There are two types of politicians in this world. It’s not left-wing or right-wing. And it applies to all politicians - central government and local government.

The first type, are the ones who think we’re all stupid and will believe everything they say. The second type, are the ones who are so deluded that they actually believe everything they say themselves.

And I’m trying to work out which category Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger and his 16 cronies around the council table fit into. Do they think we’re stupid? Or do they actually believe everything they say?

I’ll get back to them shortly. But first, here’s what you need to know.

If you live in places such as Woolston and Bromley, you’re facing a rates increase of 14 percent. ‘Ooh yes we know, you’re in Bromley putting up with that stench from the burnt-out wastewater plant and the stench from that dirty old compost plant - but we’re still going to increase your rates by 14 percent’.

If that doesn’t prove to you that the Council doesn’t give a monkeys about the people of Bromley, then nothing will.

Elsewhere in the city, increases of between one percent and 13 percent are on the cards. One percent for people living in the central city and a 13 percent increase for people living in areas such as Aranui, Burwood, Avondale and New Brighton.

The one percent increase, by the way, is for central city ratepayers. If you’re in Avonhead and Russley, it looks like your rates will be going up by just two percent.

If you take all of those numbers, crunch them together and work out an average rates increase across the city, it’s just under eight percent. But I think we can reasonably say that it’s the people on the eastside who are, yet again, being shafted by the city council.

Especially Bromley. A 14 percent increase! Talk about a kick in the teeth.

This is the same council who knows how desperate people there are. And I know for a fact that the mayor and the councillors have all been told of one resident, in particular, who is so desperate, that they are completely at the end of their tether. I don’t think I need to elaborate on that one - you know what I mean when I say someone is completely at the end of their tether.

So back to our mayor and councillors - and whether they think we are stupid and will swallow anything and everything they say, or whether they actually believe some of the nonsense they come up with.

Let’s take Mayor Phil Mauger, for example.

Ahead of last year’s local body election, I asked him what he thought were the biggest issues or challenges facing Christchurch. And he came up with three.

He said Bromley, and sorting out the terrible stench the people there are really struggling with. The second challenge he said Christchurch was facing, was climate change. And the third, was inflation.

And he said he would be prioritising those things if he was elected mayor.

So I asked him how he was going to do that. Especially in relation to the inflation thing. And he said he was going to keep rates increases at an absolute minimum. And during the campaign, as we know, he talked about rates increases of no more than three or four percent.

Anyone with their head screwed on knew he was talking out of his you-know-what. But enough people fell for it - because he’s the mayor.

As for his other priorities - Bromley and climate change. Well, if you heard the passionate call we had yesterday from Vickie in Bromley, you’ll know he’s failing to deliver on sorting that shambles out.

And as for climate change? He wants to build an airport in Tarras - at a time when you’ve got Schipol Airport in Amsterdam abandoning plans to build a new runway and banning private jets all because of climate change.

But it’s not just Phil. There are other councillors around that council table who also trotted out the same old nonsense about keeping rates down.

So I’m trying to work out which category of politician the whole lot of them fit into.

The type that thinks we’re all stupid and will believe everything they say; or the type who are so deluded that they actually believe everything they say themselves.