David Farrar: A Labour led Government is incredibly improbable

The results so far have 67 seats for the Government parties and 64 seats for the others.

National has 42 electorate seats. Those with a small majority are:

Breaking Views Update: Week of 8.11.26

Sunday November 8, 2026 

News:
Customary landowners welcome Kaiteretere name change as part of Nelson Tenths' case
The spelling of the name of one of the most popular beaches at the top of the South Island has been changed to reflect its origins.

The name Kaiteriteri has been revoked by the New Zealand Geographic Board and replaced with the spelling Kaiteretere.

Dame Elizabeth Rata: Episode 10 - Science 1877 - 1899

In the video below Episode 10 is about how science began in New Zealand schools and explains how the subject quickly produced so many first-class scientists. Much of the credit for its inclusion in the syllabus and its quality goes to the inspectors. Many were scientists themselves. They understood how modern science enabled young people to be taught about the workings of the universe. It was the latest understanding – "Science is a line of study which has for its object the imparting of the fundamental laws which regulate the phenomena of the world in which we live".

Guest Post: Who’s in charge of running the country if coalition negotiations drag on?

Guest Post - Neil Sands on Law News

As the government prepares to enter the official caretaker period on November 7, Professor Philip Joseph KC ponders what he calls the $64,000 question – what happens if a disgruntled leader goes rogue and ignores the caretaker convention setting out the orderly transition of power in New Zealand’s democracy?

“We just don’t know how the situation would unfold,” Joseph, a legal academic at the University of Canterbury specialising in constitutional law, told LawNews. “It’s never happened, that’s the first point to make.

Centrist: All nine boot camp youths reoffended....

....but violent crime fell 72%, new figures reveal

All nine surviving participants in the government's original military-style boot camp pilot reoffended within a year of leaving residential care, but violent offences fell by 72%, according to previously unpublished figures obtained by Centrist under the Official Information Act.

Colinxy: The Antifa Cult

One of the peculiar features of modern politics is that movements often become the very thing they claim to oppose. No contemporary group illustrates this paradox more clearly than Antifa.

The name itself is a form of political camouflage. “Antifa” is simply short for “anti-fascist”, and that label does much of the movement’s rhetorical heavy lifting. After all, who could possibly object to opposing fascism? By defining itself as anti-fascist, the movement attempts to claim the moral high ground before any argument has even begun.

Christopher Freiman: Can the Wealthy Buy Elections?

When Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire (albeit briefly), many people objected. They argued that no one should have that much money when others have so much less. As Musk leveraged that fortune in an attempt to shape electoral outcomes, some despaired. Tuesday’s results indicate that was a poor investment, but it’s his half a billion to waste.

Nathan Smith: You'll know when there's a real cost of living crisis

After consulting the Oracle, doing a Ctrl+F search in the Sibylline Books, and comparing last week’s Lotto numbers with the positions of the stars in the year 1856, I’ve decided that the main theme of the current election is the cost of living.

I know, big claim. Massive insight. That’s why they pay me the big bucks, etc. But it does seem like every party has picked fixing the so-called “cost of living crisis” as their central plank. Which is strange, because there is no crisis. Or, more precisely, some groups are struggling, and others simply aren’t, while the politicians pretend that there are no groups and we’re all struggling together. That’s simply not true.

Yvonne Van Dongen: A former cult member reflects on Jacindamania

How did she do it? And could it happen again?

Every time Jacinda Ardern makes the news, New Zealand goes a little bit mad.

For many, the former Prime Minister is the evil face of totalitarianism, the terrible woman who destroyed families and divided the nation. One podium of truth to rule them all. They hate that the “pretty Communist” not only walked away from the country she’d wrecked, but that she went on to receive honours and recompense from the global elite.

So when she was appointed as Professor of Practice at the University of Sydney this month, Voices for Freedom founder Alia Bee spoke for many when she wrote in an open letter that:

Saturday November 7, 2026 

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Mike's Minute: Move-on orders were a storm in a teacup

If you believed the heat in the debate, letting the police move people on was some sort of dystopian incursion by an overlord destined for revolt and rampage on our streets.

The Labour Party still argues the Government made homelessness illegal, which of course they did not.

At the very start of the scrap was the basic idea that too many people were having their day ruined by too many other people who seemed to think they could behave any way they wanted with no consequences.

Matt Ridley: We need more founders

“I don’t think employers are working people.”

When Emma Reynolds, a Labour MP and chief secretary to the Treasury (effectively Britain’s deputy finance minister), uttered those words last week in a television interview, she became an internet celebrity around the world.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Labour MPs turn on Burnham over North Sea drilling ban

This week, Labour faces a rebellion over its North Sea drilling ban, while the Chancellor reportedly puts the brakes on Ed Miliband's 2030 green electricity ambitions. Meanwhile, Germany enters winter with dangerously low gas reserves and Italy moves to accelerate domestic oil and gas production. Is economic reality finally catching up with the Government's Net Zero agenda?

Anne Struffmann: The West’s Free Speech Consensus Is Fracturing

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s recent attack on online anonymity exposed a widening disagreement between Europe and the United States over what freedom in the West should mean.

Earlier this month, a young German researcher asked Merz what a pending digital ID law would mean for whistleblowers and investigative journalists. The Chancellor responded: “Please, nobody come to me with free speech.”

Guest Post: Some Advice for King Charles

Some humble advice for King Charles in his discussions with Caribbean politicians who think Britain owes them squillions, says Tim Sargent: slavery was in the Caribbean and Africa long before the British came along.

Pee Kay: Integrity was very important back in the day!

Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) the foundational Classical Greek philosopher who spent his life in Athens questioning its citizens about their ethics and their virtue. He didn’t write anything down, but he did make a lot of powerful enemies by teaching the city’s youth to question authority.

Eventually, the government/Athens had enough. At age 71, he was dragged to court on two serious charges: disrespecting the local gods and corrupting the youth.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Berlin used to be ‘poor and sexy’ – now it’s afraid

Last Wednesday, at 9.46am, an email reached the Berlin office of Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading news magazine. Elif Eralp, the left-wing politician most likely to become Berlin’s next mayor, will wish it had never been sent.

Attached was the transcript of an interview two Spiegel journalists had conducted with her two days earlier. German papers like to run interviews as a straight exchange of questions and answers. The journalists tidy the conversation and cut it to fit the page.

DTNZ: Greenland ratifies Trump deal

Washington is now set to expand its military footprint on the Danish-owned Arctic island.

Greenland’s parliament ratified on Tuesday a security agreement reached earlier this year with US President Donald Trump, Reuters has reported. The deal, which is backed by Denmark, provides for an expansion of the US military presence on the Arctic island.

Bob Edlin: Nurse is suspended for stealing from a patient.....

.....but is that more forgivable than a Treaty breach?

PoO is intrigued by the case of the nurse who says he is extremely sorry for stealing a disabled patient’s debit card to fund his gambling proclivities.

NewstalkZB reports

Ryan Bridge: The world's on Trump Temper Tantrum Watch

The world is now officially on Trump Temper Tantrum Watch.

So far, he's been relatively gracious about the absolute thumping the Dems handed him.

What happened last night has only happened three times since WWII – both the House and Senate flipping parties.