Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Blair steps up his attack on Net Zero

UK

Blair: Britain risks falling behind because of Net Zero

Britain risks “falling behind” global competitors such as the US and China because of Ed Miliband’s net zero drive, Sir Tony Blair has warned. The former prime minister said the UK and EU must abandon their “climate-first, climate-only” approach in favour of cheap and reliable energy.

Colinxy: The Infantilisation of the Citizen

How Bureaucracies and Activist Movements Turn Adults Into Children

One of the most striking features of modern governance, not just in New Zealand, but across the Western world, is the steady infantilisation of the citizen[i]. Adults who were once expected to be treated as responsible agents are now spoken to, managed, and regulated as though they are children in need of constant supervision[ii].

This is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of a bureaucratic culture that sees itself as the parent and the public as its dependents.

Bruce Cotterill: Netball, cricket, water polo rows expose deeper leadership failings in sport

What is going on with sporting administration in New Zealand?

I’ve been watching from afar the various governance debacles as they relate to the administration of our sporting organisations.

It’s been well reported over the past few years that some of our major sports have been experiencing meltdowns of one sort or another, with CEOs, chairs, board directors and athletes the unanticipated victims.

JC: ‘Family Feud’ Will Be a Good Watch.

Electioneering on the right of politics has begun. Winston Peters, not shackled by the responsibility of being deputy prime minister, is basically a free agent. He is free to create dissent in the coalition and is laying out the policy differences between NZ First and National, some of which pertain to the economy. There is nothing unusual here; it is the politics of MMP.

The media, in their mischievous way, would have you believe otherwise as we observed recently over Winston’s email leak. ‘The coalition is in crisis: it’s about to end,’ they mindlessly and, no doubt hopefully, shriek. One of those shriekers, the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan, thinks the war and its effects, not to mention Winston, mean Luxon has a very difficult path to victory. That might be but Hipkins’ path resembles a dirt track, while Luxon’s looks a more comfortable walk.

Ashley Church: The courage to question compliance

How rules survive long after reason has left the building

Yesterday I pulled into a major-brand service station to fill the tank in my car. (and yes, before anyone asks, I had remembered to arrange a mortgage first).

So there I was, standing beside the pump, doing what most of us now do in those awkward few minutes while liquid gold trickles into the tank, when a female voice suddenly boomed across the forecourt.

David Farrar: An excellent decision

The Herald reports:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the fees-free university scheme, which covers the final year of tertiary education study for students, will be scrapped in the upcoming Budget.

Alwyn Poole: Vocational Education in Schools needs to be thought through VERY carefully.....

Two Reasons the planned increase in Vocational Education in Schools needs to be thought through VERY carefully.

1. Early categorization of students and direction into narrow pathways creates carnage.

When at teachers’ college in the 1990s I came across a text with a photo of a Maori man doing road work and the caption: “Where would we be for roads in New Zealand without the Maori worker?”

Mike's Minute: Should we tax big tech for our news?

The latest cab off the rank in things Australia is doing that we suggested we might, is some sort of deal with tech around local news.

Australia led off the batting with the social media ban that has been picked up and run with all over the world.

Sunday May 10, 2026 

                   ⇩

Penn Raine: Wait for it!

Wait for the howls of ‘Populism!’ when Britain’s red wall of Labour run councils crumbles as Farage’s Reform party marches over the ramparts, giggling as it goes.

No doubt there are similar wails, but of ‘Misogyny!’ and perhaps even ‘Racism!’ sounding around Wellington’s beltway and its bureaucracy’s dim corridors at Maiki Sherman’s announcement that she was stepping down because her position was ‘untenable’.

Brendan O'Neill: The English have revolted

The Reform surge in England is more than a protest vote – it’s a people's blow against the cultural elites.

Here are some phrases I don’t want to hear today. ‘Protest vote.’ ‘The cry of the “left behind”.’ ‘A bloody nose for the establishment.’ For while it’s true that the colourless functionaries of our two-party regime will be holding their bloodied snouts today following a bruising blow from the electorate, none of those trite phrases captures the historic nature of what is happening. This is not just a ballot-box ‘screw you’ – it’s an attempted reordering of politics itself by voters with nothing left to lose.

Roger Partridge: The Roots of the Left-Right Divide....

The Roots of the Left-Right Divide: Whose Suffering? And Who Knows Enough to Act?

In January 2023, Jacinda Ardern resigned as New Zealand’s Prime Minister after five years in office. She left as one of the most celebrated progressive leaders of her generation – and as one of the most domestically repudiated. Labour’s vote virtually halved between her historic 2020 majority and the 2023 election, and the party polled higher in the weeks after she resigned than it did while she led it. She now holds fellowships at Harvard and Oxford, commands global audiences, and has written a New York Times bestseller. She did not tour New Zealand for the launch.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 9 May 2026

Maiki Sherman resigns

TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman has resigned. In a statement on X, Sherman acknowledged that she had used “an offensive comment” toward another journalist at a function in the Finance Minister’s office last year, apologised the following morning, and said those apologies were accepted. She also stated that the remark came in response to “deeply personal and inappropriate remarks” directed at her that evening, while accepting that this did not excuse her own conduct.

Peter Williams: The Sad Stobo Saga

How the wokerati got to a white male

In April 2024 the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) launched its Matangirua strategy – its formal Māori engagement and capability framework. The strategy was designed to help Māori “participate as Māori” in financial markets. That apparently means “not just as generic consumers or investors, but in ways that recognise Māori economic structures, values, and collective ownership models.”

All up that sounds like a separatist model. Are Maori , or those who call themselves Maori, really that different from the rest of us?

Richard Prebble: Broadcasters should be careful what they wish for

I have a confession to make.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority was my idea.

What is worse, I still think the original idea was right.

To my surprise, after the 1987 election, David Lange made me Minister of Broadcasting. Much of today’s broadcasting system came out of my reforms.

Matua Kahurangi: Maiki Sherman resigns - when did words become career-ending?

Now, let me start by saying this. I have never been the biggest fan of Maiki Sherman. Like much of the mainstream media in New Zealand, her reporting has always leaned heavily to the far-left, and there were plenty of nights watching TVNZ where it felt like centre-right politicians were being hunted down over the most trivial nonsense imaginable.

Kerre Woodham: The super situation - what poison are you willing to swallow?

New Zealand, according to the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, needs to reform the electricity sector, expand and strengthen capital markets, speed up digitisation of the health sector, and reform the pension. The OECD joined other international agencies in calling for the age of eligibility for super to be raised by indexing it to life expectancy with measures to take account of different ethnicities and work backgrounds. A bit like in Australia, if you're in a tough job that is tough on your body and you physically cannot work any longer, then you can get the pension a bit earlier, it just won't be as much as the full pension.

Peter Dunne: Singapore's “food for fuel” deal

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon describes the "food for fuel" deal he has just concluded with Singapore as "world leading". While that language may sound unnecessarily Trumpist, the arrangement is certainly a positive one to be celebrated.

David Farrar: NZ First voted against the Singapore FTA

NZ First voted against the Singapore free trade agreement in 2000. It is that FTA that has led to this latest extension:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he discussed the potential for other countries to join a landmark deal that ensures essential supplies like fuel and pharmaceuticals make their way to New Zealand during a crisis.

Mike's Minute: We need more backbone from our leaders

Why now Sean?

I had Covid vibes when I read Sean Sweeney's thinking about the CRL.

It was Covid vibes because during that period I cannot tell you how many people I know and regularly dealt with, whether it was people in the media or people from business, who said one thing about the Government and their handling of lockdowns and the economy in private, and something completely different in public.

So Sean, having left the CRL to head to Ireland, has now left Ireland but has stopped by long enough to tell us we don’t scope our price major projects that well. Who knew?