Henry Armstrong: All cultures are important in New Zealand - not just one

Another Maori Language Week has come and gone and hopefully te Reo has been strengthened.  In the same week, the Maori Party declared that if elected, it will arbitrarily demand the country’s name be changed from New Zealand to Aotearoa, along with all other anglicised place names, to Maori place names.

However, the name “Aotearoa” is not a traditional, nor even an appropriate, alternative name for New Zealand, according to Distinguished Professor Kerry Howe whose seminal article “Aotearoa-What’s in a Name” appeared in MSN News on 19^th September. It is by far the most erudite and well-researched article on this issue yet to be produced. All New Zealanders should read this.

But, it is high time we acknowledged all cultures in Nu Tirani (New Zealand)  in the face of continued  denial of other cultures  by bicultural activists.

Kate Hawkesby: Gloves are coming off heading into second debate

 

As we head into another debate tonight, I just wonder if the gloves are coming off a bit.

Is the kindness and positivity that the Labour leader beamed would be the marker of her campaign, starting to wear off?

Has she given that up already?

Yesterday when Judith Collins announced a doubling of the SFO's budget under National, Jacinda Ardern took a swipe.

She referred to Collin's past dealings with the SFO in 2014.. "obviously there's a little history there.." she said condescendingly, only to fire the final barb.. "her engagement with the SFO led to her job loss."

Ouch, a burn from Ardern.

Mike's Minute: We're waking up to the dangers of cannabis

 

Is the latest poll on cannabis reform the death knell for those who are desperate to legalise the stuff? It's got to be pretty close.

53 percent against it, 35 per cent for it, 11 percent don't know. That’s got to the point where even if every single person who doesn’t know, decided to vote yes, the yes vote would still lose.

And it's not like the yes vote hasn’t had a good run. The media in general has featured, to my eye, favourable coverage of why we should be legalising the stuff, as opposed to why we shouldn’t. I think the answer is relatively simple. Why would you look to create trouble, simply for the sake of it?

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Judith Collins still has a chance to save her party

You know things are bad for a party when people start asking whether that party is in its death spiral yet. 

And that is the conversation around National now. 

This has been prompted by last night’s Newshub-Reid Research poll which puts it at 29.6 percent. It’s not far off the Colmar Brunton poll last Wednesday which had National at 31 percent, meaning it’s a fairly accurate reflection of where National is at. 

Paul Driessen: 'Climate Arson' and Other Wildfire Nonsense

Real goal is to avoid responsibility for policies, and increase control over energy, lives, property

In what has become an annual summer tragedy, wildfires are again destroying western US forests. Millions of acres and millions of animals have been incinerated, hundreds of homes reduced to ash and rubble, dozens of parents and children killed, and many more people left missing, injured or burned.

Air quality across wide regions and entire states is so bad people are told to stay indoors, where many have hibernated for months because of the coronavirus, but indoor air is also contaminated. Acrid smoke and soot have been carried to Chicago and beyond. Firefighters are profiles in courage, as they battle the blazes for days on end, while all too many politicians are displaying profiles in opportunism.

Louis Houlbrooke: Revealed - the bizarre ways the Government is fighting COVID-19

Jacinda Ardern (who moonlights as the Minister of Arts, Culture, and Heritage) has been pouring millions in extra taxpayer funding into Creative NZ for its COVID-19 response.

Now we see the result: our research team have combed through the 637 grants (totalling $16 million) handed out under the new Arts Continuity fund, and you either have to laugh or cry.

Here are some highlights from the successful applications:

GWPF Newsletter: As China Threatens War Over Taiwan, It Plays the 'Climate' Card

 

Threat Of War Over Taiwan Leaves Superpowers On Edge

In this newsletter:

1) Threat Of War Over Taiwan Leaves Superpowers On Edge
The Times, 23 September 2020

2) China’s Meaningless “Promise”
Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 25 September 2020

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.09.20

Saturday September 26, 2020 

News:
Peters says no to 'dangerous settlement' of Ihumātao
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has used a speech at Orewa to call protesters objecting to a housing development at Ihumātao "malcontents who got so much unjustified publicity, sticking mainly in the throat of traditional Māori".

He says his party said no to Labour "three times" during the search for a solution to the situation at Ihumātao, and refused a request from its coalition partner to invoke the "agree to disagree" clause.

Kate Hawkesby: Listen to the professionals on the harms of cannabis legalisation

23 days until we vote on cannabis.

You’ll know if you’re a regular listener to this show that I’m of the vote no brigade.

No, I’m not on a moral crusade, although I don’t think there’s anything wrong with moral crusades.

I’m in the no camp because of all the mental health professionals I’ve spoken to who work at the coal face. The ones who have no agenda around cannabis other than trying to help clean up the harm it’s done to young people’s brains, and by young people I mean under 25’s. Remember the legal age limit here will be 20.

Mike Butler: A new look at old roads, bridges, swamps

The biggest story of 19th century New Zealand is not missionaries, muskets, and the sovereignty wars, according to historian John McLean, it was the physical building of the country.

Sweat and toil – the building of New Zealand, tells the story of the building of New Zealand’s roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, viaducts, wharves, docks, lighthouses, tramways, telegraph, as well as massive reclamations as well as the draining of swamps.

Mclean did his Master’s thesis in history on the building of the Otira tunnel through the Southern Alps.

NZCPR Weekly: A Cultural Takeover

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine how Maori language and culture are being used to advance a dangerous agenda, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Bob Edlin outlines the destructive influence of the ‘cultural police’, and our poll asks whether all taxpayer-funded cultural training within government should be terminated.

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

Mike Hosking: Labour needs to get real on farming

You've got to hand it to Jacinda Ardern. Having been spanked in the debate, such is the life of a politician in a campaign, you got to get out of bed the next morning and carry on like it never happened.

The irony being this day saw her down on the farm. If there was a single comment on the debate that sunk her, it was the condescending nonsense she dribbled out over farming and how what Judith Collins has said about being proud as a farmer's daughter and how the farmer felt beaten and embattled sounded like farming from another age.

GWPF Newsletter: Electric Car Fraud Allegations Rock Green Lobby & Investors

 

Nikola Chairman Quits Amid Turmoil Of Fraud Allegations

In this newsletter:

1) Nikola Chairman Quits Amid Turmoil Of Fraud Allegations
The Times, 22 September 2020

2) The Electric Car Hype Machine: Why Investors Are More Sceptical Than Ever
The Daily Telegraph, 22 September 2020

Melanie Phillips: Revolt against coerced conformity

At long last, some Conservative MPs are raising their standard for conservatism. The Times reports today that up to 40 Conservative MPs will refuse to accept the “unconscious bias training” intended to tackle racism in the Commons, accusing the parliamentary authorities of “pandering to the woke agenda”.

Such training has existed for parliamentary staff since 2016 and is now to be extended to MPs. Said one of the rebel group:

“I would really rather gouge my eyes out with a blunt stick than sit through that Marxist, snake oil crap.”

Karl du Fresne: Is the public bankrolling Labour's bid to reclaim Wairarapa?

Is the public bankrolling Labour's bid to reclaim Wairarapa? It certainly looks that way

Jacinda Ardern spent Friday campaigning in the Wairarapa. Labour is targeting the National-held seat and is confident it can win.

The party’s candidate, list MP Kieran McAnulty, is an ambitious, energetic local with a high profile. In 2017 he got within 3000 votes of the sitting MP, the lacklustre Alastair Scott, and this time he faces a first-time National candidate, farmer Mike Butterick, who is not well known.

GWPF Newsletter: Green Dole - Europe Faces Green Recession

 

Carmakers Cry Foul as EU’s Climate Plan Threatens Europe’s Key Industry

In this newsletter:

1) Carmakers Cry Foul as EU’s Climate Plan Threatens Europe’s Key Industry
Bloomberg, 18 September 2020 

2) Green Dole: German Car Industry Expected To Lose 100,00 Jobs Over EU Green Deal
Automobile Woche, 21 September 2020

Bruce Moon: Racial Privilege at Otago University

“Ethnicity is not shaped in the womb but in the head.”
- David Miles, The Tribes of Britain, 2005, p.178  

The current active discussion on policy for selection of entrants to the University of Otago Medical School reveals much of the accelerating racism which blights our once fair democracy of New Zealand.  

That policy as it stands grants preferential entry to students who claim Maori or Pasifica ancestry and the first question that it raises is just what in fact that qualification may be?  

Who, in short, is a Maori?

Kate Hawkesby: Why isn't the PM social distancing?

Today the rest of the country will most likely get to Level 1. Aucklanders, not so much. Our restrictions are likely to remain in place, which is annoying for Aucklanders but also problematic for campaigning politicians.

They'll be hoping Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extends gathering sizes as promised, so they can mingle in bigger crowds. But will that include easing restrictions on social distancing?

Because here's the thing, the Prime Minister herself doesn't seem to want to abide that rule.

Gerry Bowler: Go Woke, Go Broke

The world is in the midst of a cultural war known as The Great Awokening. 

Armies of young progressives, media personalities, journalists, bureaucrats, and academics have seized the moment to demand that the rest of society must have only one set of correct thoughts about race, gender, and sex. Should you express the opinion that all lives matter instead of Black Lives Matter or call someone a coloured person instead of a person of colour, you risk losing your livelihood or being visited by a mob intent on changing your mind by intimidation.

Many businesses have decided that they had better get ahead of the wokerati and openly declare themselves on the side of the new righteousness. 

Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.09.20

Saturday September 19, 2020

News:
Iwi stand in solidarity over allegations of institutional racism at Waikato University
Meanwhile, the university announced this week it had secured almost $27 million in funding from the MBIE Endeavour Fund for three projects with a predominantly Māori research focus:

• Tikanga in Technology: Indigenous approaches to transforming data ecosystems: $6m.

Bob Edlin: Maori Party reports a pandemic of racism

Our daily check with the Beehive website draw a blank.  Nothing has been announced there since the PM announced the offender responsible for the Christchurch terror attack on 15 March 2019 has been designated as a terrorist entity.

But elsewhere in our monitoring of the political scene we found the Māori Party is hot and bothered about goings-on in the education domain .  The item was headlined Racism In Education, Second Pandemic In Aotearoa

The Māori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga, Tākuta Ferris, and Waiariki candidate, Rawiri Waititi, said in the statement they “believe institutional racism within the education system is holding this nation back”.

Kate Hawkesby: Will we see that economic bounce back?

So we got the GDP figure yesterday - the one we've been bracing for. The one Treasury predicted could be as bad as 16 per cent

Banks thought it would be around 7 to 13 per cent. It's landed at 12. A drop of 12.2 per cent to be exact. Officially, it's a recession.

Which we knew anyway didn't we? Seven weeks in lockdown doesn't make for pretty reading on economists' spreadsheets.

We knew it from the struggles we saw around us - from the local greengrocer to the hairdresser to the butchers to the cafes and the retail stores.

Lindsay Mitchell: Stuff says, "Little evidence of child poverty coming down"

Stuff is writing a series called 'The Whole Truth' running up to the election. It aims to fact-check campaign claims, party policies and achievements. 

Today they feature a piece on child poverty which also appears in the Dominion Post. I've included the entire short piece (because it is the simplest summation of the measures I've read) and added  a few of my own comments:

"There is little evidence, on the Government’s own measures, of child poverty coming down.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Government's books shows wasteful spending has to stop

The government books have been opened and it’s pretty much as grim as forecast.  

In the short term, the economic shock looks slightly better than expected. But in the long term, it’s a bit more gloomy.  It’s going to take longer to come out of this than we thought. 

According to Infometrics, GDP won’t be back to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2022, which means we have two whole years of tough times ahead of us. 

NZCPR Newsletter: Taxing Choices

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we question whether raising taxes will help New Zealand recover from the recession caused by Labour’s hard-line lockdown, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Kerry McDonald outlines how poor political leadership has contributed to New Zealand’s economic decline, and our poll asks whether higher taxes or lower taxes are the best way forward for New Zealand.

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

GWPF Newsletter: Satellite Observations Reveal Decreasing Trend in Global Wildfires

 

Solar Cycle 25 To Repeat Low Cycle 24, Scientists Predict

In this newsletter:

1) Satellite Observations Reveal Decreasing Trend in Global Wildfires
GWPF Observatory, 16 September 2020 

2) Solar Cycle 25 To Repeat Low Cycle 24, Scientists Predict
GWPF Observatory, 16 September 2020

Mike's Minute: No Prime Minister, the economy is not back to level 1

You can feel the incredulity meter ramping up.

Good on all those who spoke out yesterday calling out the Prime Minister over her claim on Monday that the economy was back to level 1. 

Theodore Dalrymple: Much Ado About Nothing - pledging allegiance to identity politics.

The killing of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis launched a new global epidemic, one not deadly like Covid-19 but perhaps as infectious—that of insincere breast-beating that, oddly enough, has given new credence to the term institutional racism. 

One of the institutions busy institutionalizing racism is the Folger Library in Washington, D.C.

GWPF Newsletter: Nuclear Power And Hydrogen Four Times Cheaper Than Renewables, New Report

 

EU Threatens China With Trade War Over Costly Climate Policies

In this newsletter:

1) Nuclear Power And Hydrogen Four Times Cheaper Than Renewables, New Report 
The Sunday Times, 13 September 2020

2) EU Threatens China With Trade War Over Costly Climate Policies
EurActiv, 14 September 2020

Garrick Tremain: Sales

 Here is Garrick Tremain's latest cartoon commentary!

Chris Talgo: ‘BLM’ Organizations Say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ but They Mean ‘Be Like Marx’

The Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter, colloquially known as “BLM,” are Marxist organizations whose views are in fundamental opposition to the values that America was founded upon. 

And no, I’m not talking about racism. I’m talking about individual liberty, free markets, and the Constitution. 

How do I know this? Because I went through the unprecedented, incredibly difficult task of going to their websites and reading their platforms.

Clive Bibby: The Age of Double Standards

In spite of the fact that the evidence is mounting in their favour, the Swedes are struggling to make headway convincing a world that is dominated by media fixated with a pandemic narrative that is quickly running out of credibility.

We could have seen this coming.

Tragically, but perhaps unsurprisingly, when the true nature of the Carona virus first became known, it was already too late for most countries that did not enjoy natural borders like New Zealand to take meaningful action in mitigation.

Indeed, the most vulnerable, especially those who had been most exposed to the disease before the Chinese came clean about their little gift to humanity, were in an impossible situation of trying to shut the door after the horse had bolted.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Science, pseudoscience and ethnoscience

Bob Edlin’s article “Biodiversity, science and a Maori world view” (Breaking Views 14 Aug - see HERE) reminded me what an imprecise entity ‘science’ is in comparative linguistic and cultural contexts.

Those of you who remember your high school French may already realise that the word ‘science’ means something rather different in that language from what it means in modern English. French universities have departments devoted to the ‘Science of the Humanities’. To anyone acquainted with only English, this comes across as silly. I mean, ‘science’ is physics, chemistry, geology and all that stuff – nothing to do with literature, history, philosophy and all that stuff….. isn’t that right?

Breaking Views Update: Week of 6.09.20

 

Saturday September 12, 2020

News:
Hawke's Bay 'flying The Flag' For Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori
The five councils of Hawke’s Bay have collaborated to fly bilingual flags to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori Māori Language Week.

The bilingual flags, ngā haki reorua, can be seen proudly flying in locations in Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay.

NZCPR Weekly: Living With Covid-19

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we share strategies from around the world on living with Covid-19 and suggest its time our politicians provided their plans to voters, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Steve Waterson – commercial editor of The Australian – outlines why the authoritarian approach taken by politicians is too heavy-handed, and our poll asks whether you believe a vaccine will end the pandemic or will we have to learn to live with Covid-19.

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

GWPF Newsletter: Europe's Green Deal Likely To Fail

 

Most EU Member States Will Miss Paris Targets

In this newsletter:

1) Europe’s Green Deal Likely To Fail: Most EU States Will Miss Paris Targets
reNews, 9 September 2020
  
2) Green Deal: Germany Industry Rejects More Stringent EU Climate Targets
Handelsblatt, 8 September 2020

Barry Soper: Labour should know tax decisions will be out of their hands

Read their lips: there'll be no new taxes, other than for the wealthy, under the second term of a Labour led Government.

That's simple to say but hard to do. As genuine as the sentiment may be, Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson know that it's a decision that almost certainly won't be entirely theirs to make.

Tax issues dogged Labour before the last election and after it. Shell shocked by Winston Peters' appointment of them, they shelved the captain's call made by Ardern for a capital gains tax in her first term as Prime Minister.

Viv Forbes: Not So Green

Solar energy is very dilute, so solar collectors usually cover huge areas of flat arable land, stealing farmland, starving wild herbs and grasses of sunlight and creating “Solar Deserts”.

Wind turbines steal energy from winds which often bring moisture from the ocean. These walls of turbines then create rain shadows, producing more rain near the turbines and more droughts down-wind. Turbines work best along ridge lines where eagles also seek thermals, so birds and bats get chopped up by these whirling scythes. They also annoy neighbours with noise and increase bushfire risk.

They even spread their wall of wind towers offshore, so that less wind and rain even reaches the shore. Not green at all.

GWPF Newsletter: Doomsday Zealots Could Face Five Years In Jail

 

UK Home Secretary threatens to change law to make Extinction Rebellion a criminal gang

In this newsletter:

1) Doomsday Zealots Could Face Five Years In Jail
Daily Mail, 7 September 2020
 
2) Home Secretary Priti Patel: Extinction Rebellion Will Be Punished For Committing Criminal Acts 

Daily Mail, 7 September 2020

Garrick Tremain: Matariki

Here is Garrick Tremain's latest cartoon commentary!

Gerry Eckhoff: A few thoughts…

Inequality is something of a new buzz word, yet this particular human condition has been around for ever. Equality does not exist in nature, the sports field, in business nor in any other aspect of life, yet it appears that financial inequality is to be placed under the spotlight for redistribution.

It (inequality) exists because each one of us acts in differing ways and in our own or family’s interests. Some excel within the arts or academia; others appear to possess the Midas touch. For most however, being prepared to take risk, along with hard work, long hours, short holidays coupled with some good, reasoned choices creates wellbeing but also increases inequality with those who choose a differing value system.

GWPF Newsletter: Extinction Rebellion Facing ‘Organised Crime’ Curbs

 

MPs Unite In Defence Of Free Speech After Extinction Rebellion Attack On Newspapers

In this newsletter:

1) Extinction Rebellion Facing ‘Organised Crime’ Curbs
The Sunday Telegraph, 6 September 2020
 
2) MPs Unite In Defence Of Free Speech After Extinction Rebellion Attack On Newspapers 
The Sunday Times, 6 September 2020

Bob Edlin: The Farce of Cultural Appropriation

Yes, you can win IPONZ approval for your branding but it’s back to the drawing board if some Māori mount an offensive against you

The makers of the gin once branded “indiginous”  announced early in June they were back in business and their product – now known as “imagination” – was available again, in stores and online.

Since then their Facebook page has recorded that whatever it’s called, the hand-crafted gin they make in the Reikorangi Valley, near Waikanae, has gone down a treat with the experts. They were awarded a silver medal and the highest score for a New Zealand gin at the London Spirits Competition; a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the New Zealand Spirits Awards; and a bronze medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in the UK.

The most recent post, on August 18, advised:   

“A very satisfying way to end the medal season! We won our very first medal with our very first gin at the 2019 SIP Awards in the USA, and we’ve gone back to back with another Gold medal for our Triple Distilled Dry Gin for 2020.”

Another of their gins picked up Silver. 

But it has been a harrowing year.

Their “indiginous” gin had been on sale for more than a year when – early in March – they were  targeted in a social media campaign of abuse and threats by people professing to have been offended by a Māori tattoo-inspired label, by the brand name, and by “cultural appropriation”.  

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.08.20

Saturday September 5, 2020

News:

Independent review to investigate claims of racism at University of Waikato

The University of Waikato is commissioning an independent review following claims from prominent academics alleging casual and structural racism at the institution - despite it earlier rejecting the allegations.

The allegations included Māori expertise being ignored, tokenism, lower pay for Māori staff and no meaningful commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup - Has James Shaw sunk the Greens?

How badly will James Shaw’s private school debacle affect the Greens? Will it push them out of Parliament? 

This is increasingly the question being asked as the scandal rolls on and on this week. After all, the two main polling companies have had the party very close to the 5% MMP threshold in their surveys for the last year. So, the Greens only have to lose a small amount of support and they will be tipped out of office.

Greens badly wounded

Most commentators seem to believe that the Green Party has been seriously undermined by the decision to grant nearly $12m to a private eco-school. This is because it suggests the party has lost its way and no longer represents its traditional and more radical vision.

NZCPR Weekly: Tipping Points

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine some of the ‘tipping points’ that have changed New Zealand’s political landscape and ask whether the lack of judgement of the Green Party’s co-leader James Shaw will create another, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Owen Jennings outlines why the Government’s decision to tax methane is unjustified and immoral, and our poll asks whether you believe that James Shaw should resign.

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