Mole News

Māori fight to entrench seats
Public submissions have opened on a bill to entrench Māori seats.[

The bill’s sponsor, Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikātene, says it will mean Māori seats will get the same protection as general seats, so any changes will need the support of 75 percent of MPs rather than the current simple majority.

Frank Newman: Another day. Another inquiry.

Last week the Prime Minister talked tough about petrol prices. She quite earnestly said, "I am hugely concerned at the level of price that consumers are currently paying at the pump for fuel" and that motorists were being "fleeced" at the pump.

The bottom line is that the Government intends to rush through changes to the Commerce Act to allow the competition watchdog to investigate the margins on fuel. The findings will be reported back to the government next year and the PM has assured motorists that she will "prioritise a response to it".

I don't disagree that motorists are being "fleeced", but it’s not by service stations. The PM's tough talk comes just days after central government imposed a new excise tax adding another 4 cents onto the price of petrol.

Melanie Phillips: The Democrats' Proposed Banana Republic

I wrote here that the American Democratic party had become the party of hate. Subsequent events have not only amply confirmed that view but further suggest that the Democrats now pose a real threat to America, in terms of both physical violence and a threat to due process and the US constitution.

Two days after the Senate confirmed Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told a press conference that GOP senators were “literally under assault” during the confirmation process.

“These demonstrators, I’m sure some of them were well-meaning citizens. But many of them were obviously trying to get in our faces, to go to our homes. Basically almost attack us in the halls of the capitol. There was a full-scale effort to intimidate.”

NZCPR Weekly: The Dangers of Judicial Activism

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine judicial activism and the problems it causes society, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Anthony Willy outlines the constraints on judges and explains why a recent speech given by a sitting Judge is in breach of the judicial conduct guidelines, and our poll asks whether you believe judicial activism should be subjected to a public complaint and censure process..

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

GWPF Newsletter: UK Govt Axes Electric Cars Subsidies

Richard Lindzen: ‘Warming Of Any Significance Ceased 20 Years Ago’

In this newsletter:

1) British Government Axes Electric Cars Subsidies
Huffington Post, 13 October 2018

2) Richard Lindzen: ‘Warming Of Any Significance Ceased 20 Years Ago’
Alison Bevege, Daily Mail, 12 October 2018

Frank Newman: Loan sharks and shady operators

Last week the Government announced it is going to get tough on loan sharks and truck shops.

The proposed changes include payday loan companies who provide short-term unsecured loans of small amounts intended to get the borrower though to the next payday. While they generally have a maximum term of a month or two, these small sums can become very large amounts very quickly.

Alan Davidson: How does Putin see the World?

              Why is Russia our enemy?   Why is Russia America’s enemy?   We know how America sees the world;   but how does Russia see the world?  

              Winston Churchill:   “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia.   It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma;   but perhaps there is a key.

              “That key is Russian national interest.   It cannot be in accordance with the interest of the safety of Russia that Germany should plant itself upon the shores of the Black Sea, or that it should overrun the Balkan States, and subjugate the Slavonic peoples of south eastern Europe.   That would be contrary to the historic life-interests of Russia.”

Clive Bibby: In defence of men and the rule of law

I wonder how many blokes are getting a bit tired of having to justify their very existence every time they come within screaming distance of members of the "MeToo" movement.

What can we do to avert this mindless mis-characterisation of the innocent?

Bob Edlin: The climate change challenge - leading the charge has cost-of-living implications

Climate change zealots who press for New Zealand to lead the charge globally in reaching a zero carbon target appear to be not too bothered by the cuts in living standards New Zealanders would have to absorb.

According to the most optimistic technology scenario used by the NZIER, there would be a $6.7bn reduction in annual GDP – and if lower levels of innovation are achieved, in areas such as forestry planting, methane vaccines for livestock and mass electricification of transport and industry, the annual loss rises to $26.6bn.

And what if the sacrifices made by NZ – that is, the reduction made in domestic emissions – are counteracted by a rise in emissions elsewhere as domestic product is replaced by imports?

Melanie Phillips: Gay cake crumbles in rare win for liberal values

I have often criticised Britain’s senior judges in general, and the president of the Supreme Court Lady Hale in particular, for “liberal” partisanship and allowing ideology to influence their rulings. 

Today, however, Lady Hale and her Supreme Court colleagues have bravely gone against fashionable ideology in a ruling which actually upholds liberalism, rationality and law. The judges have ruled unanimously that the Christian owners of Ashers bakery in Belfast did not act in a discriminatory manner when they refused to bake a cake iced with the message “Support Gay Marriage”.

GWPF Newsletter: Denying Nature

IPCC Now Claims All Warming Since End Of Little Ice Age Is Man-Made

In this newsletter:

1) Denying Nature: IPCC Now Claims All Warming Since End Of Little Ice Age Is Man-Made
Climate Scepticism, 9 October 2018
 
2) Australia Rejects IPCC Energy Policy Prescriptions
The Australian, 9 October 2018

NZCPR Weekly: Time To Have A Say On Entrenching The Maori Seats

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we outline Labour’s plan to entrench the Maori seats and we call on readers to help encourage everyone who has a view on the future of the Maori seats to put in a submission, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Barry Soper explains why the Maori seats should be abolished, and our poll asks, if a referendum on the future of the Maori seats was to be held, would you support abolishing them or entrenching them.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

GWPF Newsletter: IPCC Turns Green Energy Lobby

Climate Scientists Call For $2.4 Trillion Per Year For Shift To Renewables

In this newsletter:

1) IPCC Turns Green Energy Lobby: Climate Scientists Call For $2.4 Trillion Per Year For Shift To Renewables
Bloomberg, 8 October 2018
 
2) Most UK Newspapers Ignore IPCC Report On Their Frontpages
Global Warming Policy Forum, 8 October 2018

Mike Butler: Why extra standards for rentals?

Few could argue against the value of warm and dry housing but many could criticise the way the Peters-Ardern Government is imposing extra standards on rental property.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford is about to require owners of rental property to install expensive heaters, add an extra layer of insulation, require extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms, a polythene sheet under the floor to stop rising damp, and draught-stopping tape around windows and doors.

GWPF Newsletter: Global Temperatures Keep Falling

Leaked US Critique  Of IPCC Report  Sets Stage For Political Showdown

In this newsletter:

1) Global Temperatures Keep Falling
GWPF Observatory, 3 October 2018
 
2) Arctic Sea Ice Rebounds
Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 2 October 2018

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: A critical appraisal of the Novichok incident narrative

What we have here, it seems to me, is an attempt by the UK to limit the damage to its own reputation – damage perhaps it never envisaged, because it assumed everyone would “buy” the “wicked Russia” story. - Mary Dejevsky in The Independent, 24 May

The murky world of secret operations by State intelligence units is one that we seldom get much of a look into – well, if we did, it wouldn’t be ‘secret’ anymore, would it? – but enough transpires to give us considerable insight into its workings.

When it comes to awarding first prize for clandestine operations aimed at liquidating individuals they don’t like, the Russian secret service would have to be the front-runner. For the past three quarters of a century, these furtive characters have built up a reputation for slick, targeted assassinations outside their own territory. 

Karl du Fresne: An enemy of free speech and a dissembler too

It’s taken a while, but the speech wars have reached New Zealand – and an Australian is in the thick of the strife. Problem is, she’s on the wrong side.

Jan Thomas, the vice-chancellor of Massey University, recently banned Don Brash, a former leader of the centre-right National party, from speaking at a campus event organised by a student politics society. It was the first occurrence at a New Zealand university of the ugly phenomenon known as no-platforming. Now Thomas, who came to New Zealand from the University of Southern Queensland, has been exposed not just as an enemy of free speech, but as a dissembler who was less than honest about her motives.

Frank Newman: When a capital gain is income

The interim report recently published by the government's Tax Working Group had a handy summary of the current law regarding taxing gains in the value of investment assets. Here are the relevant extracts from their report.

Gains on the sale of land are taxable if the land was bought with a purpose or intention of resale, even if resale was not the only or dominant purpose or intention of the purchase. Capital losses are generally not deductible unless a gain on the sale of the property would be taxable.

Bryan Leyland: Why electricity prices have increased

The Electricity Price Review has revealed that residential electricity prices have increased by about 80% above inflation since 1990. Why did this happen? We were promised that privatisation and the electricity market would reduce power prices.

An objective examination of the whole electricity industry and the effect of the reforms leads to some interesting conclusions.

Owen Young: The new ‘received pronunciation’

When I was a wee boy, and that’s many years ago, radio broadcasting in New Zealand was dominated by the state.  The announcers were required to speak with ‘received pronunciation’, which is an accent endemic to parts of southern England.  It was how educated, cultured people were supposed to speak.  Too bad if you spoke with your New Zealand accent.  Announcing was not for you.  That barrier to freedom has been largely, but not completely, overcome and I think we are prouder and happier for it.

However, that cultural domination is being replaced by another, this time based on ethnicity, not perceived social class.  I refer to the pronunciation of Maori place names.