The images that received either Honours or Highly Commended in the Spring Salon Salon judged on the 13 October 2025 are on this page. Digital entries were judged by Simon Forsyth. Print entries were judged by Graeme Skinner.

What you’d expect of this Mega-powerful Globalist-Oligarch organisation

from DailyTelegraph.co.nz

Concerns are mounting across the United States over allegations that large investment firms are systematically inflating home prices, pushing ordinary families out of the housing market.

Reports circulating online claim that major asset managers, including BlackRock, have been purchasing tens of thousands of residential properties, then allegedly reselling some to affiliated entities at dramatically higher prices to artificially inflate property values.

The strategy, described as a “corporate heist,” outlines a six-step process: using algorithms to identify stable middle-class neighbourhoods, outbidding families with cash offers, monopolising local markets, and then selling select homes to related companies to create the illusion of skyrocketing values. These inflated sales reportedly trigger higher property tax assessments, forcing long-time homeowners and retirees from their properties. Critics warn the practice effectively transforms would-be homeowners into permanent renters, deepening inequality and reshaping entire communities.

While no formal investigation has confirmed these specific claims, the controversy underscores growing unease about corporate control of U.S. housing.

Lawmakers and advocacy groups have called for tighter regulation of institutional investors in residential real estate, arguing that unchecked corporate ownership threatens the foundation of the American Dream — affordable homeownership for the middle class.

That’s a question our editorial group has pondered, an unknown to us who beat two existing councilors.

This article on KC News goes some way towards answering that question. She makes a big point of having a Maori bloodline, and that once again demonstrates the nonsense that those who do can’t get elected in general seats.

The office of the newly elected council begins today.

from Redacted.inc

Pfizer’s RSV Vaccine: All Hype, No Life Saved

Photo credit: GXK

A new study shows that the RSV vaccine is a big fat dud. It prevented a whopping three hospitalizations for every thousand people over 60. Wow. A whole three.

This is the Pfizer vaccine that had Magic Johnson as its spokesperson telling us to “sideline RSV.” This is the vaccine that reported 11 deaths during the clinical trials and over 1,500 serious adverse events. So for all of that risk and marketing hoopla, the payoff is… three fewer hospitalizations?

The JAMA data show no reduction in death, meaning that even the vaccinated people who wound up in the hospital had the same chance of dying as everyone else.

This is pure marketing hullaballoo for a vaccine that is hardly worth getting. The results are absurdly trivial. Keep that in mind when the marketing campaign starts in on you this winter.

This didn’t begin with Starmer but he and his gang including London mayor Sadiq Khan have made it much worse.

An important message for visitors, particularly women, is that cellphone, jewelry and bag snatching is now so rampant in London that you don’t make them visible/snatchable on any street.

by Father Blue

When Toitū Te Tiriti launched, it promised unity, kaupapa, and a stand for the Treaty of Waitangi. Thousands of New Zealanders, Māori and non-Māori alike, donated, bought shirts, and marched for what they believed was a genuine movement. But behind the slogans and merchandise, the truth appears far uglier.

According to a direct message from Kiri Tamihere Waititi, registered owner of Toitū Te Tiriti Limited, the company’s account is empty. Every cent from merch sales, the t-shirts, the donations, the fundraising efforts, was allegedly siphoned into Hori’s private company. And where the money went after that, nobody seems to know. Attempts to set up proper accounting came too late, leaving donors in the dark.

Even donations from the Hikoi did not flow through official channels, instead reportedly being managed by Trudy Brown, a figure closely linked to former MP Hone Harawira. Transparency, the very principle Toitū claimed to champion, was nowhere to be seen.

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We don’t need to do this in Waikanae, just some mixed flower seed packets are needed to spread over the medians and berms with some dirt to cover them.

Denmark is turning heads with a creative solution to urban biodiversity. In the busy harbors of Copenhagen, floating islands covered with wildflowers are being used to create habitats for birds, bees, and other wildlife. According to MAST, these islands are part of the Copenhagen Islands project, also known as Parkipelago, designed by architect Marshall Blecher and the Danish studio Fokstrot. The goal is to bring nature back into the city’s waterfront while offering flexible public spaces that adapt to climate challenges.

Each island is built from sustainable materials and planted with native grasses, trees, and wildflowers. According to ArchDaily, the first prototype, called CPH-Ø1, was launched in 2018 and quickly became a popular spot for exhibitions, quiet retreats, and even stargazing. The islands are mobile and can be relocated to different parts of the harbor, helping activate underused areas and offering green space for boaters and kayakers.

The ecological impact is impressive. According to Oh Epic, the islands support a wide range of species, including pollinators like bees and butterflies, nesting birds, and marine life such as fish and mollusks. By blending art, ecology, and urban design, the project restores biodiversity in a heavily developed area and sets an example for sustainable innovation in cities around the world.

They are obsessed with Palestinians, but that’s the extent of it. Is it because black on black violence is taboo for them, particularly if Muslims are the perpetrators?

from the Genocide Watch website

Massacres of Christians merit U.S. pressure on Nigeria’s government for strong countermeasures

A Catholic worshiper during a 2020 march in Abuja, Nigeria. Bishops gathered Catholics and members of other denominations to pray for security and to protest violence against Christians. (Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

The world tends not to pay much attention to the persecution of Christians, even though Christians are attacked and repressed in more countries than any other religious group. But sometimes the persecution is so extreme that it gains, at least briefly, some purchase on public attention. The steady slaughter of Christians in the West African nation of Nigeria is one such case.

In recent weeks, the violence has prompted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to introduce legislation holding accountable Nigerian officials who facilitate Islamist jihadist attacks on Christians, and HBO talk-show host Bill Maher excoriated the news media and others for largely ignoring the bloody persecution of Christians.

According to a report issued in August by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), an African nongovernmental group that documents human rights violations, in the first seven months of this year alone, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria.

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We’ve posted about this café in Elizabeth Street across the railway line in the past, popular not only with those in the Hill Zone but with visitors.

Elite Diagnostics [automotive] in Omahi Street also won a small business award.

Full list of winners