It’s hardly surpring given the amount of exploitation African countries have been subjected to by Nato member countries. Macron has already been told to take his troops out and stay out.

By Roger Childs

Into the final week

I won my first grand slam here and I’ve always enjoyed being back. I’ve always had so much support and the reason why I was still playing is because of you (the fans), because of the love of the game, the emotion you give me. I’m sad to leave, but it’s been an amazing journey. –Swiss legend Stan Wawrinka after his third round loss 

It gets hot in Melbourne at this time of year

The Melbourne Park tournament is the first of the four 2026 tennis grand slams. The superbly spacious tennis complex is conveniently located near the CBD and close to the railway terminal at Flinders. This year’s event is already breaking attendance records.

The majority of players are from Britain, Europe and North America, and are pleased to be away from the northern winter. However it can be very hot in Victoria in January and on-court temperatures can rise into the late 30s Celsius (yesterday was 42C, but today is predicted to be 23C). 25 years ago one reading on an outer court was in the early 50s! There were concerns that players could die in the heat. Fortunately they now have rules about giving players extra breaks when the temperatures rise. Furthermore in three stadia the roof can be brought across in high temperatures or rain.

All the leading players in the world both men and women are competing, and moving into the fourth round all the top six seeds in both singles, were still in contention. However, last year’s surprise women’s winner American Madison Keys has been beaten in this round. 

Men’s Singles – tons of talent

Last year’s winner second seed Italian Jannik Sinner is one of this year’s favourites and he could meet number one seed Carlos Alcaraz from Spain in the final. 2025 finalist Sacha Zverev will be competitive as will fourth seed 38 year old Novak Djkovic. The Serb has won 24 grand slams including a record 10 at Melbourne Park. Australian hopes rest with sixth seed Alex de Minaur.

Nevertheless, most pundits are picking Sinner and Alcaraz to contest the final. 

Women’s Singles – plenty of challengers

Beaten finalist last year Aryna Sabalenka (pictured), is number one seed in 2026. She is a demonstrative and noisy player, and is from Belarus which backs Russia in the Ukraine war. Some players have refused to shake her hand and think she should be banned from playing in the grand slam even though she has come out against the war.

The number two seed is Polish player Iga Swiątek and, although she has four grand slam titles to her name, she has never won the Australian Open. Fifth seed Elena Rybakina from Kazhakstan who was the beaten finalist in 2023, will also be competitive as will American Coco Gauff, who is ranked third this year. 

Stan the man

Wawrinka has won three grand slams including Melbourne in 2014. At the age of 40 he was first man to make the third round in over 50 years. His opponent was ninth seed Taylor Fritz who eventually won 7-6 2-6 6-4 6-4. Not surprisingly the Swiss veteran had huge crowd support and they admired his superb fitness, accurate placements and possibly the greatest single-handed backhand of all time. At the end of the match he received a tumultuous send off.

Entertainment guaranteed

As the top eight in each of the men’s and women’s prepare for the quarter finals the fans will be watching the best and can expect top quality tennis. 

While trawling through web items on Mt Maunganui, this one for Flaveur Breads popped up in a search engine.

Flaveur might look like the French word for flavour, but it’s not: a Franglais word maybe, but the French say Saveur, sometimes Parfum.

It’s what happens when instead of spending money on improving life in your own country you tax people to pour it down the black hole of Zelenskyland and instead of cheap Russian natural gas you replace it with American LPG at twice the price.

One upside though, is that the illegal migrant flow might dissipate now that they know this is what awaits them.

Another of those on the Lions Garden Trail. this one in Kowhai Grove.

Except for the Leftist Legacy Media, most commentators in his country are doing so now. While he told Dutch critic Eva Vlaadingerbroek she’s not welcome in his Fiefdom, as a natural born citizen he can’t do the same with Russell Brand.

What the Labour spin machine has tried to bury for months has been ripped wide open in one of Brand’s most savage rants yet: he accuses Starmer of deliberately turning a blind eye to the small-boat invasion while preaching “tough on borders” — well over 20,000 migrants have arrived since he took office, yet the boats keep coming, the hotels keep filling, and ordinary Brits keep getting ignored.

Brand didn’t hold back: “He’s not incompetent — he’s complicit. Free speech gets crushed under ‘hate speech’ laws, dissenters get labelled extremists, and the public gets gaslit while the elite agenda marches on.” He paints Starmer as completely detached — a man who promised change but delivered more of the same betrayal, leaving working-class communities abandoned and furious.

In this blistering, no-filter takedown that’s already going nuclear across Britain, Brand lays bare the grim reality: plummeting approval ratings aren’t bad luck — they’re the direct result of a leader who’s prioritised globalist optics over the safety, sovereignty and voice of his own people.

The anger is boiling over — patriots are sharing this clip everywhere as the realisation hits: Starmer isn’t failing Britain, he’s actively dismantling it.

Watch Russell Brand’s full explosive revelation now — see it before they scramble to censor it! Full story: https://buzzlink.co/4W2UtBU

Election Day: Saturday November 7th

The media are excited, but it’s a long way away! I do want to temper this all by saying I’m only two years into a three year term so my focus remains the same as the last two years: How I can make life a bit better for everyone in our region. More about that soon.

Let’s cover the basics. The PM has announced the election date for November 7th, which is still almost a year away. I’m confident in the work I’ve done over the last two years and the difference I’ve made locally, but I’ll still be fighting as hard as I can to earn another three years as your local MP. Frankly, we can’t afford to take a step backwards.

I’m proud that locally I’ve worked hard and this has led to:

• A new breast cancer clinic in Waikanae and easier access to radiology, plus new funding for a health shuttle.
• The new Ō2NL Expressway under construction, and I fought hard to get the design changed to what we all deserve, plus the new trains coming for Kapiti, including Ōtaki, Levin and Palmy.
• Helping local schools by winning battles for school transport, new safe road crossings, advocating for extra support for students who need it, helping new teachers into NZ, new learning support coordinators, and a big increase in school property funding.
• Helping local residents one-on-one, like a young man with a disability needing a home, like a young mum needing help with MSD, like a dad needing help to get access to cancer treatment, like a Grandma who had been waiting too long (in 2023) for the surgery she needed, or the family who worked here but had trouble with Immigration to keep the family together.

A good local MP can make a big difference, and I’m standing so I can continue doing that for all of us. But this election is much bigger than me.

This election will be both a review of the last three years, and a time to consider our future. National will be campaigning on ‘Fixing the Basics and Building the Future.’

Fixing the Basics and Building the Future

There are so many examples of fundamentals that were neglected for six years, and that we’ve had to fix:

• Inflation (price increases) were at a peak of 7.3% – now down to 3%, rents have come down, petrol and houses stayed steady, but we still feel the long-term pain of those big increases we saw under Labour.
• Interest rates raced up in ’21-’23 but are now back down, which means mortgages are over $200 per week cheaper on average – almost $11,000 per year cheaper.
• Ram-raids, gang membership and youth offending had gone crazy. Now there are 38,000 fewer victims of serious violent crime (last year) than when Labour were in charge, ram-raids have dropped and gang patches are banned.
• Our education stats were slipping against international standards, but we’ve acted boldly. No phones at school, instead focussing on an hour a day of reading, writing and maths, and already with our structured approach we’ve seen an increase from 36% to 58% of new entrants reaching the required reading level. Next step is reforming NCEA.
• Remember just how bad wait-times had got? Health care is getting faster for cancer treatment, for ED visits, and for elective treatment and first specialist assessments. Childhood immunisations are up and we delivered 16,000 extra procedures last year.

Now we want to build the future that everyone in our region (and our country) needs. This isn’t just the new expressway to Levin (though we’ve started that), it’s not just the new electric trains (we’ve funded them and they’re under construction too); this means building strong caring communities, a culture where we all take personal responsibility and contribute to our community, it means safe streets, education that gives younger Kiwis the best possible start in life, it means making it easier to build new homes for young and old, easier to build new sustainable power generation, and it means helping every Kiwi to save for their future so they have safety and security in retirement.

Join the team for ’26

I can’t win this alone; please help me.

Click here to register your interest in giving me just an hour or two of help this year.

I’m looking for people from Whitby out to Judgeford and Moonshine and all the way up the coast to Ōtaki to help out.

• If you like hiding behind the scenes, I need help
  • delivering a few flyers later this year,
  • making a few phone calls,
  • offering fences I can put a sign up on come September, or help put them up and take them down.
• If you like being part of a team we need people to
  • stand on a street corner with us waving signs later in the year,
  • join us at local events,
  • walk with me as we knock on doors.

Secondly, I’m asking people to join the National Party. Local members get invites to extra events, can meet other MPs, and get to be part of the fun and exciting journey this year. You can do it online here or just message me.

Finally, some people like to donate just a little towards the cost of a campaign. You’re very welcome to. I’ll send you the bank details if you’re interested, but as a guide you can cover the cost of:

• party membership – $5
• fence signs – $25
• large signs – $50
• a bundle of flyers – $100
• newspaper ads – $300

There is no pressure, but it costs around $50,000 per campaign and we’re grateful for all the support.

Ok, next month I’ll be into my regular updates on what I’ve been doing locally, but check out a few upcoming events to get in your diary.

Upcoming events

These are all $10, and if you can RSVP to Lorraine it helps with catering (morning tea provided).

• February 13th, 10amCarl Bates, MP for WhanganuiWaikanae Community Centre
• March 13th, 10amHon. Simeon Brown, Minister of HealthWhitby Bowling Club
• May 1st, 10am  Katie Nimon, MP for Napier  Raumati Bowls Club
• June 5th, 10am   Catherine Wedd, MP for Tukituki Plimmerton hall, 9 Sunset Parade
• July 3rd, 10am Paulo Garcia, MP for Grey Lynn Coast Community Church, Paraparaumu
• August 7th, 10am  Sam Uffindell, MP for TaurangaWhitby Bowling Club
• September 4th, 10amStuart Smith, MP for KaikōuraVenue tbc

That’s it for this month.