Melanie Phillips: The nightmarish election dilemma

In the coming general election, those of us who are true Brexiteers are facing a potentially nightmarish decision.

If we want to a) get Brexit finally and properly delivered and b) prevent the Labour party from gaining power, for whom do we vote? Because these two aims may well be incompatible with each other.

This is why.

Brian Giesbrecht: Reforming Canada’s Failing Health Care System

Most Canadians think that our healthcare system is a national treasure. One much superior to the system to the south where poor people often don’t get the treatments they need, and the costs can be catastrophic. Instead of focusing on how Canada’s health care system compares to America’s, we should be looking at European systems that offer both better health outcomes and cost effectiveness. 

We have modern hospitals, competent doctors and nurses, and once you are in the system, the care given is usually first class. However, if you are on one of the many long medical waiting lists, then our system fails. You can wait a year or more to see certain specialists. And, if you are held waiting well over a year for a hip or knee transplant – or for a life-saving heart or cancer treatment – our Canadian system is far from first class.

GWPF Newsletter: TV Star Johnny Ball Attacks Climate Hysteria

Block On GM Rice -- A Crime Against Humanity 

In this newsletter:

1) TV Star Johnny Ball Attacks Climate Hysteria
The Courier, 29 October 2019
 
2) Crime Against Humanity: Block On GM Rice ‘Has Cost Millions of Lives And Led to Child Blindness’
The Observer, 26 October 2019 

GWPF Newsletter: Chile Explodes Expensive Climate Policies Spark Mass Riots

Chile’s Violence Has a Worrisome Message for Climate Campaigners And The World

In this newsletter:

1) Chile Explodes: Expensive Climate Policies Spark Mass Riots, Just Like the Yellow Vest Protests in France
James Taylor, The Epoch Times, 25 October 2019
 
2) Chile’s Violence Has a Worrisome Message for Climate Campaigners And The World
The Washington Post, 23 October 2019

Melanie Phillips: Wake up, Brexiteers – BoJo’s deal is what you once called vassalage

Nigel Farage has denounced Boris Johnson’s EU deal as “95 per cent the same” as Theresa May’s withdrawal deal, which was deemed so terrible by Remainers as well as Brexiteers that it was voted down three times by the House of Commons. 

You can watch much of his blistering speech here.

Farage’s verdict, that the Johnson deal is a reheated version of May’s deal, accords completely with what I wrote here on Friday.

He also points out that it would split the UK by effectively imposing a border down the middle of the Irish Sea, thus separating Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Joel Kotkin: Climate Stalinism

The Left’s fixation on climate change is cloaked in scientism, deploying computer models to create the illusion of certainty. Ever more convinced of their role as planetary saviors, radical greens are increasingly intolerant of dissent or any questioning of their policy agenda. They embrace a sort of “soft Stalinism,” driven by a determination to remake society, whether people want it or not—and their draconian views are penetrating the mainstream. 

“Democracy,” a writer for Foreign Policy suggests, constitutes “the planet’s biggest enemy.”

Bob Edlin: $13m granted to teach Siri to speak Te Reo

The Taxpayers Union promptly picked up on the spending of millions of dollars of public money, almost beating the Point of Order Trough Monitor to sound an alert.

The union focussed on just one of four projects to be funded from a trough labelled “Strategic Science Investment Fund”.  This project – to receive $13 million of taxpayers’ money – aims to teach Siri to speak Te Reo.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.10.19

Saturday October 26, 2019

News:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will be attending the land wars commemoration on Monday
This year, it will be held at Te Kōhia pā in Waipā – where the first shots of the New Zealand land wars were fired.

NZCPR Weekly: We've Had Enough

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into the Prime Minister’s alarmism over climate change and the damage such exaggeration creates, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Nicholas Kerr examines the danger to children from global warming scaremongering, and our poll asks whether you believe the Prime Minister’s Zero Carbon Bill will have any impact on the climate.

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

GWPF Newsletter: The New Coal Boom

China Opens 17 New Coal Mines & Increases Coal Imports

In this newsletter:

1) New Coal Boom: China Opens 17 New Coal Mines
The Times, 22 October 2019 
 
2) China's 2019 Coal Imports Set To Rise More Than 10%
Reuters, 22 October 2019

Clive Bibby: An historic month in Tairawhiti

For what it is worth, the following is my reflection on the last month of iconic events in Tairawhiti that included the tri annual local body elections and the first of the Tuia 250 commemorations.

I have mixed feelings about the results of these proceedings but in the case of the local body elections, accept the results as demonstrably fair.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the outcome of the votes for Council and the Health Board had a predictable ring to them - almost without exception, those candidates with the highest profiles received the most votes. Whether they will be able to deliver on their promises remains to be seen but l wish them the best of luck. They have earned the right to try.

The Tuia 250 commemorations are a different matter entirely, although sadly, just as predictable.

Chris Trotter: Paying For Our Pakeha "Guilt" And "Privilege"

PERHAPS THE BEST WAY to assess the quality of the NZ Herald’s “Land of the Long White Cloud” is by studying Tom Clarke’s characterisation of James Cook. Clarke begins by making Cook a member of the British aristocracy. He gives him the accent of Hugh Laurie’s Bertie Wooster, along with most of his mannerisms. Clarke then proceeds to deliver a false description of Cook’s mission – complete with jokes about planting flags and claiming countries. All done with a smile, of course, in the interests of lightening what the series’ creators clearly believe to be a very serious matter. Even so, if you’re trying to dispel some of the myths surrounding New Zealand’s origins, then falsifying the historical record would seem to be a very peculiar way of going about it.

Because James Cook was not a member of the British aristocracy, he was a plain-speaking Yorkshireman of humble origin. 

Karl du Fresne: Never mind democracy - off with his head!

Meng Foon, the recently appointed race relations commissioner, thinks newly elected Tauranga city councillor Andrew Hollis should resign because he said on Facebook that the Treaty of Waitangi was “a joke” and “past its use-by date”. The new mayor of Tauranga, Tenby Powell, agrees.

Never mind that more than 7500 people voted for Hollis, making him the second most popular candidate for the four “at large” council seats. Never mind that many of the people who voted for him quite possibly share his view – rightly or wrongly – about the Treaty.

GWPF Newsletter: Sea-Level Rise from Antarctic Ice Shelves Might Be Overestimated, Study Finds

West Antarctic Ice Sheet Growing As Southern Ocean Warms Slightly

In this newsletter:

1) Antarctic Ice Cliffs May Not Contribute To Sea-Level Rise As Much As Predicted
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office, 21 October 2019 
 
2 ) Great Barrier Reef In Good Shape, Has ‘Vibrant Future’, Reef Authority Says
The Australian, 22 October 2019 

Melanie Phillips: Boris achieves the impossible - putting lipstick on the dead parrot

Ignore all the gushing hype, the incredulous gasps of admiration that Boris (Houdini) Johnson seems to have achieved the impossible and actually agreed with those die-in-the-ditch-intransigent Eurocrats withdrawal terms for the UK to leave the EU. 

There’s only one question that matters. Is this actually Brexit, or is it Brexit in name only which will leave the UK still shackled to the EU? While I reserve final judgment until I’ve had the opportunity to study the small print, it looks horribly like the latter.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.10.19

Saturday October 19, 2019

News:
Korohi o Te Pepi - Singing of the Babies preschool kapa haka
Pre-schoolers sung with enthusiasm, or not at all, at the delightful Korohi o Te Pepi - Singing of the Babies concert.

Nineteen South Canterbury early childhood centres (ECE) participated at the Caroline Bay Hall on Friday. The junior version of the Flava Festival is designed to encourage Māori culture and language.

Bob Edlin: A painful year ahead for NZ First

Expect  the  old  campaigner Winston  Peters to be at  his belligerent  best as he   gears  up for another election.  He’s kept his party alive for 27 years  and  he  shows  no sign  of quitting.

The  omens  may be  bleak—polls  this week  showed  his party below  the  5% threshold– but  Peters  insists   NZ  First’s  own polling puts the party  “comfortably  in the  zone”  to do well.  He told   Radio NZ the  party   is getting  “enormous  support” in the provinces  and  he’ll use  the   conference  to  outline a winning  strategy.

Karl du Fresne: We're big enough to look after ourselves

A long time ago – 1978, to be precise – I wrote an article for The Listener that began something like this: “A funny thing happened at the Department of Maori Affairs recently. They put a Maori in charge”.

The article was about Kara Puketapu, who had the distinction of being only the second Maori to be appointed as head of the department charged with looking after Maori interests.

Today it would be unthinkable for Te Puni Kokiri, as it’s now known, to have a non-Maori in the top job. To appoint a Pakeha would be seen as an intolerable affront to Maori and a throwback to the days of patronising colonialism.

Lindsay Mitchell: The moral imperative to work

I had a discussion with Mike Hosking on NewstalkZB yesterday about why the numbers on Jobseeker continue to escalate. There are at least a couple of trends driving it but Mike was more interested in the political aspect.

Listen here.

NZCPR Weekly: Local Democracy2019

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we review the local body elections and highlight some concerns – including a campaign to lower the voting age, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Gerry Eckhoff exposes the anti-democratic decision by the former Otago Regional Council to appoint unelected and unaccountable Ngai Tahu representatives with full voting rights onto the council committee dealing with freshwater allocation, and our poll asks whether you would support the voting age being lowered to 16.

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

GWPF Newsletter: Britain's Green Shame

Three Million UK Households Already In Energy Debt Ahead Of Winter

In this newsletter:

1) Three Million British Households Already In Energy Debt Ahead Of Winter
Energy Live News, 16 October 2019 
 
2) On Your Utility Bill, The Soaring Price Of Green Gesture Politics
Andrew Montford, The Conservative Woman, 15 October 2019 

Frank Newman: No-show by voters

The coroners report into the 2019 elections will no doubt include a comment about the state of our local democracy: "Vital signs critically low. Bradycardia and bradypnea evident". In other words, voter interest is so low that the majority of folk can't be bothered voting. 

That is particularly relevant for the Auckland mayoralty race where it was essentially a choice between the former Labour Party Minister Phil Goff or the former Labour Party minister John Tamahere. Preliminary figures indicate the turnout is around 35%. The turnout is low virtually everywhere; more than 50% is considered good. The turnout for the Far North and Whangarei District councils is likely to be around 45%.

Guy Steward: On Integrity

I want to use two historically respected figures to look at how the word ‘integrity’ relates to much of what we make out of the past, because looking back on previous accomplishments and errors gives us valuable lessons as we progress into the future.

Of course, we can learn from them and rediscover and improve on what has gone before—an obviously simple concept.

A lot of good writing has emerged putting the past into perspective amongst all the hype and fake history.

Bruce Moon: Looking at Land

Among the subjects on which the history-twisting power-seekers who infest New Zealand today would whip up the emotions of their supporters the major one would certainly be land. The most recent example is of course that of Ihumatao. There we have the self-appointed protest leader, Pania Newton reported as saying: “we are challenging the notion that the government can simply wash its hands of the confiscation of lands that happened in the 1860s, and the devastating effects of this.”[i]  

Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson chimes in, claiming that the dispute represents a: “continuation of colonisation”.[ii]  The protesters’ ‘facebook” page claims that: “we protect this waahi tapu at Ihumaatao”,[iii]  By contrast, tribal leaders  “point out that claims that the land is on ancient burial grounds and is wahi tapu, are deliberately misleading [and that] the land to be built on was used for growing wheat”![iv]

Lindsay Mitchell: The road to hell is paved with good intentions

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

The Child Poverty Action Group has a list of goals it believes will improve outcomes for New Zealand children.

They are:

• Substantially improve core benefits;
• Remove harsh sanctions that impact on children;
• Ensure that all benefits and all part of Working for Families (WFF) are indexed annually to prices and wages;
• Remove the hours of paid work criteria from the WFF In-Work Tax Credit and extend it to all low-income families;
• Treat adults in the benefit system as individuals without penalising them for being in a partnership;
• Focus on what will give children better outcomes and less on moving their carers into paid work; and
• Ensure that applicants receive all the assistance to which they are entitled.

Gerry Eckhoff: Submission on Freshwater

NZ is the only 1st world country that relies on our primary industries for this designation. In order to achieve the “omelette” for health, education, welfare, indeed all of the social needs of our country, there needs to be an industrial base that can provide for these essential needs. In NZ , that requires use of our natural capital – especially land and water. 

I note the Ministry for the Environment have called 16 public meetings and a similar number with iwi. As for the directly impacted - rural NZ – there are 5 meetings. Just 5. That sets the tone for the outcomes of this so-called consultation. 

NZCPR Weekly: Fake History

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine concerns that the Government’s proposed compulsory New Zealand history curriculum could be used to indoctrinate children, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Chris Trotter outlines the sinister agenda of Maori nationalists seeking control of New Zealand, and our poll asks whether you share concerns that the new curriculum will be used to teach fake history.

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

Breaking Views Update: Week of 6.10.19

Saturday October 12, 2019

News:
Iwi shock at uni job cut plans
Plans to cut academic jobs from the Department of Marine Science are "disconcerting" and a shock to iwi members who regularly collaborate with scientists, a Puketeraki marae elder says.

Emeritus Prof Khyla Russell, of Karitane, sits on the Ngai Tahu Research Consultation Committee and is on the runanga for the coastal East Otago Taiapure fishery, established by the local hapu.

GWPF Newsletter - Climate Rebellion: Ten Countries Block EU Climate Target Change

German Government Waters Down Climate Bill 

In this newsletter:

1) Climate Rebellion: Ten Countries Block EU Climate Target Change
EurActiv, 7 October 2019
 
2) German Government Waters Down Climate Bill
Deutsche Welle, 7 October 2019

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Vaccination and parental rights – choosing the lesser evil

When I have a major decision to make about my life, I cast a horoscope.

I am perfectly within my rights to do this whatever the nature of the decision, including whether to submit myself for medical treatment. Unless I can be shown to lack mental competence, I can refuse even life-saving treatment, and the medics would have to go along with it – I don’t actually have to give reasons at all.

And of course I can use the same approach to decision-making when it comes to my kids. After all, they are an extension of me. It’s my parental right, right?

Um, no, not quite.

Stephen Franks: UK Supreme Court prorogue decision

I was surprised, like most lawyers I suspect, that the UK Supreme Court decision was unanimous.  A few recent days in London soaking up the fevered writings of UK journalists left no doubt that judges steeped in London establishment sentiment would be tempted to consider it God’s work to throw a spanner in Boris Johnson’s spokes if they could.

But I assumed that at least some would affirm the approach of the High Court below, with the traditional caution about entanglement in matters that should be resolved politically. For centuries such judicial restraint that has helped keep UK courts and judges somewhat insulated from waves of popular dissatisfaction with politics and politicians.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 29.09.19

Saturday October 5, 2019

News:
Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage celebrated for Tuia 250
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne.

“Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 years ago,” Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said.

Karl du Fresne: The rise of militant veganism

My wife and I don’t always agree about things; just choosing a paint colour for the bathroom can take months. But we celebrated a moment of instant accord over breakfast recently.

In front of us was a newspaper account of the black-clad vegan protesters who formed a line in front of the meat shelves in an Auckland supermarket. Shoppers who were prevented from buying meat reportedly lost their patience, lashing out at the protesters.

Bob Edlin: Children's Commissioner Supports Lower Voting Age

Andrew Becroft reckons we are too young and impulsive at age 17 to be treated as adults in court – but we are fit to vote at age 16

The recently launched ‘Make It 16’ campaign – aimed at lowering the voting age in New Zealand to 16 – has support from Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft.

Becroft said lowering the voting age would enhance turnout, ingrain the habit of voting and uphold young people’s rights.

NZCPR Weekly: State Control

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we outline how the Labour-led Government is taking New Zealand down the path to socialism and we look into their latest attack on firearm owners, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Bronwyn Howell explains how Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call is leading to social engineering by internet platforms, and our poll asks whether you think State control in New Zealand is excessive.

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

GWPF Newsletter - 2019: Arctic Ice Demise Deferred Again

Anti-Climate Policy Revolt Rocks Europe As Dutch Farmers Rise Up

In this newsletter:

1) Arctic Ice Demise Deferred Again
Ron Cluz, Science Matters, 2 October 2019
 
2) ‘There Is No Climate Emergency,’ Hundreds Of Scientists & Engineers Tell U.N.
Valerie Richardson- The Washington Times, 29 September 2019

Bruce Moon: Death Ship Comment and Response

Stuff article: Waikato academic calls Endeavour a “death ship”

A Waikato University academic has labelled Captain James Cook's HMB Endeavour a "death ship".

Dr Arama Rata, a senior research fellow, said the arrival of the replica Endeavour represents a re-enactment of the invasion of Māori land.