Mike Hosking: Three threats to the economy may come crashing together

I have been trying to work out which one of three serious threats to our economy is going to hurt the government most.

Two of them are of their specific doing, so perhaps they're slightly blinded to the pending trouble.

One is a direct result of their actions although at least in part affected by matters beyond their control.

One is the Fair Pay reforms to our workplaces. Two, the capital gains tax. And three, our economic growth.

Melanie Phillips: The Solution to the Irish Border Problem

By all accounts, the penny has finally dropped in the brain of the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

It has apparently now dawned on him that, in order to stuff the British over Brexit, the EU has played him for a sucker. It seems he has now finally grasped that if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, it is Ireland that will be stuffed. Big time.

This is apparently causing panic not just in Dublin but in Brussels. Paul Goodman writes a good summary here. Earlier this week, Margaritis Schinas, the EU Commission’s chief spokesman, said that in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ireland would have a “hard border” with Northern Ireland.

Frank Newman: A worst best keep secret

It has remained one of those vexed questions for eternity: Why are some people wealthy while others are poor? What is remarkable about the question is that it continues to be asked, when there are many generations of examples that provide the answer. There are also stacks of books that profess to know the answer, and every author has their own refinement of some pretty basic truisms.

Before listing those truisms, let's clear up some misconceptions. There are some who put financial success down to luck, and that may be true for situations like a major Lotto win. But relying on chance is not a strategy, given that a major Lotto win is about as likely as getting run over by a camel in the main street of your town! So let's hope for luck but not plan for it.

NZCPR Weekly: Referenda Chaos

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the challenges of Brexit and what it means for New Zealand, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Professor Roger Bowden takes a more critical look at the use of referenda, and our poll asks for your opinion on Brexit – do you think it will be good or bad for the UK.

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

GWPF Newsletter: China Plans To Use Nuclear Bomb Detonator For Next Shale Revolution

German Anti-Wind Revolt Leads To Slump Of Onshore Wind Installations

In this newsletter:

1) China Plans To Use Nuclear Bomb Detonator For Next Shale Revolution
South China Morning Post, 27 January 2019

2) German Anti-Wind Revolt Leads To Slump Of Onshore Wind Installations
Clean Energy Wire, 29 January 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: Russia-Saudi Alliance Abandons Assault On U.S. Shale Oil

U.S. Set To Pump More Oil Than Russia And Saudis Combined

In this newsletter:

1) Russia-Saudi Alliance Abandons Assault On U.S. Shale Oil As Geopolitical Power Shift Looms
The Daily Telegraph, 25 January 2019
 
2) U.S. Set To Pump More Oil Than Russia And Saudis Combined
OilPrice.com, 24 January 2019

Peter Lemon: Everyone is Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others

It’s been a few decades since I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Despite the passage of almost 75 years, the book’s satirical jab at communism/socialism remains a sad ‘description’ of 21^st century life in the west. 

Clive Bibby: A victory for common sense

These days it doesn't happen often but a recent landmark decision affecting the lives of the rural folk in the Tairawhiti (East Coast) region has gone someway to restoring faith in the democratic system of government in this country.

To say that it has been the result of dogged determination by a handful of battlers to protect their rights against the increasingly controlling interests of an urban majority would be the understatement of the year.

Jon Miltimore: The Costs of NYC’s $15 Minimum Wage Are Already Visible

New York City’s minimum wage jumped more than 15 percent overnight on January 1, and employers are already cutting workers’ hours as a result.

CBS has the story.

Brian Giesbrecht: Battling the Bottle — The Untold Story

The ’60s Scoop was back in the news this month, and I expect we will hear more about it in the coming years. In fact, I am guessing there are plans in place to make it the subject of the next national inquiry after the missing women’s inquiry has wrapped up.

So, what is the ’60s Scoop? It is usually described as a decade when aboriginal children were stolen from their parents by overzealous social workers attempting to perpetuate cultural genocide by placing aboriginal children in American homes.

Is this story true?

GWPF Newsletter: Snowmaggedon Hits Davos Man

Al Gore Effect Trips Up Green Elites Networking Fest

In this newsletter:

1) Davos’ Green Elites Prefer Private Jets Amid Alleged Climate Worries
Press Trust of India, 22 January 2019
 
2) David Attenborough And Prince William In Davos: An Avalanche Warning
Charles Moore, The Spectator, 24 January 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: China’s New Coal Boom As Country Starts Up New Mines

Goodbye To The World Bank’s Misguided War On Cheap Energy

In this newsletter:

1) China’s New Coal Boom As Country Starts Up New Mines
Reuters, 21 January 2019 
 
2) China Spends $36bn On Coal-Fired Power Despite Emissions Goals
Financial Times, 22 January 2019

NZCPR Weekly: Setting the Scene - 2019!

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we reflect on the progress being made by the Labour-led Government and we look at what’s in store for the year ahead, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Bryce Edwards reviews the 2019 predictions made by some of the country’s leading political journalists and commentators, and our poll asks whether the Government is taking New Zealand in the right or wrong direction.

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

GWPF Newsletter - ‘Secret’ Pentagon Report: Climate Catastrophe Due Next Year

New Science Scandal Rocks Climate Research

In this newsletter:

1) ‘Secret’ Pentagon Report: Climate Catastrophe Due Next Year
Paul Matthews, Climate Scepticism, 18 January 2019
 
2) New Science Scandal Rocks Climate Research
Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 20 January 2019

Melanie Phillips: 'No deal" only way forward for Britain

There is no impasse in parliament over Brexit. There is no stalemate. There is no need whatsoever to delay the date the UK is to leave the EU. There is no need to look for alternative ways forward.

MPs themselves mapped out the next step when they passed an act of parliament last year committing the UK to leave the EU on March 29 2019. They did so in full realisation of the fact that, if no deal could be negotiated with the EU on the terms of the UK’s departure, the UK would nevertheless leave regardless. That’s what that law means.

And that remains the case. Nothing about that has changed. The only thing that has changed is that many of those very same MPs now want to pretend they never voted for the UK to leave the EU whether or not a deal had been struck.

Bob Edlin: NZ faces the farcical UN Human Rights Council

Try not to laugh when you see who sits on the UN body that will evaluate NZ’s human rights performance.

The challenge for Justice Minister Andrew Little, when he faces the UN Human Rights Council, will be keeping a straight face.

This outfit has an august-sounding name.  Its membership is a joke.

During his flight to Switzerland to meet the council, Little might care to muse on the Saudi teenager who has been granted asylum in Canada where she arrived amid a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Riyadh over Canadian criticism of Saudi Arabia’s rights record, particularly a recent crackdown on women’s rights activists.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Manipulating the refugee system

Typical refugee/asylum seeker?
No – quite the opposite, in fact – but she knew how to manipulate the system and within days was being welcomed at Toronto Airport by the Canadian Foreign Minister.

You’ve got to hand it to Rahaf al-Qunun. One day, she’s just a Saudi teenager without any claim to distinction holidaying overseas with her family. A few days later, she’s winging her way to a Western country (Canada) where she’s been accepted as a ‘refugee’ and will receive every assistance in settling into that country.

It sure beats hazardous trips across the Mediterranean or through Eastern Europe and waiting for yonks for asylum applications to be processed, not to mention the risk of failure in that endeavour.

How did she do it? It was all quite simple, really. She absconded from her family while on holiday in Kuwait and boarded a plane bound for Thailand. 

GWPF Newsletter: U.S. Democratic Lawmakers Skeptical Of Carbon Tax

U.S. Carbon Taxes Are Facing New Troubles On The Left

In this newsletter:

1) U.S. Democratic Lawmakers Skeptical Of Carbon Tax
Vermont Public Radio, 15 January 2019 
 
2) U.S. Carbon Taxes Are Facing New Troubles On The Left
Axios, 15 January 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: Environmentalists Fear Trump’s Pick Will Reverse World Bank’s Climate Change Focus

Ocean Warming: Inadequate Data, Unknown Errors

In this newsletter:

1) Environmentalists Fear Trump’s Pick Will Reverse World Bank’s Climate Change Focus
Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, 15 January 2019 

2) Terence Corcoran: The Battle For A New World Bank President
Financial Post, 12 January 2019

Matt Ridley: The Pros and Cons of No Deal

Suppose Britain leaves the EU on March 29 with no deal, just a series of last-minute fixes on things such as aviation and data. And suppose it proves to be a fairly damp squib, with a handful of problems, talked up breathlessly by the BBC, but no significant shortages in shops, or disruptions to supply chains.

If that happens, there will be one big benefit to investors and businesses: certainty. Under the prime minister’s deal, we would enter a transition period, during which uncertainty would continue for at least two years, with interminable debates about backstops.

GWPF Newsletter: Heaviest Snowfalls In 100 Years Bring Chaos To Alpine Ski Resorts

Search Starts For New World Bank President

In this newsletter:

1) Heaviest Snowfalls In 100 Years Bring Chaos To Alpine Ski Resorts
The Times, 12 January 2019 
 
2) Snowfall Hasn’t Changed In Nearly 50 Years
Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That, 11 January 2019 

GWPF Newsletter - China: No More Wind Or Solar If It Can't Beat Coal On Price

Britain's Green Deal Fiasco

In this newsletter:

1) China: No More Wind Or Solar If It Can't Beat Coal On Price
Forbes, 10 January 2018
 
2) China’s Electric Car Companies Slump Amid Reports Of Subsidy Cuts
The Economic Times, 9 January 2019

Victor Davis Hanson: The Ironies of Illegal Immigration

Protesters carry American and Mexican flags at immigration-reform march.

Mexico does not explain why its citizens wish to leave their birth country — or why they are eager to enter a country ridiculed by the Mexican press and government.

Estimates suggest that there are eleven million to 13 million Mexican citizens currently living in the United States illegally. Millions more emigrated previously and are now U.S. citizens.

A recent poll revealed that one-third of Mexicans (34 percent) would like to emigrate to the United States. With Mexico having a population of about 130 million, that amounts to some 44 million would-be immigrants.

Such massive potential emigration into the United States makes no sense.

Karl du Fresne: The bias you have when you don't know you have it

At the end of each year, dictionaries like to highlight significant new words or phrases that have entered the English language over the previous 12 months.

The Collins English Dictionary declared “single-use” its word of the year for 2018, a year when disposable plastic supermarket bags became a symbol of wasteful consumerism and environmental harm.

Observant readers will note that “single-use” is actually two words, but then so was “fake news”, which was Collins’ word of the year for 2017.

The Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2017 was “youthquake”, which was defined as “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people”.

Bob Edlin: Ministerial appointments monitor – jobs for the boys (and girls)

The government makes appointments to 429 state sector boards and committees every year, according to Ethnic Communities Minister Jenny Salesa.  This gives Ministers several opportunities to wield power by making appointments or recommending them, creating a perception that appointments are a form of political patronage.

Ministers proudly announce an array of other appointments, such as judges and overseas envoys.

The past week’s announcements include a batch of diplomatic appointments by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.  All the jobs have gone to career diplomats.

Associate Justice Minister Jan Logie drew attention to the first day of work for a Māori advisory group – Te Rōpū – which has been appointed to help transform the whole-of-government response to family violence, sexual violence and violence within whānau.

Did we miss a ministerial announcement of the 10 new appointments?

Clive Bibby: "I'm all right Jack!" - Really!

Those of you as ancient as me will remember the 1959 British film classic " l'm all right Jack" starring Peter Sellers and a long line of fellow famous British comedy actors in an iconic sendup of the British Industrial scene that had become a battleground between the trade unions and the bosses.

That film was one of the first to expose the British class warfare of the 1960's, 70's and 80's that had virtually brought the nation to its knees. I guess the fact that the film itself was a satirical comedy enabled it to make its point without inflaming the tense standoff that characterised the administrations' of Harold Wilson, Ted Heath and James Callaghan before the advent of Margaret Thatcher almost two decades later.

GWPF Newsletter: World Bank’s Kim Abruptly Resigns Amid Differences With Trump Over Climate Change

Europe Is Fast-Becoming A Natural Gas Battleground For Russia And The US

In this newsletter:

1) World Bank’s Kim Abruptly Resigns Amid Differences With Trump Over Climate Change
Reuters, 8 January 2019 
 
2) Reminder: GWPF Report Rocks World Bank Meeting As African Nations & U.S. Question Bank’s Green Energy Policy On Poor
The Zimbabwean, 19 October 2017

GWPF Newsletter - Happy New Year: Green Energy Policies At Risk As UK Treasury Aims To Cut Energy Costs

UK Temperatures Unchanged For More Than A Decade

In this newsletter:

1) Happy New Year: Green Energy Policies At Risk As UK Treasury Aims To Cut Energy Costs
The Times, 7 January 2018
 
2) UK Temperatures Unchanged For More Than A Decade
Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 4 January 2019

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: I cancelled my birthday

Yes, you read that right – I cancelled my birthday. There wasn’t one. There was nothing to either celebrate or commiserate on the 11^th of December.

“Hey, you can’t do that,” I hear someone saying incredulously.

Oh, can’t I now!

We live in a time when what you are is entirely up to you. Get thee behind me, biological determinism!

GWPF Newsletter: Global Temps Drop For Third Year In A Row

The Top 12 Debunked Climate Scares Of 2018

In this newsletter:

1) Global Temps Drop For Third Year In A Row
Dr Roy Spencer, 2 January 2019

2) 2018 Saw A Global Revolt Against Carbon Taxes & Climate Policies
Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 31 December 2018

GWPF: Top 12 Debunked Climate Scares of 2018

January 2018:  Worst-case global warming scenarios not credible: Study

PARIS (AFP) – Earth’s surface will almost certainly not warm up four or five degrees Celsius by 2100, according to a study released Wednesday (Jan 17) which, if correct, voids worst-case UN climate change predictions.

A revised calculation of how greenhouse gases drive up the planet’s temperature reduces the range of possible end-of-century outcomes by more than half, researchers said in the report, published in the journal Nature.

Melanie Phillips: Who Are the Real Isolationists in America?

Ever since President Donald Trump astounded the world by announcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, commentators have been trying to work out the significance of this decision.

Among those conservatives who believe America should make alliances against the enemies of the West and then stand by those allies, there has been shock and consternation. A number of Israeli analysts have expressed similar dismay.

The cause of the concern is obvious. By withdrawing the 2,000 or so U.S. troops stationed in the border area between Iraq, Syria and Jordan, Trump seems be removing a buffer against Iran’s aim to establish a land bridge from Iran to Syria and Lebanon via Iraq.

Gerry Eckhoff: Conscience and the Euthanasia Bill

When the seismic plates of public opinion grind against each other as they inevitably do over complex social issues such as abortion, prostitution, homosexual law reform, gay marriage, the various political parties employ a conscience vote rather than “whip” their MPs into towing the party line.  The Voluntary Euthanasia Bill is the latest of the social issues where MPs are allowed a so called “free vote”. 

It is important to note that our Parliament has adopted a stance of being secular which means the clear separation of church and state.  No laws can be passed based on privilege or preference being given to any religion or religious grouping.  

GWPF Newsletter: 2018 Will Be The First Year With No Violent Tornadoes In U.S.

The High Cost Of Runaway Climate Alarm

In this newsletter:

1) 2018 Will Be The First Year With No Violent Tornadoes In U.S.
Ian Livingston, The Washington Post, 26 December 2018

2) U.S. Climatologist Counters Climate-Disaster Predictions With Sea-Level Report
Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, 27 December 2018