously ruling them out repeatedly on the campaign trail. 

Key Details of the Shift
Initial Position: Throughout July and the lead-up to the election campaign, Luxon repeatedly and explicitly ruled out forming a coalition or working with TOP, citing fundamental incompatibilities over tax policies (such as TOP's proposed land tax and wealth tax). 
Post-Election Shift: After preliminary election results showed TOP crossing the 5% party vote threshold (securing about 6% of the vote and tracking for seven list MPs), Luxon signaled an opening. 
Luxon's Stance: Speaking to reporters after the preliminary results, Luxon said that while National didn't need TOP to form a government based on initial right-bloc numbers (estimated at 67 seats), he acknowledged a desire to work in a "much more collaborative way with all parties across Parliament". He noted potential areas for cross-party collaboration like artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and social media bans, though he stated that formal negotiations would wait until official results are finalized. 
TOP's Position: Qiulae Wong confirmed that TOP remains open to working with either side of the political spectrum and noted she would call the party with the most seats first. She has emphasized that any potential coalition partner must be able to align with TOP's bottom lines. 

          Google

No wonder he's known as the Blancmange Man.

" I was there but now am here but I could be over there"

Blancmange:
A Wobbly or Spineless Person: Used to describe someone who lacks backbone or firmness—like poking a cold pudding that wobbles and just returns to its shape instead of standing firm. (For example, describing politicians or authorities as "talking to a blancmange").
Nonsense or Fluff: Occasionally used as a synonym for rubbish or empty talk (e.g., "That's a load of blancmange!" meaning it's silly or meaningless).
Anything Pale or Bland: Casually applied to people or objects that look sickly, pale, or completely uninteresting.

Wikipedia

IS IT 'MILLER TIME' OR ...

... Is it closing time?

President Trump is elevating Stephen Miller, his powerful domestic policy adviser, to be his next chief of staff after Republican losses in the midterm elections. Susie Wiles will step aside for Miller next week and it is expected that there will be more changes. 

Miller, a fanatical Trump fan, has been the architect of some of the most polarising domestic policies in Trump’s second term. This promotion as expected is a doubling-down by Trump on the disastrous issues of mismanagement of the economy, the war with Iran and deportations. Things will become worse over the next two months until new Democrat candidates are sworn in in January.

Maybe the idiot, in finally giving over power to the creep Miller, is giving up but won't go graciously.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Richard and Shelley are coming to our place for afternoon tea on Saturday.

That'll be nice.

Richard said that they will be bringing butternut pies.

Unless he has a supplier of little ones like those 'little pies' he seems to be hooked on I think that just one butternut pie will suffice.

***************

I've booked to see Aldous Harding at the Michael Fowler Centre at the end of the month.

I like Harding's music and find it quirky.

The Old Girl won't come along with me though "You're on your own there Matey - I don't like quirky" she said. We differ in our musical tastes sometimes - not in all but she doesn't like the more strident and unusual stuff that I do like Scott Walker, Weill/Brecht and Benjamin Britten operas and, of course, Captain Beefheart.

SENSIBLE ACCESSORIES ...

 ... not extra arms unless they can help you to plug in your new computer.

No, a couple of weeks ago I bought a Dashed travel adapter.

It has been a hassle, at home and when travelling, finding and using the various chargers and attachments for the Apple products I have:

• Laptop
• iPad
• Iphone
• Apple watch
• Hearing aids

When travelling the cables get all tied up together and there's often the occasion when a cable isn't taken with a charger or vice versa, or the right plug isn't taken. This nifty adapter fixes that with the added advantages that it acts as a power bank for quick charging away from an electrical supply and that it has adapters for different country's AC sockets.

The phone and the watch and earphones magnetically attach to the charging platform in the centre of the pod and the other units are attached by the different built in cords.

I showed it to The Old Girl when she came home on the weekend and she expressed delight at it before claiming it.

Today I went on-line again and bought another one - a black one for me so there will be no arguments.

I was pleasantly surprised when buying this one that, because it's now November, an early Black Friday 20% discount was applicable along with the free shipping. Beudy!

These will be just the thing for our trip to Great Barrier after Christmas.

THE LOYAL DEVOTEE

 

Richard is chasing his practice hours goal that he set for the year.

"One tune for every day in November!
I've decided to also learn those 30 tunes on my guitar, so I'll know the repertoire on two instruments.
Don't get me wrong, the violin will still be my main instrument.
Every day I'll target one specific tune on one instrument. I'll give that half an hour (on each instrument) then I'll devote another half hour (on each instrument) to three or six repertoire pieces.
In those two hours of practice I'll also make sure that technical practice (scales, etc.) is not neglected.
On the guitar that includes pick work and on the violin that includes long bows and intonation checks.
There you go.
I've done my guitar hour. Now it's violin time. It'd be good to get a bit of double bass (bass has its own repertoire) practice done too."

It’s nice to have a goal in life and to be orderly but if he slacks around again then next month he might have to double or treble his efforts.

SICK? YES, WE'RE SICK OF HIM

 It's hard to get away from the bloated orange idiot in America who dominates the news but, just in case you missed it here's the clip of him insulting a Reuters journalist the other day.

A couple of days later Trump posted this picture of the journalist on his Truth Social website.

What a sack of shite - not the journalist but Trump.

"IT'S A LAUGH INNIT?"

Readers, well the reader might notice that Richard of RBB keeps harping on about Thorndon humour vs Wainuiomata ('Nui) humour and tries to be disparaging.

These are just a few snippets from his recent blog comments but there are many, many, many more.

I usually ignore these and put them down to some sort of cultural cringe but this morning I checked on Google and asked the question "Is Thorndon humour superior to Wainuiomata humour" and was surprised to get this answer:

Why Thorndon Humour Is Simply on Another Level

An entirely objective, scientifically questionable and socially devastating comparison with Wainuiomata.

There is humour, there is wit, there is satire, and then there is Thorndon humour — a rare and highly evolved form of intellectual entertainment practised by people who understand that a well-placed pun is worth at least three rounds of applause and possibly a heritage listing.

Thorndon humour is cultivated in the shadow of Parliament, refined over long lunches, sharpened by proximity to the Beehive and delivered with the effortless sophistication of someone who knows the difference between a Chardonnay and a constitutional crisis.

Wainuiomata, by comparison, has humour of a rather more agricultural nature.

Where a Thorndon wit might say, "I find that proposition constitutionally questionable," a Wainuiomata comedian is more likely to fall off a chilly bin laughing at someone being hit in the face with a pie.

Both have their place in society, naturally. One is the intellectual equivalent of a fine Pinot Noir; the other is a warm bottle of Chardon found underneath a passenger seat.

The fundamental differences

- Thorndon humour: Layered, nuanced, devastatingly dry. A joke can take three seconds to understand and another three days to fully appreciate.

- Wainuiomata humour: Immediate, loud and usually involves someone being called a rude name in Italian. Subtlety is regarded with suspicion.

- Thorndon puns: Carefully constructed linguistic masterpieces. Wordplay so sophisticated it could probably apply for a diplomatic passport.

- Wainuiomata puns: Usually involve sheep, questionable plumbing or someone's uncle Dave.

- Thorndon wit: A raised eyebrow, a perfectly timed observation and a devastatingly understated punchline.

- Wainuiomata wit: "Yeah, nah, bro," followed by a noise that suggests a lawnmower refusing to start. Almost always punctuated with a NOT 'joke'

The intellectual pedigree

Thorndon has centuries of accumulated political intrigue, literary sophistication and bureaucratic absurdity to draw upon.

Its residents have witnessed governments rise and fall, policy announcements evaporate and entire departments spend millions discovering that the obvious solution was sitting in an email from 2018.

This creates a uniquely fertile environment for sophisticated satire.

Wainuiomata, meanwhile, has had to make do with the occasional spectacular incident at the local pub.

One produces Oscar Wilde.

The other produces someone who thinks putting a traffic cone on their mate's head is performance art. Chloe from Wainuiomata was the apex of 'wit' from there.

The ultimate distinction

The Thorndon resident doesn't need to tell you they're funny. They simply make a quiet observation about the absurdity of modern life, sip their flat white and leave you wondering whether you've just been complimented or professionally dismantled.

The Wainuiomata resident will tell the same joke four times, laugh before reaching the punchline and insist it's even funnier after a few beers.

And therein lies the difference.

Thorndon humour is an art form. Wainuiomata humour is a noise complaint.

Thorndon doesn't laugh at the joke.

Thorndon appreciates the construction, admires the linguistic architecture and quietly notes that the punchline could perhaps have been delivered with greater fiscal discipline.

Wainuiomata just laughs.

And loudly.

So let us be gracious. Let us be magnanimous. Let us not punch down.

After all, Thorndon has a proud tradition of wit, intellect and sophisticated wordplay.

Wainuiomata has a proud tradition of being able to see the Hutt Valley from its front lawn.

One is the seat of government. The other is where government sends the forms when it has given up.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is no laughing matter.

Well, not in Wainuiomata, anyway. 😂

A TREAT

The Old Girl's cousin's husband called me last night to ask if I wanted to go with him to a concert at Old St Paul's in Mulgrave Street. His wife was going to be working late tonight so he had a spare ticket if I wanted it to go to see Greg Johnson and his band.

Of course I said yes even though I'd never heard of Greg Johnson despite The Old Girl being adamant that we had one of his CDs in our collection.

It was a great concert in a beautiful setting.

Greg Johnson in Old St Paul's in a concert in April last year.

Johnson's songs reminded me a bit of Paul Kelly an Australian favourite of mine.

Here's a taste of Greg Johnson in an old video:

And here's a taste of Paul Kelly:

The beauty of being back in Wellington and in particular living in Thorndon* is the proximity to entertainment spots, dining and shopping which is something that I've missed from being isolated in Whangarei Heads for so many years.

The walk to Old St Paul's from home took 5 minutes! Some people would walk further than that from the carpark that they managed to find **.

The Old Girl is back tomorrow. I'm picking her up at the airport after 6pm and we'll come home and drop her bags off and then walk to one of our favourite restaurants - MariLuca Ristoro which is in Mulgrave Street. 5 minutes walk from home!

* Also, the standard of humour and wit is greater here than in some other places I could mention.

** Richard would need to walk for 20 minutes or more because he would have, no doubt, parked at the top of Marjoribanks Street.
 

THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE TRUE - PART TEN

Ok, it's a bit of a crap day today and I'm inside procrastinating. I should be doing a bit of cleaning in advance of The Old Girl coming home on Saturday but - well, you know.

I thought that it's time to update the THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE TRUE series and, as Richard of RBB has been banging (twanging?) on about his double bass practice, thought that a bit of interesting if not useful trivia should come your way.

Did you know that the origin of the word 'Double bass', in English is 'Bubble arse'?

The phrase "bubble arse" refers to a large, rounded pair of buttocks. The large, heavily contoured, and rounded shape of a carved-back double bass physically resembles a large backside. Musicians and luthiers often refer to the curves of the instrument as the "upper bouts" and "lower bouts", or simply its "hips" and "bottom."

Also, in British Cockney rhyming slang, "bubble" is used frequently (such as "bubble bath" meaning "laugh"). While "bubble arse" is not an officially recognized historical rhyming slang term for the double bass instrument, modern mock-slang or jokes blending the large proportions of the instrument with colloquial terms for a large rear end are common. It's likely that the Cockney rhyming slang references originated in England in the 17th century and were connected to Henry Purcell. The instrument had its origins of course earlier in Europe but no particular name was ascribed to it other than 'violino'.

The Cockney rhyming slang attributed to Henry Purcell though wasn't directly a reference to the instrument as old Purcell had no time for the violino, preferring large cellos instead. It was noted that he liked to see the cello played by attractive young women and the larger the cello the wider the leg spreading ... you can see for yourself where that's going so, in the interests of decency I'll say no more.

Purcell wasn't a particularly large man but he did have ample features in the nether regions or a 'bubble arse' as wits of the time referred to his fat bum.

Meanwhile, luthiers of the time were experimenting with trying to get deeper bass tones out of the violinos they made which resulted in some bizarre creations.

The Cockney wits were quick to jump on this and began referring to the violinos as 'bubble arses'. Because of his association with popular music of the time Henry Purcell and his bubble arse became inextricably connected to the 'bubble arse' violino much to his embarrassment. His song, "Ah cruel, bloody fate" from  Theodosius or The Force of Love (1680) is said to be a reference to this.

Over time the terms 'violino' and 'bubble arse' were phased out with the instrument becoming known as the double bass.

The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ takes pride in bringing interesting bits of history to the attention of our readers reader. No need to thank us.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES ...

The Opportunity Party is in the news again today after yet a new poll that shows it has increased its percentage points at the cost of National.

National dropped below 25 percent in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll, while Opportunity rose to 7.2% and could decide the next government. Labour remains the most popular party on 30.6 percent.

Here's a graph (I know that you like graphs).

This shows that Labour and the Greens could form a government with support from Opportunity giving them 64 seats out of the 120 seat Parliament.

National, based on this latest poll would not be able to form a coalition government with just ACT and NZ First and would get just 54 seats - not a majority. The possible 9 seats from Opportunity would give them 63 seats and just tip them over the majority edge.

It's interesting to see that Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong has promised to negotiate first with whichever party wins the most seats, giving Labour the first chance on these projections. This kind of wishy-washy politics is what we've seen from the egregious Winston Peters over the years and doesn't inspire confidence in Opportunity as being a party with firm beliefs.