Ryan Bridge: Once again Trump rains on the parade of our economic recovery

For the second year in a row, Donald Trump has rained on the parade of our economic recovery.

The economists this week have been beavering away, updating the economic forecasts.

We'll kiss goodbye to up to a third of our growth for the year. What was 3% is now 2%.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'm surprised the police allowed the Tom Phillips documentary to happen

My overriding reaction to news that a Tom Phillips documentary is being made for Netflix is surprise.

I’m surprised that the police are still allowing this to happen - especially now that it’s confirmed the documentary will appear on a platform as globally dominant as Netflix.

Ryan Bridge: Why's the world so hectic at the moment?

Everyone keeps asking why the world feels so hectic at the moment.

If life were a movie, they'd call it One Battle After Another.

Winston Peters, Judith Collins, and their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere all agree we’re living in the most dangerous era since the World Wars.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 22.3.26

Friday March 27, 2026 

News:
Ngāi Tahu confirms run at Molesworth
The South Island’s largest tribal group, Ngāi Tahu, has confirmed it is in the running to apply for rights to lease Molesworth Station.

Five parties have been confirmed by the Department of Conservation as applying for lease consideration on New Zealand’s largest farm, and Farmers Weekly can confirm two of those applicants.

Mike's Minute: Are EVs having their moment?

I note the whinging has started from EV owners as their fixed price deals for recharging their Nissan Leafs at home come to an end.

Some claim the new deals will be 50% higher. How can you possibly be surprised?

Did you think you would get away with it forever?

Ani O'Brien: The truth about TOP

TOP isn’t above Left and Right. It’s just the Left in better packaging.

Every election cycle, like clockwork, Opportunity (TOP) reappears. It refreshes its branding, gets a new leader, rolls out a new slate of candidates, and the media, just as predictably, froths over them. Since Gareth Morgan founded the party in 2016, this has become a familiar ritual in New Zealand politics.

Colinxy: The Political Cruelty of Kindness - How Sentiment Became a Soft Authoritarianism

Jacinda Ardern’s political brand was built on a single, endlessly repeated injunction: “Be kind.” It was the slogan that launched a thousand puff‑pieces, the mantra that turned a mid‑tier Labour politician into a global celebrity, and the emotional adhesive that held together the most intrusive, divisive, and centralising government in modern New Zealand history.

But kindness, when wielded as a political doctrine, is not kindness at all. It is sentimentality weaponised— a velvet‑textured form of coercion that punishes dissent while congratulating itself for its gentleness.

Andrew Moran: Poland — The Very Model of a Modern Major Economy

From communist hellscape to free market symbol.

Borscht. Knife in the Water. Frédéric Chopin. Among the world’s 20 largest economies? Poland is famous for many contributions to humanity, but being a major economy may not be on everyone’s Bingo card. However, the Polish economic environment has evolved substantially since the post-communist ruins of decades ago, transitioning from Marx to markets. What happened?

Roger Partridge: The Alternative Was Not Nothing

This essay forms part of a longer series on Donald Trump’s second presidency – examining the erosion of constitutional constraints at home and the consequences for American power abroad.

Peter Smith asks a fair question. In Trump and the Paradox of American Power, I wrote that I had long favoured taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities – but not like this. Peter wants to know what “not like this” means. What was the alternative? He deserves a straight answer.

Kerre Woodham: The fuel relief package is simply a morale booster

So help is on the way from the Government, as expected. The announcement came around 12:30pm yesterday. Thought it might be too late, because according to Donald Trump, “me and the Ayatollah are going to be controlling the Straits of Hormuz”. Be open very soon, he says. Well, that's good, isn't it? But in the meantime, while we wait for that to eventuate, Donald Trump and the Ayatollah cutting the ribbon over the Straits of Hormuz, 140,000 New Zealand families with kids will receive an extra $50 per week through the boost in the in-work tax credit.

Bob Edlin: Ministry in ACT’s crosshairs hands out $30,000 for Gaza lobbying

The New Zealand Herald early this week reported that a cross-party group of politicians say it is “difficult to assess” what the Ministry for Ethnic Communities is achieving for those it is meant to serve.

This reportedly led an ACT MP to ask, “what’s the point?”

David Farrar: Dishonest

Bryce Edwards has blogged on how National is having a fundraising dinner with the leader and senior spokespersons. This follows a NZ Herald story.

Bryce did this graphic of the invite:

Thursday March 26, 2026 

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Ian Bradford: Is Carbon Dioxide the Primary Driver of Global Warming?

The current thinking by many in the scientific world is that carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming. Carbon dioxide is supposed to capture and radiate heat back to the earth in what is termed “radiative forcing”. The emissions of carbon dioxide coming from the consumption of fossil fuels is supposed to be fuelling the increase in average global temperature.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should we be outraged at the dinner charging $10k to sit with Luxon?

Right, let’s talk about the National Party accidentally letting slip that they’re selling tables at a dinner with Christopher Luxon.

The story is that the Mainland Dinner will be held in Christchurch next month and if you have a few thousand dollars spare, you can go along.

Ryan Bridge: How much does $50 for some families cost the rest of us?

That’s the real question we should be asking ourselves this morning.

Remember, the Government’s running a deficit. A structural one.

They spend more than they earn in taxes.

Lindsay Mitchell: Understanding the $50 boost for working families

I am not a supporter of government hand-outs. That's because I am not a supporter of the government taking people's money by force and deciding who to redistribute it to. That ability confers enormous power on the state. Taxing to redistribute only ever spirals upward. Wherever possible, earnings should be left largely with the earner - not expensively churned by dead weight bureaucracy.

Mike's Minute: A gesture, or an actual economic solution?

How many ways can you slice the petrol handout?

Many.

The Government is to be commended on restraint, and I hope that message of restraint has sunk into the New Zealanders who think we have money on trees and debt is never to be paid back.

David Harvey: Above the Parapet

Prefiero morir de pie que vivir de rodillas - Better to die on your feet than live on your knees

Mark Carney, the Canadia Prime Minister, made an interesting and well-publicised speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

His theme was on the importance of being open and honest about widely accepted beliefs we all know to be at least “partially false”. He urged middle-nations to call out the cosy view of the “rules-based international order” which is routinely abused by the powerful.

Dave Patterson: Is an End to the Iran War in Sight?

The raining of bombs, missiles, and other munitions from the skies onto Iran that began in February is in its fourth week. Following exhaustive talks, the United States and Israel had had enough, and on Feb. 28, they began an air assault, which has systematically and relentlessly destroyed the rogue country’s leadership, governing structure, air defenses, navy, and ballistic missile, drone, and cruise missile capability. Now, there may be an end in sight.