Dumber
New Zealand is not an intellectual or innovation powerhouse but the rapid decline of our entire tertiary education is a tragedy.
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Luxon Aeterna
Ad reports on Christopher Luxon’s meeting in Wanaka.
Stop Defending Regional Rail
Regional rail is a perpetual makework gig servicing the wrong economy and just needs to stop.
Our Great De-Leveraging
Debt is the most destructive and addictive form of economic behaviour we have in New Zealand. And mortgages are New Zealand’s very high grade heroin and we are being forced to come down off a most spectacular high into a rage-inducing forced withdrawal.
How come government doesn’t improve our economy?
When we continue to spend our money on stupid stuff, we get a dumb country.
What Do The Maori Party Want Anyway?
Since they’re touted as 2023’s electoral ‘Kingmakers’, it’s time to understand what the Maori Party really want.
Really Small States in Really Big Conflicts
In case we just missed it, New Zealand really has picked a side. Prime Minister Hipkins will head to the NATO summit in Lithuania together with Australia, Japan and South Korean leaders. Also Vladimir Zelinskyy is intending to go as well.
Yes, A Constitution
We are mature enough to have our own leader. Own our own shit.
Late Game Bench
Last minutes of this parliamentary term and all teams are subbing out.
How Labour Does Less And Still Wins
Prime Minister Hipkins has put Labour on course to win a third term. Here’s how.
Where Is New Zealand Extremism Going?
I’ve worked my way through two books recently, both on extremist sects, one about New Zealand groups and one about those in the United States of America. It’s startling.
Poor Regulation Is Burning This Government Down
This government has within its power the ability to alter the crippling cost of living increases we now face. If they don’t do the political job they can do with prices, they will lose power at the election.
Really Small States in Really Big Conflicts
We didn’t need the Russian invasion of Ukraine to tell us that great power competition is back, since China and the United States and Russia had been going at it well before even COVID temporarily messed up the multilateral trade system upon which we had built our little country. But it’s made it worse, and so we’re picking a side, and that side is NATO.
Will Australia Hear The Voice?
Australia’s Prime Minister Albanese is trying to get actual indigenous representation into the Australian Parliament with a referendum. Going to be tough.
But How Do You Pay For It?
To pay for recent flood damage Grant Robertson has to decide on what proportion of this will be paid by new debt, what proportion by reallocation of expenditure, and what proportion by special tax levies. Is an Australian style levy under consideration?
How Activism Dies
If anything progressive is to come out of this current government other than disaster recovery, really focused protest must prevail. It isn’t.
China’s Peace Initiative for Ukraine
China has proposed a 12 point peace plan to start discussions towards ending the war by Russia against Ukraine. And Ukraine’s leader wants to meet Xi Jinping to hear more.
What To Do About Climate Change
West Auckland’s activism, through such examples as the Arc in the Park sanctuary to the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area through to the protection of the environment provided by the South Titirangi Neighbourhood Network, provides examples of the sort of activism that may be needed if Aotearoa New Zealand is to deal properly with climate change mitigation.
Towards National Recovery
Just over seven months from the election the Labour government has been granted as great a political momentum as that leading into the 2020 election.
2023: Year of the Long Grind
There will be no respite for any of us this year; it’s a politics and a society of endurance.
Your Mindset and Your Money
Mega property owning entrepreneur Graeme Fowler thinks we can all be rich if we just changed our attitude.
The one thing Jacinda Ardern can do is speak to our hearts
Mawkish sentiment running up to Christmas perhaps, but imagine Luxon or Willis speaking hours after the Christchurch massacre. Only Ardern of the entire Parliament has the ability to govern for calm in the name of the calm we all need.
Push Back Against Tyranny and Win
Australia is showing New Zealand how to resist the authoritarian Xi Jinping’s pressure and stay prosperous at the same time.
Labour and National and Industry Intervention
Minister Mahuta’s water reforms are by some measure the most consequential industry intervention of this Labour government, and likely to be the most successful in over a decade.
Co-Governance is Orthodox Policy for both National and Labour
National, the party which enacted legislation that gave Waikato command over the allocation of the Waikato River, iwi command over the Taupo catchment and full Maori control over the massive Uruwera water catchment, has not traditionally been opposed to co governance.
What Is Labour’s Purpose This Term?
It is time to set out succinctly and without recourse to abstract nouns exactly what this Labour government has intended, is doing, and how it seeks to alter the country.
Prime Minister Ardern and Premier Xi
New Zealand has the most adroit and high profile international leader in a generation with Prime Minister Ardern, but she has weakened New Zealand against China.
Can New Zealand’s Tech Sector Ride Adjustment Out?
Remember when New Zealand farming was a sunset industry and tech would rise in its place?
Things To Do By The Time You’re 80
As Joe Biden celebrates his 80th birthday in office and Donald Trump announces he will stand for President again in 2024, here’s a list of what Biden has done in his last few years. He’s still low in the polls, but the delivery is very strong.
Can We Prepare for 2023?
2023 is going to hit New Zealanders hard. Since the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes New Zealand has been beset by a new major crisis about once every two years. 2022 was our year off and get ready we are in for a strange and hard recession.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Pause With Map In Hand and Scratch Their Heads
If 2020 was the worst year in my lifetime how does 2022 compare?
The Year Skiing Died
Climate change has ensured that this is the winter that broke skiing.
Why Is Labour Such a Hard Sell Now?
So why is Labour and Ardern struggling when the economy is so strong?
Upcoming Conflict Between Justice and Politics in the United States
Unlike even Brazil’s election and transition of power, events are going to make the full restoration of functioning democracy in the United States very, very hard and starting soon.
Wind Farms Need Mines
We need more mines if we are to transition to low carbon. There’s a field of industry that National and Labour could readily […]
How Brexit Shanked Britain
The political and economic disasters now unfolding in Britain are the responsibility of the Conservative Party from their 2016 Brexit vote through to now.