Sarah Ewall-Wice: Trump to make English the official first language of the United States

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday that makes English the official language of the United States.

The order allows government agencies to keep current policies and provide documents and services in other languages, but it provides flexibility to decide when and how to provide services in languages other than English, according to the White House.

David Farrar: A simple way to boost the economy

The Herald reports:

Cutting the corporate tax rate could boost the economy by billions of dollars a year, according to modelling done by consultancy Deloitte.

Lowering the corporate tax rate is one of a suite of policy and tax changes the Government is mulling ahead of the May 22 Budget, as it tries to inject life into the country’s idling economy.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Seems neither Pharmac's CEO, nor its Chair, have ever prescribed a drug in NZ...

Seems neither Pharmac's CEO, nor its Chair, have ever prescribed a drug in NZ, since, as a general rule, they both have no legal authority to do so.

Pharmac has not been performing well - no small matter when every Kiwi's life depends on it. Today it was announced its CEO, Sarah Fitt, has resigned, as confirmed by Pharmac's Board Chair Paula Bennett. As a general rule, to prescribe a drug, you must be a NZ registered Medical Practitioner. Neither Bennett not Fitt are, or ever have been, so its unlikely that between the two of them, they have ever done so. So the health of the nation has been put into the hands of two people - in charge of buying every drug we use - with neither of them being a doctor who has ever written prescriptions on a day-to-day basis.

Graham Adams: Tamihere’s woes

Te Pāti Māori goes silent after scandal

John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori are in a world of pain

The government cutting Whānau Ora funding would be a crippling blow.

For the longest time, it has been impossible to make Te Pāti Māori MPs behave with dignity and respect as they have revelled in their status as the nation’s foremost “Say Bum to Mummy” party.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 23.2.25

Saturday March 1, 2025 

News:
Lake Rotokākahi: Judge orders pause to sewerage works as hearing set
An Environment Court judge has ordered works on a controversial sewerage scheme to pause ahead of an urgent hearing.

A group protesting the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme pipeline path going under the road at wahi tapu Lake Rotokākahi made the application to halt work last week. It is the latest legal hurdle for Rotorua Lakes Council to complete the works.

Bob Edlin: Decisions on science research funding reform – and the share for matauranga Maori – have yet to be made

The government has made no decisions on the proposal from its expert advisors to establish a National Research Foundation, to play a key role in funding research in the restructured science sector.

Nor have decisions made on the funding of mātauranga Māori.  

Karl du Fresne: When principle sinks in a swamp of legalism

In a past life, many years ago, I informally sought advice from a highly respected Wellington lawyer, the late Sandra Moran, over a legal issue that had been weighing on my mind. 

It involved what I thought was an important point of principle, and I vividly remember Sandra warning me off by saying, very emphatically: “It costs a lot of money to establish a point of principle.” I didn’t have a lot of money, so I didn’t proceed. 

Dr James Allan: Dictator Trump? That’s Just Silly

In Saturday’s edition of Quadrant, Roger Partridge lambasted Donald Trump as an enemy of America’s constitutional democracy. On Sunday, James Allan, Garrick Professor of Law at the University of Queensland and the author of Democracy in Decline, took his friend and colleague to task.

Let me start this reply to Roger Partridge’s column (‘Trump’s War on Constitutional Democracy‘) by laying my cards on the table. I know Roger Partridge. He is one of the best lawyers in New Zealand. He, like me, has grave worries about the sort of judicial activism or judicial usurpation of the role of Parliament that he sees over across the Tasman (and which, in enervated form, is on clear display here in Australia too).

Philip Crump: Thames Water’s £3 Billion Rescue

The debt restructuring of the UK water supplier provides a cautionary tale to New Zealand

In June 2023, I wrote about Thames Water, the UK’s largest water supplier, which was buckling under £14 billion of debt—a load that had long crippled its ability to upgrade its pipes and serve 15 million customers across London and the South East.

Peter Dunne: New Zealand citizenship

Reports that the American billionaire and Trump loyalist insider Peter Thiel is winding down his business interests in New Zealand call to mind one of the more controversial issues relating to New Zealand citizenship in recent years.

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal in 1998 and the major data analysis company Palantir Technologies in 2003, amongst other global technology businesses. He has been a substantial contributor to the United States Republican Party over the years, supporting many right-wing causes, and was on the executive of Donald Trump’s transition team when he was first elected President in 2016.

David Farrar: $50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field

Newsroom has a summary of taxpayer money spent on Mt Ruapehu:

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Will NZ Centre-Right Voters Forgive National's Grand Coalition Betrayal of Trust on the Treaty in Election 2023?

Last week, American Vice President JD Vance told European Security Chiefs in Munich, Germany, that the threat to European nations lay far more from within, than externally from the likes of Russia & China. In particular, despite a majority of European people wanting to restrict illegal mass immigration, Euro politicians, bureaucrats & academics have gone out of their way to subvert that democratic wish.

Mike's Minute: A reality check for the zealots

There were two hardcore reality checks this week as a result of the arrival of the Trump sequel.

BP summed up the climate dilemma very succinctly when he said they got it wrong on net zero.

Friday February 28, 2025 

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