Mike Butler: Hidden slaughter revealed

Unrestrained slaughter – The Maori Musket Wars 1800-1840 is a brief account of a gruesome chapter in New Zealand history in which Maori killed about one third of their people.

Maori tribes have a long history of fighting each other since they arrived in New Zealand around 1250AD. Each new influx of arrivals from the islands found numerous people living here, many of whom were killed so that the newcomers could take over.

In Maori society, there were many reasons to take up arms. Tribes needed to hold on to their land and food resources so had to repel attacks. Young men were trained for war and lived to establish a reputation by success on the battlefield.

GWPF Newsletter: Governments Begin Rollback Of Climate Ambitions

In this newsletter:

1) Russia Pledges To Increase CO2 Emissions By 2030
Reuters, 27 March 2020

 

2) Japan Cools On Global Warming, Pledges Not To Increase Paris Targets
Press Association, 30 March 2020

Mike Butler: Busting the Parihaka myth

The story of the so-called Parihaka “invasion” on November 5, 1881, on the coastal side of Mount Egmont-Taranaki, is all about colonial power and injustice was imposed on Maori peacefully resisting the confiscation of their land, right? Actually, wrong.

A new book by publisher John McLean goes beyond the self-serving oral histories that the Waitangi Tribunal relies on to tell the story as written by people who saw what happened in Taranaki in the late 19th century.

Mike Butler: A lock-down, a model, and the flu

Evidence has emerged to show that the current lock-down that has crippled the New Zealand economy is based a possible scenario predicted in a model, the assumptions of which have been contradicted by expert medical opinion.

The model, created by British scientist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, predicted that 2.2 million Americans and more than half a million Brits would be killed. (1)

He said that that if the US and UK did not shut down for 18 months, and isolation measures were not taken, “we would expect a peak in mortality (daily deaths) to occur after approximately three months.” His “models” showed overflowing hospitals and ICU beds.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 22.03.20

Saturday March 28, 2020

News:
Iwi enforce border protection across country
From the Far North to East Cape and Auckland, iwi have begun to put in place rāhui to protect their territories from infection by visitors or returning locals.

Robert Carling: The economic tragedy of COVID-19

The Covid-19 virus (CV-19) is first and foremost a health crisis. But it is fast becoming an economic crisis as well. Some observers are asking whether the economic damage will be greater than the health damage. One commentator observed that “we are deliberately destroying our economy to slow the spread.” 

When the health damage could involve a large scale death toll, many people will rush to the judgement that any economic cost is a price worth paying — even if they think about it at all. That seems to be the consensus so far — but it may not stay that way as the potential enormity of the cost becomes more visible by the day and people accustomed to freedom bridle at draconian restrictions tying them to their homes and shutting down their businesses.

Bob Edlin: Do iwi roadblocks signal a policing “partnership”?

The proposition that our Police are paving the way for a partnership in which former MP Hone Harawira and other iwi leaders police communities within the borders they define went unchallenged when put to press officers working for the Prime Minister and the Police.

The picture painted in the preceding paragraph was drawn from Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha’s statement on road blocks Harawira set up in Northland to check tourists’ health.  He declared:

” … we want to model what it looks like when iwi, police, councils and other agencies work in partnership”. 

But nether the Police nor the Prime Minister’s Office directly answered questions put to them by Point of Order about the legality of Harawira’s blocking public roads while policing the a border which he presumably established.

Garrick Tremain Cartoon: Newspapers!

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on the state of newspapers in New Zealand today!

CLICK TO VIEW

Matt Ridley: A vaccine for coronavirus isn't going to ride rapidly to our rescue

In 1934, in their spare time, two American biologists, Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering, developed a vaccine for whooping cough, then the biggest killer of children in the United States. Within four years their vaccine was being used throughout Michigan and within six it was being used nationwide. Whooping cough rapidly retreated.

Since then there have been spectacular advances in biology, including the identification of the genetic material, the ability to read its code, an understanding of the structure of viruses and the proteins from which they are made, plus knowledge of how immunity works. 

So why are we facing a wait of at least a year, maybe much more, for a vaccine for coronavirus? It has been one of the shocks of recent weeks to realise how little progress vaccine development has made. It’s still a bit of an art.

Karl du Fresne: Harawira's opportunistic try-on in the Far North

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. Hone Harawira and his mates are manning checkpoints on main highways in the Far North to intercept tourists and turn them back, ostensibly to protect their people from Covid-19. He describes it as a border-closing exercise. 

And the police, whose statutory duty is to maintain law and order, appear to have meekly gone along with this brazen usurpation of their authority by a failed MP (he was tossed out by his own Maori voters in 2014) with no legal mandate whatsoever. 

So too, we are told, has the local mayor, former National MP John Carter.

GWPF Newsletter: Diplomats Signal End Of Europe’s Green Deal In Attempt To Save EU Economy

US Democrats Retreat On Using Coronavirus Relief Bill For Green New Deal

In this newsletter:

1) Diplomats Signal End Of Europe’s Green Deal In Attempt To Save EU Economy
Reuters, 25 March 2020
 
2) Europe's Car Industry Faces Unprecedented Crisis, 14 Million Jobs At Stake
Autocar Professional, 25 March 2020

GWPF Newsletter: Coronavirus Has Killed Europe's Green Deal

U.N. Shifts Focus From Climate Change To Coronavirus

In this newsletter:

1) Coronavirus Throws EU’s Green Deal Into Disarray
Dave Keating, Forbes, 24 March 2020

2) EU Carbon Market Faces Collapse As Electricity Demands Drops
EurActiv, 24 March 2020

NZCPR Weekly: A Country in Lockdown

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look at the Government’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic and share details showing what New Zealand could have been doing to contain the virus without having to destroy our economy, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Professor Dale Fisher explains how Singapore has contained the virus without shutting the country down, and our poll asks whether you have confidence in Jacinda Ardern’s leadership over COVID-19.

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

GWPF Newsletter: The Biggest CO2 Test Ever

Pandemic Crisis: Bavarian Prime Minister Calls For Suspension Of Carbon Tax & Green Energy Subsidies

In this newsletter:

1) Is the COVID-19 Economic Downturn Affecting Atmospheric CO2? Mauna Loa Data Say, Not Yet
Roy W. Spencer, 22 March 2020

2) Bavarian Prime Minister Calls For Suspension Of Carbon Tax & Green Energy Subsidies

No Tricks Zone, 20 March 2020

Frank Newman: Lifeline for Air NZ as market crashes

For the second time in 20 years the government has bailed out Air New Zealand.

Last time was in 2002 when the government stumped up with $885 million - $300 million in interest bearing equity (preference shares) at 24 cents a share and $585 million in new shares at 27 cents. Interest was paid in new equity rather than cash. 

The effect was the Crown ended up with an 82% stake. The rescue followed the Company reporting a $1.425 billion loss after its ill-fated investment in Ansett Australia. It returned to profitability in 2003. 

Matt Ridley: We are about to find out how robust civilisation is

The hardships ahead will be like nothing we have ever known.

On Sunday, lonely as a cloud, I wandered across a windswept moor in County Durham and passed a solitary sandstone rock with a small, round hollow in the top, an old penny glued to the base of the hollow. It is called the Butter Stone and it’s where, during the plague in 1665, coins were left in a pool of vinegar by the inhabitants of nearby towns and villages, to be exchanged with farmers for food. The idea was that the farmer or his customer approached the rock only when the other was at a safe distance.

Four modern coins were on the rock, anonymous offerings to the spirits of the moor. Never once in my six decades did I expect to be back in a 17th-century world of social and physical distancing as a matter of life and death.

GWPF Newsletter - BBC: Have UK Experts Over-Egged Coronavirus Deaths?

"Heated" Debate Between Scientists Forced Boris Johnson To Act On Coronavirus

In this newsletter:

1) BBC: Have UK Experts Over-Egged Coronavirus Deaths?
BBC News, 21 March 2020

2) Ten Days That Changed Britain: "Heated" Debate Between Scientists Forced Boris Johnson To Act On Coronavirus
Alex Wickham, BuzzFee, 21 March 2020

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Get PM and ministers up to speed on coronavirus details

The Government better sit the PM and the health minister down and get them across the details of our coronavirus response.

I am astonished at what these two key ministers don't know.

Our Health Minister doesn't know how many testing kits there are in this country.

We have been asking about this for days, because we're being told behind the scenes we only have limited supplies.

GWPF Newsletter: The Risks of Contracting Mass Hysteria

Why Panicky Pandemic Measures Can Lead To ‘Behavioural Fatigue’ And Societal Disaster

In this newsletter:

1) Do We Suffer ‘Behavioural Fatigue’ For Pandemic Prevention Measures?
Mind Hacks, 20 March 2020
 

2) Green Deal Facing Delays Due To Coronavirus, EU Admits

EurActiv, 19 March 2020

Breaking Views Update: Week of 15.03.20

Saturday March 21, 2020

News:
Whanau a Apanui draws up aukati line 
Eastern Bay of Plenty iwi Te Whānau ā Apanui is considering closing off its borders to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Raukokore chair Willie Te Aho says the idea will be discussed by the 12 hapū this afternoon.

He says to protect kaumatua, people will be able to travel through but not stay.

Murray Reid: Rangiaowhia - Fact and Fiction

The writer has grandchildren who descend from Thomas Power and Rahapa te Hauata. She was present during the events of that day. When discussing this fact with a senior Maori leader in North Waikato I was shocked to learn, “that was the place where Maori were locked in a church and burnt to death”. As a result, I decided to follow up on that story.

I soon learnt that the story has no basis in fact. Below is my analysis. I include quotations from numerous senior New Zealanders, with searchable references where possible.

NZCPR Weekly: COVID-19 – two weeks on

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the new information that is emerging about COVID-19, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Frank Newman looks into the economic consequences of the virus outbreak and the Government’s response, and our poll asks whether you you believe that New Zealand’s health service could cope with a widespread outbreak of COVID-19.

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

 

GWPF Newsletter: EU Urged To Ditch Green Deal, Cap And Trade Amid Coronavirus

Climate Campaign Loses Momentum As World Fights Coronavirus

In this newsletter:

1) Czech PM Urges EU To Ditch Green Deal Amid Virus
EurActiv, 17 March 2020 
 
2) EU Should Scrap Emissions Trading Scheme, Polish Official Says
Reuters, 17 March 2020

GWPF Newsletter: Four Lessons From A Century of Pandemics

Technology, Ingenuity And Cooperation Will Defeat The Pandemic

In this newsletter:
1) Four Lessons From A Century of Pandemics

WCAI Public Radio, April 2019

Clive Bibby: Watching on TV isn't the same as being there

Recently, l tuned in to watch the NZ cricket team doing battle with their Aussie counterparts at the 50,000 seat Sydney Cricket Ground, a place steeped in history that usually offers the viewer an experience worth the effort.

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus restrictions, the two teams were playing in a stadium that was totally empty.  It was a charade but it also quickly became unwatchable irrespective of who was winning at the time.

I quickly switched channels to the Super Rugby game in Hamilton where there were about 10,000 loyal fans in attendance. The difference in atmosphere for anyone who couldn't be there in person was remarkable and the difference was the crowds reaction to the closeness of the scores. You could sense the tenseness.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 8.03.20

Saturday March 14, 2020

News:
Mayors Commit To A Greater Regional Approach
All Mayors, most Deputy Mayors and Chief Executives across the Horizons region spent two days discussing and workshopping a range of topics.

Manawatū Mayor Helen Worboys said there was also a clear commitment regionally to improve iwi partnerships.

GWPF Newsletter: Europe's Green Suicide

Eleven Million Jobs At Risk From EU Green Deal, Trade Unions Warn

In this newsletter:

1) Europe’s Green Suicide: Eleven Million Jobs At Risk From EU Green Deal, Trade Unions Warn

EurActiv, 10 March 2020

2) EU’s Carbon Border Levy Faces Long Delay As Germany Fears U.S. Retaliation
Financial Times, 9 March 2020

Bob Edlin: Here’s your chance to let Parliament know what you think of its curbs on Henry VIII (and other) powers

We were about to pack up the office PC and spend the rest of the weekend relaxing when we were alerted to an exercise in Parliamentary scrutiny which .. Well, the word “arcane” sprang to mind.  But perhaps this reflects badly on our need to brush up on some aspects of the legislative process.

The news is that the Regulations Review Committee has called for submissions on an inquiry into parliamentary scrutiny of confirmable instruments.

Do we hear whoops of approval among our readers? Or are you asking: Confirmable instruments?   What are they?

Those of you steeped in the art of parliamentary law-making won’t need to read the report produced by the Regulations Review Committee which contains the answer.

The report explains that Parliament – the supreme law maker – has full power to make laws.

Frank Newman: Keep calm, and think of Tāne Mahuta

The Governor of the Reserve Bank is suggesting people remain calm in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said the NZ economy is in a "wonderful starting position" to face a "horrible situation".

For me, the Governor's "Don't panic" message has a tinge of Lance Corporal Jack Jones from Dad's Amy about it.

Its times like this when one appreciates the conventional, bland, vanilla type of bank governor that were his predecessors - the type who has a low profile and only says something when they have something worthwhile to say. The result was those words carried a certain amount of gravitas.

Curt Levey: Climate Change Lawsuits Collapsing Like Dominoes

Climate change activists went to court in California recently trying to halt a long losing streak in their quest to punish energy companies for aiding and abetting the world’s consumption of fossil fuels.

A handful of California cities — big consumers of fossil fuels themselves — asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse the predictable  dismissal of their public nuisance lawsuit seeking to pin the entire blame for global warming on five energy producers: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

The cities hope to soak the companies for billions of dollars of damages, which they claim they’ll use to build sea walls, better sewer systems and the like in anticipation of rising seas and extreme weather that might result from climate change.

But no plaintiff has ever succeeded in bringing a public nuisance lawsuit based on climate change.

GWPF Newsletter: Coronavirus May Neutralise Climate Hysteria For Now As Pandemic Threat Looms

Climate Change Lawsuits Collapsing Like Dominoes

In this newsletter:

1) Coronavirus May Neutralise Climate Hysteria For Now As Pandemic Threat Looms
AFP, 8 March 2020

2) Tories' £100 Billion Climate Crisis Infrastructure Plan Delayed
The Mirror, 6 March 2020

Viv Forbes: The Carbon Capture Con

Carbon-capture-and-storage “(CCS)” tops the list of silly schemes “to reduce man-made global warming”. The idea is to capture carbon dioxide from power stations and cement plants, separate it, compress it, pump it long distances and force it underground, hoping it will never escape.

Smart engineers with unlimited money could do all this. But only green zealots would support the sacrifice of billions of dollars and scads of energy to bury this harmless, invisible, life-supporting gas in the hope of appeasing the global warming gods.

NZCPR Weekly: Labour's Dependency Trap

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into how the Labour-led Government is deepening the dependency trap, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Clive Bibby explains why the Government’s free school lunch programme is socialism by stealth, and our poll asks whether you support Labour’s policy of taxpayer funded free school lunches.

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

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.03.20

Saturday March 7, 2020

News:
Medicinal cannabis hui: Māori seeking licences criticise high fees
The stigma around cannabis and the high licensing costs are barriers to getting whānau, hapū and iwi into the industry, say Māori applying for medicinal cannabis licenses.

A cultivation license is upwards of $8000 - which does not include the cost of setting up the operation

GWPF Newsletter: Legal Gaps And US Elections May Turn COP26 Into Damp Squib

The Political Storm Over Green Targets Will Be Even Bigger Than Brexit

In this newsletter:

1) Legal Gaps And US Elections May Turn COP26 Into Damp Squib
GWPF & Climate Home News, 5 March 2020
 
2) Greta Thunberg Accuses EU Of Climate Betrayal
The Times, 5 March 2020

GWPF Newsletter: UK Govt Punishes Voters As Its Costly Climate Policies Drive Up Electricity Bills

UK Energy Prices are Plunging, But Users are Facing Rate Hikes

In this newsletter:

1) UK Govt Punishes Voters As Costly Climate Policies Drive Up Electricity Bills
Bloomberg 4 March 2020
 
2) With The Economy On The Brink, UK Government Prioritises Its Climate Agenda
Financial Times, 4 March 2020

Rodney Clifton: An Uprising in Canada

Ten years ago, Douglas Bland, a retired lieutenant-colonel from the Canadian Forces and the Chair of Defense Studies at Queen’s University, wrote Uprising: A Novel. 

In this 500-page work of “fiction,” Bland outlines how militant Indigenous warriors and their allies could, in the tradition of Louis Riel, hold Canada up for ransom, stopping rail traffic, blocking highways, disrupting government offices, and even bombing hydro towers north of Winnipeg.

Karl du Fresne: A mixed week for freedom of speech

It’s been an interesting few days for anyone with an interest in free speech. There's been one positive development, one negative and one inconclusive.

First came the surprise announcement last Friday that Sir Robert Jones was abandoning his defamation case against film maker Renae Maihi.

To recap: Jones wrote a self-evidently satirical column for National Business Review* in which he suggested that Waitangi Day should be replaced with Maori Gratitude Day.

“I have in mind a public holiday where Maori bring us breakfast in bed or weed our gardens, wash and polish our cars and so on out of gratitude for existing,” he wrote.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: The bibliolatrous religious political right

The religious right is not the formidable political force in NZ that it is in the US, but it’s there lurking in the shadows and occasionally rears its head, such as when an election is coming up. 

We had the Christian Coalition in the 1990s and, more recently, the Destiny Party. I don’t know about you, but I found the latter positively scary – theocracies and me don’t get on. I gather they’re now back as Vision NZ. Not that they would ever gain a majority, but imagine a party like that holding the balance of power in parliament.

Matt Ridley: We all need to change how we live our lives to fight this generation of pandemics

In the 19th century Ignaz Semmelweis was vilified and ostracised when he tried to make doctors wash their hands after doing autopsies on women who had died from childbirth fever before going straight upstairs to deliver more babies. We have come a long way since then in public health, but we can go much further still.

The Covid-19 coronavirus must change the way we behave – whether it kills millions or not. The vulnerability to pandemic-panic of world stock markets, the tourism industry, international sport and global trade, even before there is an actual pandemic, tells us that global society, for all its medical know-how, is vulnerable.

NZCPR Weekly: COVID-19

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into what is known about the COVID-19 virus, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Matt Ridley explains why bats are the source of so many human diseases, and our poll asks whether you believe there is now too much hysteria around the new virus.

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

Dr John O’Leary: A deadly uniformity

Toward the end of last year, I went to an academic conference. I’ve attended quite a few in the past – they’re one way of keeping up with the latest thinking in one’s subject, especially valuable for independent writer/researchers like me who work largely alone, only occasionally dipping into the academic milieu. Generally, I’ve enjoyed these conferences, though they are perhaps more fun in retrospect, or at least after one has given one’s paper, when one can relax. But this one left me depressed.

Don’t get me wrong. It was a nice enough conference. The organisers had gone to some trouble to make attendees feel welcome. There were thoughtfully arranged extra-conference activities, and an elegant dinner, complete with a piper and a man in a kilt telling jokes between the main course and dessert.

Anthony Watts: Twitter Hits No Substitute for Science in Understanding Climate

The headline of a recent story on CNBC claimed, “Scientists Are Using Twitter to Measure the Impact of Climate Change.” I did a double-take and checked the calendar to make sure this was not April Fools’ Day, thinking this had to be some sort of a joke.

Sadly, it was not.

Incredibly, scientists are basing claims of a climate crisis on the number of people tweeting about climate events—a very bad sign for science, indeed.