Melanie Phillips: The Collapse of the Conservative Vote

One by one, even hitherto staunch Brexiteers are falling away under the pressure of Mrs May’s blackmail tactics. They are abandoning a diminishing and heroic core of principled patriots to defend Britain’s democracy and stand fast in the desperate and nightmarish struggle that has developed to restore the UK’s sovereign power to govern itself.

Even Jacob Rees-Mog and Boris Johnson are now suggesting they might back Mrs May’s deal, which may be brought back to the Commons for a third Meaningful Vote on Friday – the day on which, as is stated in an act of parliament, the UK will leave the EU at 11 pm (although there is some legal argument in the wings over whether or not Mrs May’s extension agreement overrides this departure date in UK law, most observers seem to think it does).

Graeme Edwards: Taxes Anchored

We have much to thank the ancient Greeks and Romans for - the concept and practice of Democracy is an outstanding example, lasting as it has for many centuries.

Churchill allegedly claimed it to be ‘the least worst form of governance’ and a quick review of other forms  of governance confirms his assertion.

Nonetheless like all great Western ideas it has been subject to abuse and along with its many strengths, has weaknesses. Perhaps the most common weakness is the practice of hopeful candidates for election enticing voters with extravagant promises that they neither can nor have any intention of fulfilling. 

Tom Switzer: A tectonic shift to the left in the Australian political landscape

Australia is entering a new political era. Unless conservatives and genuine liberals make persuasive counter-arguments, we could be in the midst of a fundamental realignment in the Australian cultural landscape that entrenches progressive shibboleths for a generation.

It’s a far cry from the Howard years (1996-2007). In those days, it was those on the ideological left who were in a despondent mood, because conservatives increasingly represented the political mainstream.

For a man routinely described as lacking charisma, John Howard managed to hit just the right tone. He showed that integration was the key to social cohesion. Citizenship tests were born. The republic was passe.

GWPF Newsletter - New Report: Green Energy Economy Is Simply ‘Impossible’

China Boosts Coal Mining Capacity Despite Climate Pledges

In this newsletter:

1) New Report: Green Energy Economy Is Simply ‘Impossible’
Mark P. Mills, Manhattan Institute, 26 March 2019
 
2) China Boosts Coal Mining Capacity Despite Climate Pledges
Reuters, 26 March 2019

Bruce Moon: An Open Letter to Two Associate Professors at Waikato University

Dear Associate Professor Leonie Pihama and Associate Professor Tom Roa,

You have both seized the opportunity you perceive in the recent appalling tragedy in Christchurch to present what one of you calls “colonial terror and violence since 1642”[1] with the other saying “Maori had been victims to acts of terrorism in Aotearoa in the past”.[2] And Police Deputy Commissioner of Maori and Ethnic Services Wally Haumaha chimes in, about “historical killings of Maori at different times and across the country during early colonisation”.[3]

NZCPR Weekly: The Politicisation of a Tragedy

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into how the Christchurch tragedy is being politicised by activists and the Government, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Karl du Fresne explains how a moral panic is being created to justify restrictive law changes, and our poll asks whether you believe the Chief Censor was correct in banning the alleged killer’s ‘manifesto’ explaining why he carried out the attacks.

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

COMMENTS:

Comment on Editorial “An Agenda Change”:

Muriel Newman should be congratulated for her article on the political exploitation of the tragic events in Christchurch; and just how the socialists/Greens have taken advantage of this situation to pillory the majority of us as “White Supremacists” and therefore supporters of terrorism.

The fact that is, that under both Labour and National administrations this country has for some considerable time been financing one the most violent and bloody Terrorist Regime in Gaza. Namely Hamas, this “aid” is sent under the guise that it will help the poor and afflicted occupants of that State.

Systematically since the Labour/Green coalition came into power, it has engendered a policy of hatred against Israel. This is a campaign to promote the Jewish state as the villain of the Middle East, which will, endear our Prime Minister even further in the United Nation; and as some have suggested, a Nobel Prize for Peace!

This came to a ahead when our delegation voted against Israel in the UN which in fact was a very obvious ploy to support Islam.

It is evident that anti-Semitism is a strategic integral part of both their socialistic policy, similar in context to the British Labour Party under its present leadership!

The statement by our Prime Minister that any such repeat of this Christchurch massacre must never happen again is a misguided attempt to assure the general populace. Experience of lone wolf terrorist attacks overseas has shown this to be impossible.

Now we see the aftermath of Christchurch turning into a pathway for rabid Iwi aspirations, a hatred of the “white colonialists” all with the purpose of weakening our democracy. It is a prelude to a situation that will occur should Dame Susan Devoy’s call for a “Hate Speech Law” be passed in this country.

The question of such a law being implemented raises issues on our right to Freedom of Speech, the written word, and is a replica of an Orwellian 1984.

In the event of such a threat turning into a reality, it would be grounds for a total governmental control of our media. The very existence of such independent outlets as the Spectator, Sky News Australia, Facebook and the NZCPR would be curtailed, even threatened; and be subjected in the final analysis to left wing censorship.

...“Just after the Christchurch massacre Sky News NZ withdrew SkyNews Australia news channel 85, and substituted a sports edition. I contacted Sky News NZ and was informed that this was in sympathy with what had happened! Later I was also contacted by an officer from that organisation, who informed me that this decision was taken by the Directors of SKYNZ.”...

This raises the legal question of censorship especially when all this went viral beyond our shores. In a Western Democracy the people have a right to know the full details of such an attack. It should not be forbidden on the flimsy pretext that it would be prejudicial to any trial.

The question arises is why we, the general public, cannot be trusted to view this video/manifesto; when outside these shores non New Zealanders have had access to both? If the video presentation is so horrific it is no different to similar “entertainment shows” now visible on our Television.

Are we then so naive, so innocent to judge for ourselves on the full horror of this attack? Or is there a more sinister motive behind the Government’s heavy handed penalties of even possessing this video and manifesto?

What next? Are we to have a banning and burning of books as in Fascist and Communist countries? Such an act would be more in common and reminiscent of the World’s Totalitarian States!

Brian

Bob Edlin: Yep, that’s what Peters said...

Green  MP  Golriz  Ghahraman  spoke movingly  in Parliament  during the debate  on the motion of condolence  to families of mosque victims, recalling  how as a  nine-year-old  she and her family  were  welcomed in Auckland as they  “escaped  oppression at the risk of  torture”.  

“We had lived through a war, and I will never forget being that nine-year-old girl on the escalator at Auckland Airport with my frightened parents.  We weren’t turned back. We were welcomed here. So I want to thank every single New Zealander—hundreds of thousands of people—who came out over the last three days, who stood on the right side of history for our values of inclusion and love”.

Then  she   issued a  challenge  to her  fellow  MPs.  She contended that politicians bear some responsibility for the shootings that killed 50 people at two mosques on Friday.

World’s Green Energy Transition In Doubt As Progress Stalls

Greta Thunberg Banned From Speaking In European Parliament

In this newsletter:

1) World’s Green Energy Transition In Doubt As Progress Stalls
World Economic Forum, 25 March 2019 
 
2) Greta Thunberg Banned From Speaking In European Parliament
EurActiv, 25 March 2019 

Clive Bibby: Moving on after the massacre - how do we do that?

I guess the antidote for avoiding any future horrific events like the Christchurch massacre is to ensure every citizen or group feels  included as valuable members of society.

  

Indeed the outpouring of sympathy and aroha which was this nation's response to the tragedy is evidence that kiwis are committed to the changes necessary that will make this happen - or are they?

  

Actually, l'm not so sure that is the intent of all of us which, if it were true, has to be of equal concern to the emergence of any white supremacists in this country.

GWPF Newsletter: Germany Kills Ambitious EU Climate Plan

Climate Change Splits U.S. Democrats As Divisions Deepen

In this newsletter:

1) Germany Kills Ambitious EU Climate Plan
GWPF, Forbes & EU Council, 22 March 2019

2) Franco-German Alliance Splinters Over Climate Policy
Politico, 22 March 2019

Viv Forbes: The Greatest Generation VS the Greenest Generation

My grandfather was part of the Great Generation. Toughened by wars and depression they were patriotic nation builders.

Their monuments are long-term productive assets like the Mount Isa and Broken Hill mines, smelters and refineries, the Wollongong Steelworks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the transcontinental railway, the overland telegraph line, the Yallourn coal mines and Power stations, the Renison and Mt Lyell mines and railways, the Kalgoorlie Goldfields, the Weipa and Gladstone bauxite industries, Pilbara Iron, the Perth-Kalgoorlie pipeline, the Kidman Cattle Empire, the world’s biggest merino flock, QANTAS, the Holden car, the Sunshine Harvester and a network of roads, railways, towns, power lines, ports and airports. 

Melanie Phillips: An Orwellian Frenzy

It’s not often that I find myself in the same boat as Chelsea Clinton.

At a vigil in New York for the 50 Muslims slaughtered by a gunman at two New Zealand mosques, Clinton was accused by students of being a cause of the massacre.

The reason for this ludicrous charge was staggering. It was that she had criticized the antisemitic tweet by Rep. Ilhan Omar suggesting that Jews use their money to suborn American politicians in the interests of Israel.

“Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there,” an astounded Clinton was told by Muslim student Leen Dweik.

GWPF Newsletter: Climate Sceptical Party Is Biggest Winner In Dutch Elections

Summit Leak Reveals EU Rift On Climate Change As Germany Joins East Block

In this newsletter:

1) Climate Sceptical Party Is The Big Winner In Dutch Elections
Dutch News, 21 March 2019

2) Summit Leak Reveals EU Rift On Climate Change As Germany Joins East Block
EurActiv, 21 March 2019

Frank Newman: Extremism

I had intended to write about the proposed capital gains tax. That topic seems a little trivial following the recent events in Christchurch.

It seems more appropriate to address ‘extremism’. It's ugly and destructive and can sometimes be tragic, as we have witnessed on World News over the years, but now more closely in our own back yard. Last week it was others around the world who were watching our tragedy on their TVs.

I applaud and admire the manner in which our Prime Minister has led the country during this time of crisis and grieving. And I applaud the nation for supporting those directly affected by the actions of what appears on the face of it to be a lone extremist.

I’m not sure that I fully agree with the PM describing the actions of this individual as "terrorism", simply because I am no longer sure how to define it. Terrifying yes, but this nutcase does not appear to be part of an organisation. 

NZCPR Weekly: United We Stand

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we stand by the bereaved and the people of Christchurch as we look into the implications of the tragedy for New Zealand going forward, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Barry Soper questions the actions of our intelligence agencies, and our poll asks whether you agree that the Prime Minister’s review into the Christchurch shooting should take the form of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

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

Karl du Fresne: Long Bay - a reminder of what we value about living in New Zealand

I’m writing this column in a camping ground at Long Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

It’s Sunday morning. From where our caravan is parked I could almost spit into the sea, if I were of a mind to.

There are bush-covered headlands to the north and south of the bay and pohutukawa trees line the shore. Last night I heard the quintessential New Zealand nocturnal sound of a ruru (morepork) calling.

At the moment the tide is out and I can see kids fossicking on the rocks. The floating platform that people were diving from when we arrived here yesterday is virtually high and dry.

Clive Bibby: Who should we blame?

The aftermath of the Christchurch tragedy is already showing us that too often we learn nothing from events that should have taught us much about ourselves.

If that proves to be the case here, then it will be a wasted opportunity to do something positive in memory of those individuals who were mercilessly gunned down in an environment that should have been amongst one of our most protected.

Alas, we now know that those sort of naive assumptions about even our places of worship were misplaced. In one act of "infamy", the terrorist has shattered all the preconceived ideas about the shrinking number of areas on the planet that could be regarded as safe havens.

GWPF Newsletter: Record Snowfall Across Himalayas Blamed On … Global Warming

The BBC’s Age Of Denial

In this newsletter:

1) Record Snowfall Across Himalayas Blamed On … Global Warming
GWPF & Press Trust of India, 19 March 2019 
 
2) Climate Committee Chairman Is Paid £500,000 From Green Companies Set To Profit From New Policy He Helped To Push Through
David Rose, Mail on Sunday, 17 March 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: Political Climate Change Hits Brussels

European Conservatives Dismiss Higher Climate Target As Left-Wing ‘Propaganda’

In this newsletter:

1) European Conservatives Dismiss Higher Climate Target As Left-Wing ‘Propaganda’
EU Observer, 14 March 2019
 
2) Dutch Govt Election Panic Prompts Sudden U-Turn On Climate Plan
De Telegraaf, 14 March 2019

Melanie Phillips: Brexit Update

There are reports in today’s papers that the Attorney-General, Geoffrey Cox, is having secret talks with the DUP to persuade them that there is a way out of the Irish backstop trap after all.

It was the Attorney’s opinion on Tuesday that, despite the EU’s concessions on the backstop, the legal risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop with “no internationally lawful means of exiting” except with the EU’s agreement “remained unchanged”.

His blunt assessment provoked government fury that he had thus failed to provide the Brexiteers with a legal ladder from which they could climb down off their rejectionist tree. Mrs May’s deal was accordingly heavily defeated.

The Partnership Deception

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into the deception that underpins race-based privilege including proposed exemptions from a capital gains tax, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Anthony Willy explains why the claims by Maori that a capital gains tax would breach the Treaty of Waitangi are based on a false premise, and our poll asks whether you support capital gains tax exemptions based on race.

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

GWPF Newsletter: Climate Wars May Bring Down Yet Another Australian Prime Minister

Ireland: Parties At War Over Carbon Tax Increases

In this newsletter:

1) Climate Wars May Bring Down Yet Another Australian Prime Minister
The Australian, 12 March 2019
 
2) Ireland: Parties At War Over Carbon Tax Increases
The Independent, 11 March 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: Second Wave of U.S. Shale Revolution Is Coming, Says IEA

Maine Becomes The Most Recent Blue State To Reject A Carbon Tax

In this newsletter:

1) Second Wave of U.S. Shale Revolution Is Coming, Says IEA
The Wall Street Journal, 11 April 2019 
 
2) America Set To Surpass Saudi Arabia In ‘Remarkable’ Oil Milestone
CNN, 8 March 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: EU Leaders Fear Rising Energy Prices Will Boost Populist Parties In European Elections

As Energy Prices Rise Sharply, Dutch Turn Climate Sceptical

In this newsletter:

1) As Energy Prices Rise Sharply, Dutch Turn Climate Sceptical
NL News, 7 March 2019

2) Carbon Taxes May Decide Dutch Elections 
NL Times, 8 March 2019

Bob Edlin: All votes are equal on this regional council working group – but some are more equal than others

Here’s hoping the Greater Wellington Regional Council makes a better fist of restoring its eco-systems than it has done of overhauling its bus service.

But in establishing a consultative working group to develop the Wellington Regional Biodiversity Framework, it has brought curious ideas about “share” and “partnership” into considerations.

Clearly it has been infected by the same urge to foster co-governance that has swept through the country’s local authorities in recent years.

The working group will include three members who will cast TWO votes each, when it comes to electing the co-chairs.  The other 12 or so members will get one vote.

Any guesses about who might get two votes?

Barry Soper: Bit rich for Cullen to call Key a 'rich prick'

It's a bit rich (with rich being the operative word) for Sir Michael Cullen to have once called John Key a rich prick, when he seems to be doing the best to become one himself.

Is there any wonder why at the end of interviews over his Tax Working Group's report he politely says it was his pleasure.

That's because the cash register begins ticking over the moment he's approached to clarify aspects of his group's comprehensive report - and it will continue long after the Government's finally given its view of the report at the end of April.

Matt Ridley: Laundered Lies

‘The whole aim of practical politics,’ wrote H.L. Mencken, ‘is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’ 

Newspapers, politicians and pressure groups have been moving smoothly for decades from one forecast apocalypse to another (nuclear power, acid rain, the ozone layer, mad cow disease, nanotechnology, genetically modified crops, the millennium bug…) without waiting to be proved right or wrong.

Increasingly, in a crowded market for alarm, it becomes necessary to make the scares up. More and more headlines about medical or environmental panics are based on published scientific papers, but ones that are little more than lies laundered into respectability with a little statistical legerdemain. 

Karl du Fresne: 2018 - the year of white noise

It’s said that when someone once asked the Chinese communist leader Zhou Enlai about the impact of the French Revolution, he replied that it was too soon to say.

This was in the 1970s, nearly 200 years after the event.

The message from this is that historical patterns emerge slowly and it’s unwise to draw conclusions too soon. Nonetheless I’m going to stick my neck out and predict that 2018 will be recorded as the year when New Zealand was irrevocably drawn into the so-called culture wars – the global contest between neo-Marxists, who view Western civilisation as rotten and oppressive, and the upholders of traditional mainstream values and beliefs.  

NZCPR Weekly: The Politics of a Capital Gains Tax

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look at the politics of a capital gains tax and delve further into the detail of the Tax Working Group’s proposal, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Frank Newman assesses the so-called ‘fairness’ of the proposed capital gains tax, and our poll asks whether you believe the proposed capital gains tax is an attack on the Kiwi way of life.

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

GWPF Newsletter: Europe Split Over Its Own Green Deal As Germany Urges Prudence

2019 Global Temps Prediction: The Entries Are In

In this newsletter:

1) Europe Split Over Its Own Green Deal As Germany Urges Prudence
Bloomberg, 4 March 2019 
 
2) The Green New Deal Isn’t Going Anywhere Soon
Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 5 March 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: WWF’s Secret War

Green NGO Funds Guards Who Have Tortured And Killed People

In this newsletter:

1) WWF’s Secret War: One Of The World’s Biggest Green NGO Funds Guards Who Have Tortured And Killed People
BuzzFeed News, 4 March 2019 
 
2) An Israeli Company May Have Solved The World’s Water Problems For Good
Jerusalem Post, 4 March 2019 

Bob Edlin: ‘Democracy’ rhetoric suggests Greens will oppose Ngai Tahu power grab – but let’s not count on it

The Green Party’s urge to strengthen our democracy through a Member’s Bill, the Electoral Strengthening Democracy Bill, should portend Green willingness to try to stall a Ngai Tahu power grab in Canterbury.  But don’t hold your breath.

Green electoral reform spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman, who is introducing the bill, said New Zealand proudly has a strong democratic system  – but

“… there is definitely room for improvement to ensure we have the best democratic system possible and that access is fair”.

And: “The Bill seeks to stop unfair influence and potential corruption in politics.”

GWPF Newsletter - Matt Ridley: The Rise Of Fake Science

Climate Law Threatens To Blow Apart Germany’s Coalition Government

In this newsletter:

1) Matt Ridley: The Rise Of Fake Science
The Spectator, 28 February 2019
 
2) Climate Law Threatens To Blow Apart Germany’s Coalition Government
Politico, 28 February 2019 

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Reining in the blustering Beijing bully

Most of us don’t like bullies. We all have memories of them from our childhood, when we were most vulnerable to their thuggery in the school playground, or locations outside school where they would accost and terrorise other kids.

To be a bully, one has to be totally self-centred and commensurately dismissive of the feelings and rights of others. Bullies seek psychological and material gratification through intimidation and violence. Popular wisdom has it that they are cowards at heart, and accordingly ensure that their quarry is comparatively powerless by virtue of physical prowess or being outnumbered.

Bullying is a reality on the international stage too, where the big and powerful coerce weaker countries into making concessions to their own detriment. The price of noncompliance – economic or military action against them – leaves them little choice.

Martin Devlin: Small Businesses beware!

Our Prime Minister assures farmers and small business owners that they have “nothing to fear’ from a proposed capital gains tax.

But they have much to fear.

Why? Because small businesses already have to deal with an overwhelmingly onerous, highly regressive, taxation compliance regime, to which they must conform, at considerable cost ,with significant financial and personal penalties if they do not.

These include company tax; income tax on salaries and drawings; fringe benefit tax; goods and services tax(GST); ACC levys; resident withholding tax on investments or dividends such as a shareholding in a partnering business; imputation tax issues; employer subsidy contributions ;the cost of filing annual returns; franchise fees. The list goes on and on.

Mike Hosking: Capital Gains Tax a train wreck driven by a naive Government

The Capital Gains Tax train wreck is all the evidence you need this is a Government that didn't have a plan.

Why are we here? Because they'd tried this before, got burned twice - and still didn't learn the lesson.

Jacinda Ardern personally overrode her party and ran this policy last election to be enacted by now. But she got dragged kicking and screaming into a cupboard and was subdued to the point where she acquiesced, and promised nothing before 2020, then flick it off to a working group.

Barry Soper: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in state of shock at reaction to Capital Gains Tax plan

If you thought the Government (well more correctly the Labour Party) is hell-bent on committing political suicide you'd be wrong.

The Beehive is reeling and sitting in the top office of the ever diminishing building Jacinda Ardern's in a state of shock at the reaction to the Taxation Working Group's report.

Ardern will be regretting ever making the "captain's call" during the last election campaign with her insistence there'll be a capital gains tax in the first term of her Government. There was almost a mutiny, with her lieutenant Grant Robertson taking charge by reining in the political novice and getting taxation off the political agenda for the time being.

Brian Gaynor: Tax plan likely to go the way of the Titanic

The recommendations from the Tax Working Group (TWG) clearly show that the New Zealand stock exchange can't win a trick.

Just four weeks after the NZX and Financial Markets Authority announced a joint study to "focus on accelerating the growth of our capital market", the TWG has kneecapped the initiative.

This is because the group's proposed capital gains tax (CGT) will encourage individual investors and fund managers to invest in global sharemarkets rather than the NZX and ASX.

The accompanying table, which compares after-tax sharemarket returns over a 12-month period, illustrates this point.