Best of 2025: Ryan Bridge - We shouldn't have to work for the government

Do you know what's really starts to rub me the wrong way?

It's governments telling us to do more things.

This morning, we've got the government coming out with yet another hotline.

Andrew Wilford: Rich People Won’t Just Sit Still While You Tax Them

As New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office, tax-happy progressive groups are eager to let you know that the idea that rich people move because of taxes is all a big myth. There are no consequences to raising taxes on rich people, they argue, because rich people will be rich no matter what.

It’s a pretty picture, and a convenient one for those who have never met anything economically productive that they didn’t want to tax. The only problem is that the data proves it just isn’t true.

The 2,500-year history of ice-cream

We all scream for ice-cream, especially as temperatures soar in the summer. Ancient civilisations had the same desire for a cold, sweet treat to cope with heat waves.

There are plenty of contenders claiming credit for the first frozen desserts, from Italy and France in the 17th century to China in the first century.

But before you can make ice-cream, you need a reliable source of ice. The technology to make and store ice was originally developed in Persia (modern-day Iran) in 550 BCE.

John Robertson: When Bloodlines Run the Country

Look, New Zealand is doing something straight-up weird, and most people feel it but can’t quite name it. We live in a country that calls itself modern and fair, but the truth is, the system treats citizens differently depending on where your ancestors came from. You didn’t do anything. You didn’t vote wrong. You didn’t rob anyone. But if your grandparents arrived on the wrong waka, you get less say. And somehow, everyone pretends this is noble. This is madness.

Turn on the six o’clock news and it’s the same song: colonisation, Treaty this, partnership that, ancestral rights everywhere. Every week, like a broken record. You’ve got bureaucrats talking about “co-governance” and “Treaty principles,” like they’re some kind of holy law, while ordinary people—mum and dad, the bloke down the street—just nod along because everyone’s too scared to say it out loud. And the stuff they’re talking about? Mostly dead people. Most of it happened 200 years ago. Yet we let it decide who gets a real say in 2026. That’s not democracy. That’s backward-ass apartheid with a fancy accent.

David Farrar: A sensible merger

The Government announced:

The Government has today confirmed the establishment of a new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), to support the Government’s ambitious reform agenda in housing, transport, urban development and the environment.

Richard Prebble: Election 2026 a toss-up as Luxon India deal, AI revolution reshape economy

I asked ChatGPT to assess my 17 predictions for 2025.

Two were wrong.

I said the Ukraine War would end and that the US Constitution would constrain US President Donald Trump.

ChatGPT judged eight predictions, such as my calls that the economy would recover and that the next election would be a toss-up, to be unresolved.

DTNZ: U.K. study undermines claim that CO2 drives ‘climate change’

A global analysis of long-term temperature records has found a weak-to-non-existent relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and the rate of global warming, challenging a central assumption behind many current ‘climate policies’.

The study by Queen’s University in Belfast, UK was completed in August of this year.

David Farrar: Own goal by Starmer

Alaa Abdel Fattah has been a prisoner in Egypt on dubious charges, and may have been tortured there. It is right and proper for the UK Government to advocate (as he gained British citizenship) for his human rights to be respected.

But Starmer did a huge own goal by going beyond that and declaring that he is delighted Alaa Abdel Fattah is in the UK and that his case has been a top priority for the Government.

Thursday January 1, 2026 

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Judy Gill: Te reo Māori, taonga and the question of responsibility

Te reo Māori is frequently described as a taonga—sacred, tapu, precious—and the Treaty of Waitangi is often invoked to argue that the state therefore bears an obligation to protect it.

Increasingly, a further claim is added: that difficulty learning te reo Māori today is driven by “intergenerational trauma”. This article questions whether that trauma framework is being used with conceptual precision and evidential discipline, and whether it explains contemporary language outcomes better than simpler factors such as age, literacy, educational quality, and language use in the home.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 28.12.25

Thursday January 1, 2026 

News:
Māori excel in New Year Honours 2026 - Tama Potaka.
Māori recipients in the New Year 2026 Honours list demonstrate deep and enduring commitment to Māori advancement and community leadership across Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says.

John Robertson: ACC and Maori healing

Let’s not kid ourselves. ACC is supposed to be a taxpayer-funded injury insurer. You pay your levies. You get hurt. They fix you with stuff that actually works — medicine, science, evidence. That’s the deal. That’s the social contract.

But somewhere along the line, metaphysical mumbo-jumbo has snuck in and taken over. ACC is now paying for Rongoā Māori, a so-called “healing program” built on Māori spiritual beliefs. And at the heart of it? Tikanga.

Greg Bouwer: A Libel Revived - The False Narrative of Jewish Hatred Toward Christians in Israel

A persistent and pernicious myth has resurfaced in global discourse: that Jews in Jerusalem (and by extension, Israelis as a whole) harbour contempt for Christians, regularly expressed through acts of public disdain such as spitting on clergy and pilgrims. In some corners of social media and anti-Israel activism, this claim is treated not as a fringe concern but as a reflection of Jewish identity and Israeli character.

This is not just a distortion. It is a revival of an old libel in modern form — a cynical inversion of reality, deliberately weaponised to undermine Israel’s moral standing and smear the Jewish people.

From BreakingViews archives: Fiona MacKenzie - The “Land Back” Pogrom — Most Kiwis Don’t See It Coming

(Note: To reduce word count and aid understanding, Māori words have been omitted where possible.)

New Zealanders who pay attention to the slow creep of our political and legal institutions have every reason to feel uneasy. Many believed the 2023 election would halt the advance of racial division and restore a government committed to equal citizenship. Instead, the Coalition—particularly the National Party —seems schizophrenically determined to avoid offending those who demand ever-expanding tribal privilege. Far from dismantling race-based policy, it is still normalising it in much legislation and policy.

Dr Will Jones: Protests Calling for “Death to the Dictator” Erupt Across Iran

Mass protests have erupted across Iran calling for “death to the dictator” over the regime’s economic crisis, as Donald Trump threatens military action if the country rebuilds its nuclear or missile programmes. The Telegraph has more.

Melanie Phillips: The British government's horrible hero

Citizenship is not a right but a privilege to be earned

This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£).

At the weekend, the Prime Minster, Sir Keir Starmer, said he was “delighted” to welcome to Britain Alaa Abd el Fattah, an Egyptian activist who also has British nationality.

Long lauded in progressive circles as a pro-democracy and human rights activist, Fattah had previously been banned from leaving Egypt after spending much of the previous twelve years in jail for anti-government activities.

Matua Kahurangi: Hungry families wait while MUMA allegedly hoards supermarket vouchers

Another day, another ugly disclosure, and once again the Manukau Urban Māori Authority finds itself at the centre of it.

Fresh OIA material shared on X by Suit and Tie shows that one million dollars worth of supermarket vouchers were allocated to the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency for distribution during the last census drive. These vouchers were meant to encourage participation by families who are doing it tough. That is the entire point.

JC: 2026 and Causes for Optimism

Two articles in the business section of the Weekend Herald proved to be a good read. Both were basically unrelated in content but it was the cause for optimism that brings the two articles together. Before I delve into this though, I want to (as I do from time to time) comment on the doom and gloom pervading the political discussion on Backchat. A lot of it is in direct contradiction to the facts that are emerging in relation to the economy. As with climate change – the end is not nigh.

Wednesday December 31, 2025 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR