Ryan Bridge: Happy Waitangi Day!

You’ll probably see and hear a bit of argy-bargy up North today as the politicians get welcomed onto the Treaty Grounds.

If you’ve never been up there, it’s easily one of the best ‘Kiwi’ weekends you’ll experience. The sunshine’s guaranteed. People are friendly. The grub’s good and there’s plenty of watering holes filled with political chats flowing long into the night.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Wellingtonians should be angry about this

Here’s a question for you: Was your first reaction to the news of sewage pumping into Wellington’s water something along the lines of, “Oh well, these things happen”?

I ask because I’ve spent the past 24 hours fighting the urge to wave this away as one of those unfortunate, unforeseen things that just happen from time to time. You know — mistakes happen.

Caleb Anderson: The loss of personal sovereignty and the war on common sense

A war has been raging in our universities and institutions for over fifty years. This is a war on common sense, but also on personal sovereignty.

It was interesting to read recent data indicating that approximately 60% of those who enter psychological counselling in the United States exit counselling before the mid-point is reached. I suspect the figure would be largely similar in other Western countries. Approximately 10% complete their therapy. The primary reasons given for non-completion were lack of motivation, and inability to be contacted by the counsellor ... by simply not returning calls.

Peter Bassett: When cycleways and rainbow toilets take over, the pipes rot

There are moments in public life when irony does not merely tap you on the shoulder but smacks you in the face with a dripping length of sewer pipe. One such moment arrived this week when Julie Anne Genter, Wellington’s most indefatigable apostle of cycleways, emerged solemnly to inform us that the Moa Point sewage disaster was “a terrible reminder of the importance of investing in our infrastructure”.

Judy Gill: The Bar was Lowered — and a Third of Boys Still Failed

How ERO reporting allows primary schools to escape academic scrutiny and why low parent expectations mean it goes largely unchallenged

When an Education Review Office (ERO) report describes students as “not yet achieving,” “priority learners,” or “requiring acceleration,” it is avoiding a simpler truth: some children are failing to meet basic academic expectations.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.2.26

Friday February 6, 2026 

News:
National's not ruling out running candidates in Maori seats in this year's election
Labour's pledging to run a vigorous campaign across all seats, as Te Pati Maori and the Greens go through their candidate selection processes.

National ran two candidates in Maori electorates last election, after not doing so for decades.

Roger Partridge: The Crown versus the People - Reclaiming New Zealand’s democratic story

Turn on the news and you will hear endless references to the Crown: “Crown obligations,” “Crown land,” “Crown Treaty settlements.” Politicians make decisions “on behalf of the Crown.” Courts issue rulings about what “the Crown” must do.

Yet ask Kiwis what this “Crown” actually is, and many will give blank stares.

Mike's Minute: The unemployment rate dazed the Government

It could have been a coordinated knife to the Government's heart.

On the day the unemployment rate went up, the Warehouse offered a real world example of the problem by announcing another 270 jobs would be added to the pile as they look to save and outsource and generally reorganise themselves.

Pee Kay: A Biased Survey or Survey bias?

Survey bias occurs when the survey methodology is skewed to systematically favour a prescribed outcome. This, obviously, leads to results that do not accurately represent the correct or true feelings of the target population.

Survey bias can be perpetrated by phrasing the poll questions in a manner that can significantly influence, guide, and determine the answers provided by poll respondents.

Leading or loaded questions steer poll respondents toward prerequired or predetermined answers.

Dr Eric Crampton: Funding flaw means poorer communities pay more at the pharmacy

Think for a moment about how some pharmacy services are funded. Or rather, not really funded.

It underlies a lot of the angst about changes in regulations around pharmacy ownership and the agreements that let pharmacies dispense funded medicines.

For a long time, the implicit deal worked like this. It wasn’t spelled out this way and perhaps was not even intentional. But it is how it worked.

Colinxy: Making Sense of the Musket Wars

Public debate about New Zealand’s past often becomes emotionally charged, and sometimes rhetoric overtakes historical reality. A well-known example is the claim that colonisation inflicted a “holocaust” upon Māori. While colonisation unquestionably brought profound disruption — disease, “land loss”, “legal displacement”, and cultural upheaval — the term “holocaust” does not align with the historical record. If one is looking for the single most devastating period of Māori decimation, the Musket Wars stand out as the most destructive conflict in New Zealand’s pre-colonial and early‑colonial history — for Māori.

What the Musket Wars Actually Were

Lindsay Mitchell: Who's to blame for the sorry state of some primary school entrants?

"Didn't know I was pregnant till about six months gone. So yeah, I've been drinking and smoking P. Don't know who the father is. But that doesn't matter any more. I'll get more benefit money when the baby comes. Plus I'll get into a state house quick 'cause I've got a kid. So then I'll have my own place and do whatever I like all day."

OK. I concocted that brief monologue but having worked with a number of young mothers (or in one instance, a young father left with full care of his and another man's child) I can assure you it isn't a figment of my imagination.

Bob Edlin: Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site....

Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site – but how are the beliefs of crash victims and their families respected?

About this time a week ago, the New Zealand Police released a statement to report that two people had died in a helicopter crash north of Wellington earlier in the day.

Work was under way to recover the deceased and to examine the crash scene, near the Battle Hill regional park.

The statement included:

Kerre Woodham: I wish the drivers license overhaul was tougher

Remember the terror of the driving test? Your heart in your mouth as you drove around the mean streets of Timaru or Ashburton, or in my case Tauranga, with a gimlet-eyed traffic cop watching your every move. The parallel parking, the hill starts. I only got my license because the cop took pity on me, I'd have lost my job if I didn't pass the test. But it's been 40 years now and I haven't had any major incidents in that time, fingers crossed. His faith was justified. Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage. But now Chris Bishop has announced a swathe of changes, the first to the testing regime since 2011 for drivers and for wannabe drivers, as he explained to Mike Hosking this morning.

David Farrar: Lessons for NZ from the Fijian Supreme Court

IDEA reports on a recent decision from the Supreme Court of Fiji with regards to the 2013 constitution of Fiji.

They had to decide whether the 2013 or 1997 constitution of Fiji was valid, and as importantly whether the amendment provisions in the 2013 constitution were also valid.

The 2013 constitution was not democratically adopted. The Commodore promulgated it. However the Supreme Court found, despite this, it was valid:

Thursday February 5, 2026 

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Anglo Saxon: Waitangi Grievance day - New Zealanders to pay more reparations?

In this show we hit the segment scene with coverage about the up coming Waitangi Grievance Day 2026, the councillor who stood up to woo woo, the legacy media lie about the Mount Maunganui landslide - and a bonus - how to rebut Takuta's sub-optimal IQ.

Click to view

Mike Butler: Rights body polls treaty thinking

A new treaty poll commissioned by the Human Rights Commission is intended to change your mind on the treaty, according to the commission's “indigenous rights governance partner”, Dayle Takitimu, who fronted the poll.

“Many of the results tell a different story to the narrative of division we have been fed over the past two years,” Takitimu said.

Roy Morgan: First Roy Morgan Poll of 2026

National opens largest lead on Labour for over a year – since September 2024

Roy Morgan’s first New Zealand Poll for 2026 shows the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) on 52%, up 1.5% points from a month earlier, now 8% points in front of the Labour-Greens-Maori Party Parliamentary Opposition on 44%, down 3% points, the latest Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll finds.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's a recovery story in today's unemployment figures

On the face of it, the unemployment figure out today is not good. It’s gone up, it's now sitting at 5.4 percent, a high we haven’t seen in almost 11 years. The last time we were anywhere near 5.4 percent was September 2015.

But actually, there is a recovery story here if you look under the hood.