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?

Saturday May 9, 2026 

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Clive Bibby: A Betrayal of Trust

MMP was supposed to fix problems associated with political representation at the highest level of decision making. Yet for all its promotion as the most democratic form of government, we still witness examples of remote communities being allowed to fall through the cracks - and in that context, it would appear nothing much has changed from the bad old days.

Ryan Bridge: The OECD's report needs to be taken with a grain of salt

It's somewhat ironic the latest lecture we're getting from an office of global boffins is headquartered in Paris.

No offence to the French, but they're screaming out for lesson in basic economics.

Their debt-to-GDP ratio is 118%. Their debt is 60% above the EU limit.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The media is under scrutiny and we've had it coming

If it’s not already obvious to you, the fact that Maiki Sherman has lost her job should now make it very clear: the media—especially the state broadcasters, both of them—are about to find out what it means not just to make and report the news but to be the news.

Just look at what’s happened this week alone. And this is only a sample—this has been building for some time.

John Raine, Michael Kelly and Brian Leyland: Why New Zealand must drop Net Zero 2050

Climate Change Realism Not Alarm

Climate change alarmism has become a quasi-religion, where many normally rational scientists have moved to a rigid belief state rather than continuing to question the science and constantly check the latest evidence. Fortunately, a core of respected atmospheric physicists continues to speak out and keep rational debate alive [e.g. 1, 2, 3]. Environmental activist and writer, Michael Shellenberger [4], also counsels strongly against climate doom thinking.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 3.5.26

Saturday May 9, 2026 

News:
Whangārei District Council has taken a step closer to strengthening how it embeds the principles of Te Tiriti
Whangārei District Council has taken a step closer to strengthening how it embeds the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi across its organisation, after a proposed implementation plan was presented to a key standing committee.

The council’s Te Kārearea Strategic Partnership Standing Committee on Tuesday heard about the proposed plan, which responds to improvement recommendations from a council‑wide Te Tiriti o Waitangi health check commissioned by Whangārei District Council (WDC).

Geoff Parker: A Storm Is Not An Act Of Colonisation.

The report makes a legitimate point that some Māori communities are vulnerable to severe weather events, especially isolated rural or coastal settlements. But it weakens its own credibility by turning climate resilience into a broad ideological argument about colonisation and governance.

Climate risk is primarily driven by geography, infrastructure quality, income, and preparedness — not ancestry.

Ani O'Brien: Who really wants a Grand Coalition between Labour and National?

The whole idea is borne of establishment panic

The sudden enthusiasm for a “Grand Coalition” between the New Zealand Labour Party and New Zealand National Party is being presented by proponents as a sober, pragmatic response to the complexities of modern governance. Its advocates speak the language of stability, maturity, and responsibility. They gesture toward international examples, invoke economic necessity, and lament the supposed distortions of coalition politics under MMP. But under the paternalistic managerial tone and the carefully chosen euphemisms, is an admission of political failure and more troublingly, a repudiation of the democratic choices voters have been making and the subtle-as-a-gun signals they have been sending to the political class.

Rodney Hide: City Rail Link: 19th-Century Trains Under a 21st-Century City

The City Rail Link is a $5.5 billion monument to backward thinking.

Auckland is digging a 3.5 km twin tunnel under its CBD to run 19th-century steel-on-steel trains. The project, originally budgeted far lower, has ballooned to $5.5 billion. Auckland ratepayers and taxpayers are on the hook for billions upfront with rate payers coughing up $220–$265 million every year in operating, interest and depreciation costs. That is real money sucked out of productive parts of the economy.