John Denton: TOP Pensioner Attack

Amid the current MSM hoopla about TOP, momentarily muted as the press pack rushed off to dig the dirt on Paul Henry and Stuart Nash, the one key TOP policy winning voter attention is seldom mentioned.

What’s driving TOP in the polls has nothing to do with them being ‘centrists’, offering a measured alternative to Labour or National and claiming to be willing to work with either of them, it is simply that TOP are offering free money, and who can resist that?

Clive Bibby: The wilful destruction of the New Zealand pastoral economy

Waking early to catch up on world and local news is becoming a bit of a habit for old blokes like me with nothing much else to do.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I do find at this time of the day, a useful number of interesting topics that could form the basis of a blog - which others may also enjoy debating.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 2.8.26

Wednesday August 5, 2026 

News:
MBIE, Treasury diversity plans face scrutiny from Act MP, praise from union
Act MP Todd Stephenson is criticising diversity, equity and inclusion plans recently published by two Government agencies, questioning whether they align with the coalition’s priorities and suggesting some may see them as “woke”.

Treasury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) have released diversity action plans in recent days, both calling for te reo Māori to be used more frequently in the workplace.

Owen Jennings: FENZ – friends or fiends?

Our neighbours lost their home to a fire. There was no fire brigade in our small district. It was devastating and took a huge emotional toll as well as massive inconvenience. It was, however, the motivation to form a volunteer brigade and obtain a used vehicle suitable for a rural locality.

Guest Post: Good On Mt Albert Grammar Principal

A Guest Post from No Minister by pdm

I hope the Principal took the opportunity to enforce to the student that Moko are earned by deeds and actions and most certainly are not decoration whether scribbled on with a Marker pen or etched on as is the case with so many Maori these days. Particularly Maori women.

Mrspdm and I had an 80 year old or thereabouts Maori lady as a neighbour and very good friend for a few years and she was adamant on that matter and considered it a lack of respect when she saw young people in particular adorned by unearned Moko.

Here is the Herald story which features the boys mother going `full bore’ against the schools decision and I have no doubt from the tenor of the writing that the Herald is in support of she and her son as well.:

Bruce Cotterill: The risk behind Opportunity Party’s rapid rise in the polls

There once was a young woman. She had long dark hair and a nice smile. She was a politician. She came out of nowhere. She was bright and charismatic, communicated well, and the media adored her. The people adored her too, despite not knowing that much about her or the team around her.

She became our Prime Minister, with promises of kindness, more houses and less poverty.

Peter Williams: Who can be a racist?

It's not about ethnicity. It's about your politics.

In my not entirely successful career as a radio talk show host, a few encounters remain fresh in the memory.

One was with former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira during the time of the Ihumatao land occupation near Auckland Airport in 2019.

Kerre Woodham: Is ACT's policy needed? Or are they trying to generate headlines?

We opted to go with Act wanting to give teachers the legal power to remove seriously or persistently disruptive students from a classroom. Now in an election year with parties struggling to get airtime and oxygen, you have to wonder how much of this is serious policy, how much they seriously think they can get pushed through in a coalition, how much is just to generate headlines.

David Farrar: Bomber Bradbury and HDCA

The Post reports:

Prominent blogger Martyn Bradbury says he will be appearing in court on Tuesday over posts on his website The Daily Blog, adding that he is “prepared to to go prison for free speech”.

Bradbury – who is widely known as “Bomber” for his bombastic speaking style – wrote on his website that four of his blog posts had been “censored” and he was facing a possible fine or even a prison sentence of six months.

Ryan Bridge: Is it too late for the Nats to roll Luxon?

The battle for the right and centre-right vote is the most interesting thing about the election.

Because it's the battle that will determine who wears the pants in the next government.

I'm still of the view that the coalition will be re-elected. The make-up of the cabinet is what they're now fighting for.

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: What on earth was the Migrant Association thinking?

You've got to ask yourself: what on earth was the Migrant Association thinking? This comes after its stunt of guillotining an effigy of Winston Peters because it believes he's racist.

It obviously disregarded the fact that many supporters of Peters believe unmitigated immigration allows undesirable migrants to flood the country, the type who think nothing of guillotining a politician or anybody else they disagree with.

Alwyn Poole: Another small, but positive, Education shift.

The latest IPSOS poll is anything but good reading for National with Labour favoured to better manage 9 of the top 11 issues – including Education. The respondents are wrong on Education as there is incremental progress at present. Much more should be being done in a range of ways but it is not the same level of disaster created by Hipkins and Tinetti.

Each year I do a data process that includes every high school in NZ across a range of measures based on their leavers data. I am about to get the raw data to do that work. Some full system data is now available and I am really happy to say that there have been improvements.

Mike's Minute: We get a lot of reports from people with no power or influence

We have in this country a lot of people paid for by us that basically do a lot of talking and gesturing and do it with no real power or influence.

A lot of them are commissions. One of them is the Human Rights Commission.

Tuesday August 4, 2026 

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Roy Morgan: National-led Government leads Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition

In July National-led Government leads Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition (49% vs. 41%)

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for July 2026 shows the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) down 2% to 49%, maintaining a clear lead over the Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori Parliamentary Opposition, down 1% to 41%.

JC: Fauci Forced To Plead the Fifth Amendment

Not once, not twice, not three times but 111 times. You read that correctly. It is not a typo: one hundred and eleven times. Through last week’s Senate hearing and his own self-incriminating diaries Dr Anthony Fauci has now been exposed as among the worst human beings ever to walk on God’s earth. The type of behaviour he engaged in is unbelievable on so many fronts. He makes Megan Markle look a saint by comparison. She might be a narcissist, but she cannot be held responsible for actions that led to the deaths of millions of people worldwide. Fauci can.

Ani O'Brien: The Activists Behind Winston Peters' Mock Execution

Left wing political violence gets a free pass, again

On Saturday afternoon in downtown Auckland, a crowd gathered for what its organisers called “political theatre”. It began as a mock trial and ended with the symbolic execution of New Zealand’s Foreign Minister. The event, organised by the Migrant Workers Association of Aotearoa (MWA), saw an effigy of Winston Peters wheeled towards a mock guillotine before a crowd baying for the spilling of his metaphoric blood. Association president Anupam Kaloti acted as prosecutor, judge, and master of ceremonies although she assured critics that it was “satire”.

Pee Kay: Killing Prosperity with Good Intentions

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

We have all read and heard about the ETS but do we all know just exactly what the mechanics of the scheme are, why politicians are so obsessed with it and do we know just how much the ETS affects us as a country and personally?

I didn’t, my knowledge was superficial, so I went searching.

Duggan Flanakin: Mining the oceans for fresh water – and Uranium

About 450,000 residents in the Corpus Christi (Texas) metropolitan area are primarily served by fresh water from two severely threatened reservoirs, but the city has become increasingly reliant on water sent via the Mary Rhodes Pipeline from Lake Texana and the Colorado River. The city remains under stage 3 water restrictions despite recent heavy rains. Lake Corpus Christi is only a third full, while the rains raised Choke Canyon Reservoir’s water level to 20% full.

Nathan Smith: Change Comes From Within, Paul Henry

I like Paul Henry. He was always a bit of an unserious joker, but I think all his joking around has caused him to be confused about the reality of New Zealand politics.

Part of his stated reasons for getting into politics is to restore the country back to what he considers the “good old days” when he was growing up. He wants his grandchildren to enjoy the same benefits he enjoyed, and so his goal requires rolling back some of the more insane policies accrued over the decades.