Blues thrash Yokohama Canon Eagles 57-22 in Super Rugby pre-season matchBlues thrash Yokohama Canon Eagles 57-22 in Super Rugby pre-season match[Image: The Blues]The Blues have thrashed the Yokohama Canon Eagles 57-22 in a pre-season match in Japan. After leading 31-5 at the break, the Blues came back out and piled on the points with fresh legs. There were a number of standouts for the Blues as Vern Cotter will be pleased with some performances. The Blues head to New Zealand to take on the Chiefs next Friday at 3pm in their final pre-season match. Meanwhile, in other pre-season matches today, the Crusaders beat the Bristol Bears 31-14 while the Highlanders thumped the Hurricanes 52-17.

February 10, 2024 07:39 UTC

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day. All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section. EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

February 10, 2024 06:51 UTC

Covid-19 Inquiry updateWe are happy to announce that the terms of reference on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 response have been expanded. This includes what we committed to in our coalition agreement, to:Ensure, as a matter of urgency in establishment and completion, a full scale,

February 10, 2024 05:45 UTC

Forbes: The campaign in Australia had links to the Atlas network. During this time, Houlbrooke attended multiple Atlas Network events, as documented by the Atlas Network. He must know that he worked for Atlas Network think tanks for years, and that he was a guest at Atlas Network events. He must also know ACT party staff members worked for Atlas Network think tanks for years and attended Atlas Network events. Shouldn’t we be talking a lot more about the Atlas Network and their libertarian extremist pro climate change polluting sociopaths?

February 10, 2024 03:39 UTC

Statistics NZ's CPI. Price change is measured by tracking the prices of individual items that make up a representative basket of goods and services. Statistics NZ last reviewed the CPI in 2020, with four items added to the CPI basket and 13 removed. According to Statistics NZ's 2022/23 annual report, it received $366.209 million from the Crown, and had total revenue of $382.325 million. Bayly 'engaging with officials'Bayly told interest.co.nz, via a spokesman, whilst the Statistics NZ work remains unfunded, reweighting the CPI basket is a priority for him.

February 10, 2024 02:14 UTC





Darren Hanson and Fiona Lowrey are getting married in two weeks, after meeting at the Masters Games 10 years ago. They are two hard cases from separate worlds, who met on the dance floor at the Masters Games opening ceremony 10 years ago, and as luck would have it, lived happily ever after. After some fine tuning, their names got straightened out, and now the happy couple are getting married, after Lowrey passed her "nine year trial", as Hanson puts it. The Masters Games had been a mainstay in their relationship, Lowery linking up with her now walking netball team and Hanson’s football team in Dunedin every time. But both teams played a big part in their relationships through the years, forming a strong bond and becoming an extended family.

February 10, 2024 01:34 UTC

Photo: RealNZ / suppliedThe recent grounding of a cruise ship in Doubtful Sound has prompted Southland regional councillors to discuss maritime safety in greater detail. On January 24, RealNZ-operated Fiordland Navigator ran aground with 67 crew and passengers on board who were forced to evacuate to nearby Deep Cove. During discussion at an Environment Southland meeting on Thursday, chief executive Wilma Falconer suggested councillors workshop the organisation's responsibility in relation to marine safety and bylaws. The report said the Fiordland Navigator would remain in Doubtful/ Thompson Sound until the end of the current season in May before relocating to Bluff for scheduled maintenance. An update on the cruise ship season said there had been 55 visits to Fiordland and 15 visits to Stewart Island with the last visit scheduled for 6 April.

February 10, 2024 01:00 UTC

Crusaders beat Bristrol Bears 31-14 despite being without All Black starsCrusaders beat Bristrol Bears 31-14 despite being without All Black starsThe Crusaders despite being without all their All Black stars have beaten Bristrol Bears 31-14 at the Ashton Gate Stadium. Chay Fihaki’s wonderful pinpoint kick for Springer’s second try gave the Crusaders the lead for the first time in the second half and Bristol were soon a player light because of Joe Batley’s yellow card. Despite Bristol’s breakaway try for Kieran Marmion, the Crusaders sealed the victory with midfielder Gray’s late double, bouncing back from last weekend’s 21-19 defeat to Munster in Ireland. The Bears, for all their dominance and the Crusaders’ errors, could only break the deadlock via a rolling maul try for hooker Fred Davies. The match opened up in the second half when each team made multiple changes.

February 09, 2024 21:49 UTC

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, February 9th, 2024 - 13 commentsCategories: Daily review - Tags:Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …Share this: FacebookLinkedInRedditPinterestMastodonTwitterPrintEmail

February 09, 2024 16:43 UTC

But she also noted that New Zealand banks have less exposure to commercial real estate compared to their US counterparts, thanks to a robust residential lending market. “I don’t think in general that New Zealand banks have anything like the exposure to commercial real estate that some of the banks in the US have,” said Matthews. “Because of the very strong residential market and the very strong residential lending portion that New Zealand banks have, commercial isn’t as big a deal.”Matthews went on to note that the profitability of New Zealand banks has acted as a buffer against potential sector-specific shocks. “That’s partly why it’s important for them to be profitable, so if there is a sector that goes a bit haywire, they have the ability to cope with that,” she said. American banks stand to lose US$160 billion from the impact of elevated interest rates on commercial real estate and other asset classes, according to a study by the United States National Bureau of Economic Research.

February 09, 2024 15:55 UTC

Sharon Zollner, chief economist at ANZ New Zealand, says the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) may lift the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 6% at its next meetings in February and April. Strong net migration, recovering commodity prices, and a decline in wholesale interest rates were also reasons the central bank might want to lift interest rates further. That November update signalled the RBNZ’s Monetary Policy Committee would likely hike interest rates again if there was any delay to inflation being back in the target band. Kelly Eckhold, chief economist at Westpac NZ, said he thought market predictions of another rate hike were "overdone". Zollner acknowledged she had “flip-flopped” on her previous forecast and that restarting interest rate hikes would be distressing for many households and businesses.

February 09, 2024 12:56 UTC

An abusive relationship has ended after a man who was "not getting the message" assaulted his partner a second time, a court has heard. The court heard that last year the defendant was convicted of two charges of assault with intent to injure, assault in a family relationship and assault which related to the same victim. He advocated for a short sentence of home detention as the defendant had spent three months in custody. On October 30 Tumaita and the victim were at a Mataura address, where he stood over the victim and verbally abused her. He sentenced the defendant to four months’ home detention with six months’ post-detention conditions.

February 09, 2024 08:45 UTC

Morgan announced that he would make the show YouTube-only, in a move that will raise questions about the future of Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV. He said that the decision was his own, although Murdoch is said to have been equally displeased with Morgan’s ratings. ‘I just want to go full digital’“I’ve just decided that I no longer want to create my show for linear television. “People are watching the content on YouTube rather than conventional television and I have no problem with that.”The Piers Morgan Uncensored channel on YouTube has 2.35 million subscribers. The YouTube move would allow Morgan to do more expansive interviews and not be constrained by an hour-long running time, he said.

February 09, 2024 02:20 UTC

Covid-19 Inquiry updateWe are happy to announce that the terms of reference on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 response have been expanded. This includes what we committed to in our coalition agreement, to:Ensure, as a matter of urgency in establishment and completion, a full scale,

February 09, 2024 01:57 UTC

Setting the stage for a broadband breakup this Valentine’s Day, Electric Kiwi has launched an integrated print and digital audio campaign across NZME’s NZ Herald, Weekend Herald and nationwide radio network. The campaign, created with the help of Lassoo Media & PR, empowers customers to take a stand against unethical notice periods and additional fees this Valentine’s Day with a ‘Dear John’ inspired breakup letter. Off the back of a recent complaint lodged with the Commerce Commission, Electric Kiwi declares it’s time for consumers to take charge and leave providers that are engaging in anti-competitive win-back strategies including what Electric Kiwi calls the “sneaky notice periods” used by some of New Zealand’s major broadband retailers. “In typical Electric Kiwi fashion, we’re championing our customers by highlighting the detrimental impacts of broadband notice periods on the industry and the massive pain that they are for consumers”, says Electric Kiwi CEO, Luke Blincoe. We’re encouraging consumers to part ways with their broadband providers who are using dirty tactics to lower competition, and it seems only fitting that we aligned this campaign with Valentine’s Day.

February 08, 2024 23:22 UTC