Rodney Hide: Modern Politics has become a Parallel Universe

New Zealanders are a practical bunch. We like straight talk, fair play, and fixing problems with a bit of number 8 wire and common sense. So why does so much contemporary political talk leave us scratching our heads, muttering into our beers, and shouting at the television? Two flashpoints capture the bewilderment: the furious resistance to simply defining biological sex in law, and the relentless focus on race, reparations, “partnership,” and “stolen land”. The confusion stems from a deeper shift. Beneath the slogans lies a powerful, secularised salvation story that has quietly displaced traditional ways of thinking.

DTNZ: Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed until US ends ‘illegal’ interventions

Tehran has defied President Donald Trump’s demands to fully reopen the strategic waterway to shipping.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has declared that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed to shipping until the US ends what it called its “illegal” interference in the region.

Andy Oakley: Kapiti Mayor Exposes Her Racist Agenda

Unelected Māori infiltrate Council

Well, today we have a real humdinger to discuss. In a July 6 article in Kapiti News by Ashleigh Collis, Kapiti Mayor Janet Holborow made what amounts to a public confession that she is a Marxist, or rather, she’s in charge, and she’s against democratic accountability.

Peter Williams: The Flying Golf Ball Conundrum

Being there first doesn't count

One of the more unexpected consequences of the Covid era and its restrictions has been a boom in the number of people playing golf.

According to Golf New Zealand, in 2019 there were 105,967 paid up members of the country’s 390 golf clubs. That number for 2025 was 153,665, a remarkable 45 percent increase in just six years. Somehow thousands discovered a useful way to pass all that lockdown spare time was to take one’s frustrations out on a little dimpled ball.

David Farrar: Fraud advice

A reader writes in:

There are instances of credit card scams where some baddie gets hold of your CC details and enough of your ID to do a bit of spending on your behalf. There was a cunning one in the news where the baddies rented AirBnB places and used them as delivery addresses – collect the goods (paid for on purloined CC) and move on.

Nothing is perfect but here is how you can limit possible losses.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Housing affordability and productivity must be tackled to keep NZ moving forward

In 1973, 843 people died on New Zealand roads. Last year, with far more people driving far more cars, the provisional toll was 272.

Nobody held a press conference, and why would they? The improvement stretched over so many decades that hardly anyone noticed it, and nobody could claim it as their own.

Monday July 13, 2026 

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Centrist: India says New Zealand committed $20 billion, while Luxon calls it promotion

New Zealand and India are publicly describing a central investment provision in their new free trade agreement in different terms.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told an Auckland business event that New Zealand had “committed to invest US$20 billion in India over the next 15 years”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Trade Minister Todd McClay say the provision does not require the New Zealand government to make that investment.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 12.7.26

Monday July 13, 2026 

News:
Green Cross Health shareholders vote this week on the $270 million sale of The Doctors to Tend Health
Green Cross Health shareholders vote on Tuesday on whether to sell The Doctors, the country’s largest network of general practices, to Tend Health for $270 million. The result will decide who owns the family doctor for more than 400,000 New Zealanders.

Ani O'Brien: Hear me out - Ban the hardware not the software

We need to save childhood without destroying adult freedom

Across the developed world, governments have concluded they can no longer ignore the mounting evidence that social media is harming children. Australia has legislated an under 16 social media ban that is proving to be pretty flawed to say the least. Britain has announced one and is now floating the idea of a VPN ban. The European Union is actively considering continent-wide restrictions on children's access to social media, while member states including France, Greece and Spain are pushing for stronger action. In the United States, lawmakers continue searching for ways to limit children’s access while holding technology companies to account.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Memory is a terrible statistician

Nostalgia is a wonderful state of mind but, almost by definition, it glorifies the past while ignoring things that were not so good.

Many older New Zealanders are nostalgic for the 1970s. But 1973 saw 843 people die on the roads, the worst road toll on record. Of every 1,000 babies born in 1970, almost 17 died before their first birthday. More than a third of adults smoked. The top income tax rate was 60%, and inflation was about to slip its leash.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: The political malaise over New Zealand’s low wage problem

Among prosperous nations, New Zealand is relatively a low-income country. That hurts.

In 2024, net national income per capita was 30% higher in Australia, according to the Paris-based OECD. It was only 19% higher on average over the four years to 2019.

That 2024 gap represents a missing NZ$20,000 per person a year. That is $100 billion a year spread over 5 million people.

Henry Olsen: Home of the Rave

The United States celebrated its 250th birthday this weekend. Like all those who are told that their glory years are behind them, my country showcased its youth and inexperience with much rejoicing.

The festivities were organised by Freedom 250, a Republican-dominated group that President Trump chairs. To acquire the necessary and proper funds, the group ran donate-for-access advertisements and diverted congressional appropriations from the bipartisan America250 group.

Brendan O'Neill: Andy Burnham’s shameful pandering to anti-Israel bigots

His pompous, fact-lite sermon on Gaza is a transparent effort to win back Muslim voters and the keffiyeh classes.

Here he comes, pandering Andy Burnham. The King of the North throwing out the red meat of Israelophobia to keep certain voters sweet. The incoming PM yapping piously about Israel’s possible ‘war crimes’ in a bid to win back restive Muslim voters and the keffiyeh classes who’ve abandoned Labour for the crackpot Greens. That’s what I saw in Burnham’s staggeringly pompous digital sermon on Gaza – not an act of geopolitical conviction but a masterclass in demographic toadying.

Alwyn Poole: On School Lunches – A Response to Jonathan Ayling

(My response to his words in point-form).

“More than lunches, children need parents – Jonathan Ayling”

– Clearly a truism.

“While there has been much talk about the quality and cost of school lunches, the debate misses a larger point, argues Jonathan Ayling – why is the Government in the business of feeding our children at all?”

David Farrar: The TSB sale

A reader writes in:

Toi Foundation’s proposal to sell TSB Bank to Heartland Group for $620 million has generated fierce community opposition in Taranaki — public meetings, widespread ‘don’t sell the family silver’ sentiment, and an informal survey finding 90% of those with a firm view opposed.

Mike's Minute: Labour don't prep for power

You may remember that Morgan McSweeney was one of Keir Starmer's fall guys in the Mandelson scandal.

He ran the Labour Party's 2024 campaign that saw Labour land a comparatively small amount of the vote (37%) in exactly the right places to give them a stonking great majority and end 14 years of Tory rule.

Sunday July 12, 2026 

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Dr Oliver Hartwich: Chalmers’ guru Mazzucato is selling an old mistake

Fourteen New Zealand restaurants picked up a Michelin star last week, the first time Michelin had rated New Zealand at all. One reached two stars. None got three, the rating Michelin reserves for restaurants worth a special journey. New Zealand is, of course, always worth a visit, apparently just not for its restaurants.

The government paid Guide Michelin NZ$6.3 million out of its tourism budget to include New Zealand in its ratings.

David Harvey: The VPN Ban

One of the problems faced by lawmakers is that the laws they make can only be enforced within the jurisdiction. That is what is referred to as the principle of territoriality. Laws do not have an extraterritorial effect. A person who steals something from a supermarket in Sydney cannot be prosecuted for theft in the New Zealand Courts. Why? Because the offence did not take place within the territorial jurisdiction of New Zealand.