Melanie Phillips: Rudderless over immigration in Brexitland

What a mess the British government is now in over immigration — a mess that the arrival of the new Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, is unlikely to clear up.

Consider. Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary through misleading Parliament over whether or not the government had “uncompassionate” targets for removing illegal immigrants. This followed the revelation that the government had treated appallingly Caribbean “Windrush” immigrants who arrived in the sixties but who were threatened with deportation decades later.

Brian Gaynor: Finding money to get Auckland on the rails

Auckland’s transport system, particularly the proposed light rail project, will generate considerable debate over the next few years.

The objective of this column is to assess the potential financing of the light rail plan rather than assessing the merits of the development. Will it be funded by rates increases?

What role will the New Zealand Superannuation Fund play? What contribution will central government make?

Mole News

Government says it'll enter into treaty negotiations for the Tongariro National Park
Treaty negotiations for the Tongariro National Park will get under way by July, Andrew Little has confirmed.

The Labour minister for the portfolio told 1 NEWS a settlement was long overdue."It is about putting to rest 178 years of oppression and confiscation and suppression. So this is the stuff that lifts the spirit again," Mr Little said.

GWPF Newsletter: UK Government Unveils Support Package For Shale Gas Development

GWPF Welcomes Govt Announcement, But More Speed is Required

In this newsletter:

1) UK Announces Extra Measures To Support Shale Gas Development
Reuters, 17 May 2018
 
2) UK Government Unveils Support Package For Shale Gas Development
Energy Voice, 17 March 2018

Kevin Donnelly: Our 21st century tragedy - how the west was lost

Douglas Murray argues in The Strange Death of Europe that ­“Europe is committing suicide”, as proven by the mass immigration of thousands of young Islamic men and the failure by many ­within academia, the media and politics to acknowledge and ­defend the unique strengths and benefits of Western civilisation on which Europe is based.

Such is the dire nature of events, Murray concludes: “By the end of the lifespans of most of the people currently alive, Europe will no longer be Europe and the peoples of Europe will have lost the only place in the world we had to call home.”

GWPF Newsletter: Green Europe May Be On The Verge Of Blackouts

As Dutch Gas Production Collapses, Europe's Dependence On Russia Grows

In this newsletter:

1) Green & Anti-Shale: Europe May Be On The Verge Of Blackouts
Bloomberg, 16 May 2018 
 
2) Europe Grapples With Dutch Gas Production ‘Collapse’ & Growing Dependence On Russia
Euractiv, 16 May 2018

GWPF Newsletter: Paris Climate Agreement In Disarray

Developing Countries Demand Long-Promised $100 Billion P.A. From Richer Nations

In this newsletter:

1) Paris Climate Agreement In Disarray As Developing Countries Demand Long-Promised $100 Billion P.A. From Richer Nations
National Post, 11 May 2018 
 
2) China, India Outsource CO2 Emissions, Risking Paris Agreement – Study
Reuters, 14 May 2018 

NZCPR Weekly: A Society of Equals

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we highlight some the power plays being used by the iwi elite to gain influence, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Karl du Fresne outlines the wider implications of the Craggy Range debacle, and our poll asks what you believe the Craggy Range winery should do about their walking track – capitulate to iwi, or stand their ground and do nothing.

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

Brian Gaynor: Budget prudence needed, not borrow and hope

Recent Budget announcements on both sides of the Tasman clearly indicate the Australian Government has had a borrow and hope strategy, while our Finance Ministers have taken a more prudent approach.

The big question is whether Grant Robertson, the new Labour Finance Minister, will maintain this prudent approach when he delivers his first budget on Thursday.

Mole News

Why not to have Maori Wards
A few days ago, Western Bay District Mayor Garry Webber shared his views about why Western Bay should have a Maori ward.

......The Mayor correctly notes that the law enables ratepayers to demand a poll when a Maori ward is proposed, but not when geographical wards are created or modified.

Paul Driessen: Perverse, Conflicted Ethical Systems

Third Reich Forest Minister Hermann Goering was an avid hiker and ecologist who once sent a man to a concentration camp for cutting up a frog for fish bait. In 1933 he and other Nazi Party leaders enacted anti-vivisection laws to stop what he called “unbearable torture and suffering in animal experiments.”

Intensely hostile to capitalism, the Nazis controlled all industries and envisioned large-scale wind turbine projects that would generate “huge amounts of cheap energy” and create millions of German jobs.

Fred Roeder: The WHO and Ebola - an illustration of failure

The World Health Organization is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars with incredibly skewed priorities. 

The World Health Organization is a large and antiquated United Nations body that is expensive unnecessary and counterproductive to its own cause of "public health." It's time to take the appropriate measures and defund it.

The WHO and Ebola: an Illustration of Failure

As the Ebola crisis was ravaging a number of African countries in 2014, we put our trust into a number of international organizations to assist West African countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea or Nigeria to contain the spread of the virus and aid those who were unable to receive medical care. The World Health Organization (WHO), with its ambitious goal regarding public health, was one of them. 

Bud Jones: Racism in the Universities

Does spiritualism, religiosity and racism have a place?

First a little about my background and credentials.

After immigrating from America, I had service with the NZ Symphony Orchestra for 40 years and as Artist Teacher at Victoria University for 26 years 1990—2016.

I was awarded a QSM in 2013 for services to education at the high school and university level, including director for NZ National Youth groups, and also for environmental achievements.

Daniel Mitchell: More Pay for Unionized Teachers Is the Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem

Education spending and teacher pay have become big issues in certain states.

Unfortunately, not for the right reason. In an ideal world, taxpayers would be demanding systemic reform because government schools are getting record amounts of money (higher than any other nation on a per-student basis) while producing sub-par results.

Instead, we live in a surreal parallel universe where teacher unions are pushing a narrative that taxpayers should cough up more money because teachers supposedly are underpaid.

GWPF Newsletter: UN Climate Talks Fail To Reach Agreement On Paris Agreement

China Calls For Renegotiation Of Climate Deal

In this newsletter:

1) UN Climate Talks Fail To Reach Agreement On Paris Agreement; China Calls For Renegotiations
BBC News, 10 May 2018 
 
2) Nikki Haley: U.S. Rejects UN Global Pact For The Environment
Fox News, 9 May 2018

NZCPR Weekly: Labour's Disastrous Track Record of Welfare Reform

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we outline how changes to the welfare system introduced by previous Labour Governments created intergenerational benefit dependency and we urge caution over planned reforms, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Lindsay Mitchell describes some of the policy changes signalled by Labour and the Greens, and our poll asks whether you believe that under Labour the downward trend in the number of children growing up in families dependent on welfare will continue, or be reversed.

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

Richard Epstein: Senseless in Seattle

On first inspection, Seattle is and ought to be the envy of the rest of the United States. In 2017, its population stood at about 713,000 people and was growing at 3.1 percent per year, the fastest growth rate of any U.S. city. Its economic revival has been driven by an influx of new software, technology, and internet companies. Among the major corporations headquartered there are Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Weyerhaeuser.

But all is not well in Seattle, which is now riven by deep political divisions over what to do about the problem of homelessness. Right now, about 8,000 people within the city limits are homeless, and the city saw 169 homeless deaths in 2017.

GWPF Newsletter: U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil Exporter

Shale Revolution Puts U.S. In Driver’s Seat

In this newsletter:

1) U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil Exporter -- Citi
Tim Daiss, OilPrice, 2 May 2018  
 
2) Oil Prices Fall On Rising U.S. Crude Inventories, Record Production
Henning Gloystein, Reuters, 3 May 2018

Lee Harding: Unethical Electric Cars

Anyone who says electric cars will save the world is dreaming. The adoption of electric cars over the next 20 years will barely shave a single percent from the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the batteries that power these cars rely on a nightmarish swath of human devastation. 

Most electric car buyers who pride themselves on “doing the right thing” have no idea of the birth defects, premature deaths, child labour, and virtual slavery it took to make their new wheels move. All this is to keep carbon out of the air and a few hundred ducks out of oil sands tailing ponds.

Electric batteries have far more to do with cobalt than carbon. Cobalt is an essential element in lithium-ion batteries, the lighter kind that packs more energy than lead-acid batteries. It is true that these “green” batteries are also found in tech devices and not just cars. But the 10 grams of cobalt for a smartphone battery or the ounce in a laptop are overwhelmingly outweighed by the 15 pounds of cobalt found in a typical electric car battery.

Marian Tupy: Income Equality Is No Measure of Human Progress

Following the Great Recession of 2008, income inequality became a focal concern of those who feel that market economy has let them down. In 2011, “We are the 99 percent” became a unifying slogan of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2013, the U.S. President Barack Obama described income inequality as the “defining challenge of our time.”

Concern over income inequality did not disappear.

A year later, Pope Francis called for a “legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state,” while leftwing economist Thomas Piketty tried to supply the movement for greater income equality with intellectual ammunition in his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.