Pee Kay: Civil Wars Tend to Happen Gradually, Then Suddenly!

In his 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” Ernest Hemingway’s main character described bankruptcy happening “gradually, then suddenly” in response to a question about how bankruptcy happened.

This concept can easily apply to, not only bankruptcy, but to civil war.

The phrase highlights that the build-up to a crisis can be subtle and prolonged, making it easy to underestimate the potential for a sudden and dramatic collapse or conflagration.

Clive Bibby: Coverups and Culpability

No doubt this article will bring howls of indignant defence from those who should be held to account for the destruction that has taken place during the most recent Marlborough and the North Island East Coast floods in January of 2023.

Some will say it is easy to point the finger at those who had responsibilities for public safety after the event and they are right to do so but, unless we learn from the mistakes that could and should have been avoided, we will not be better prepared for the next one and our losses from these and similar events will just be compounded in the future.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 27.7.25

Monday July 28, 2025 

News:
No penalty clauses paid on stalled Waiouru army base housing project
The Defence Force (NZDF) says it has not paid any penalty clauses associated with its housing project at Waiouru army base.

The $50 million-plus project has stalled, though both defence and Ngāti Rangi iwi consider it urgent, and the force issued a tender over a year ago for 50 new homes.

Matua Kahurangi: New Zealand: The backdoor to Australia that no one wants to talk about

Nearly half of the people applying for Australian citizenship as “New Zealanders” were not born in this country. That is according to newly released data from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs, and it is raising serious questions about whether New Zealand is being used as a backdoor into Australia’s booming economy.

David Farrar: Hutt City Council backs down

The FSU announced:

Following a legal battle between Hutt City Council and the Free Speech Union over the Council’s censorship of inserts on Council sites, the parties have agreed to settle. The Council will make several public statements affirming its commitment to free speech, and its role as a gateway for information, not a gatekeeper, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union.

DTNZ: Immigration is ‘killing’ Europe – Trump

The US president has called on European leaders to stop the “horrible” invasion of migrants that has gone on for over a decade.

US President Donald Trump has ramped up his rhetoric on immigration, claiming it is “killing” Europe and warning that European leaders must act immediately or risk losing control. The warning comes as the continent continues to grapple with a protracted migration crisis that has spanned more than a decade.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Attracting overseas investment - A step forward, but not far enough

The government’s Overseas Investment (Amendment) Bill is more good than bad. It is more welcoming of incoming overseas investment.

That is good for several reasons. First, billions of dollars need to be invested in infrastructure. Second, New Zealanders need higher wage rates, but that requires higher labour productivity. Productivity could be higher if it were easier for firms to invest more capital per worker. Third, overseas investment can bring know-how, access to overseas markets and proprietary technologies

Dr Eric Crampton: Buttering up a slippery slope

You might not remember 2025, even though it’s only two decades ago. AI was only just getting started. Looking back, it is easy to tell where the path back to price setting boards started.

This was before synthetic fermentation, when New Zealand still exported a lot of butter and global markets set the price. Whenever butter prices dropped, consumers barely noticed. Whenever they rose, people screamed.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Bridging divides through shared purpose

When our New Zealand Initiative delegation visited Amsterdam last month, officials from the Advisory Board on Regulatory Burden shared something striking. Before talking to us, this government agency had researched New Zealand’s approach – and they were astonished.

In the Netherlands, reducing administrative burdens has been an uncontroversial project for two decades. In New Zealand, meanwhile, aiming for better regulation has become distinctly political. Both creating the Ministry of Regulation and proposing a Regulatory Standards Bill sparked fierce debates.

Roger Partridge: When transparency becomes a threat

Imagine asking your accountant to explain their calculations – and they respond by demanding triple their fee and warning you will be embarrassed by what they find.

That is roughly what happened when New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was asked about new transparency requirements.

 Sunday July 27, 2025 

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Melanie Phillips: The worldwide frenzy against Israel

An obsession with the Jewish state has replaced rationality by lethal propaganda.

Over the past few days, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish feeling has been ratcheted up into an absolute frenzy. Every few hours seems to bring a fresh outrage.

In London, a prominent Jewish broadcaster was chased down the street by a man screaming “fascist Zionist scum”. A woman dining at a Jewish restaurant in the city was asked if she was a Jew and then had food thrown over her.

Net Zero Samizdat: Miliband’s green energy gamble sparks cross-party backlash

UK

Miliband hikes subsidies for AR7

The UK has raised the maximum price it will guarantee wind developers to revive interest after last year’s failed auction. Labour’s 2030 targets are under fire, with critics warning higher subsidies risk pushing up household bills rather than cutting them.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 26 July 2025

Winston’s Week: saving women’s sport

Despite all of his travel as Foreign Minister, Winston Peter’s manages to pack a political punch every week. This week, his coalition agreement policy of booting the boys out of women’s sport was finally seen through with Sports Minister Mark Mitchell instructing a very salty Raelene Castle to delete the transgender guidelines for community sport. Without Winston this would never have happened. National are too weak and ACT are too weird about trans stuff.

Dr Will Jones: Covid Vaccines Saved Far Fewer Lives Than Claimed by WHO, Major New Study Finds

Covid vaccines saved far fewer lives than first thought, a major new analysis from Stanford’s Professor John Ioannidis and team has concluded – closer to 2.5 million than the 14 million claimed by the WHO in 2022. The Telegraph has more.

Kelli Ballard: Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Journalism?

The dangers of incorporating AI into the news product.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the way of the world now. It is gaining use and popularity in just about every aspect of our lives. From medical advancements to entertainment, it is reshaping society even as it battles controversy and skepticism. For one thing, this emerging technology does not have enough oversight, and no one knows for sure what the long-term repercussions might be. For another, AI makes it easy to spread disinformation, further eroding the trust people have in the news. So, why are so many news outlets turning to artificial intelligence to deliver their information?

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Getting things done without the double Dutch

Before our Netherlands delegation in June, I wrote in this publication about the political chaos we might encounter (When populists cannot be tamed, Newsroom 10 June 2024). Geert Wilders had just brought down the government he helped create. I wondered whether the Dutch “polder model” of consensus democracy could survive 21st-century populism.

But Dutch politics was the least interesting thing about the Netherlands.

David Farrar: Free speech problems.......

Academics who argue there is no free speech problems, are like whites who argue there is no racism against blacks


Radio NZ reports:

Lindsay Mitchell: Proof that National is Labour-lite

National governments are better economic managers BUT avoid the entrenched age-old problems that hold NZ back.

Welfare for sole mothers is one such problem.

In the six years between 2017 and 2023 there were five things Labour changed under PM Ardern and MSD Minister Sepuloni:

Mike's Minute: Orr has shown his lack of professionalism

Michael Reddell, who appears on this show a fair bit, has put the Adrian Orr resignation back in the news.

He has a source close to the action that, in simple terms, suggests that Orr packed a sad at a couple of meetings, one of which was with Nicola Willis, the chair of the Reserve Bank Neil Quigley wrote to Orr with a list of concerns over that behaviour, and Orr quit.

The underlying issue appears to be the fact the Government were determined to cut the Reserve Bank's budget, which ultimately, they were successful in doing.

Why?

Saturday July 26, 2025 

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Perce Harpham: Renewing New Zealand - Part 1

In this, Part 1, I will explore some of the issues which have determined our present situation. I will show some of the extent to which the power of the block of Maori seats in Parliament has threatened our democracy - bringing legal rights and tax exemptions for Maori at the cost of ratepayers and, heavily, taxpayers.The Treaty Principles Bill was a brave attempt to have the Waitangi Treaty simply mean what it says. Now that the Select Committee has slapped it down, do we simply accept all the fabrications that have been built around the Treaty or do we do something different?

Zoran Rakovic - The New Political Prison: How Selwyn Council Taught Me to Love the Cage

Denied speaking time by Selwyn Council, I explore how silence by power becomes a badge of honour and a symbol of modern civic resistance.

There is something strangely beautiful in being silenced by power. A grotesque beauty, yes, but beauty nonetheless—the same kind Kafka might have sketched in the margins of The Trial, where Josef K. is devoured not by violence, but by procedure. I was denied a right to speak at the Selwyn District Council meeting. Just a few minutes. Just one voice. Just one democratic forum. But the Chair—backed by the invisible hand of the Chief Executive—said no. The gate was shut, the forum full. Time had “run out.” That’s what they said. But let’s not be fooled. This was not about time. This was about power. And in that moment, I became, willingly or not, a political prisoner of the 21st century.

Francis Menton: New Record Set For Deaths From Climate And Weather Disasters

During the first half of 2025, a new record was set for the number of deaths caused by climate and weather disasters. Can you guess what that record was?

If you read left-wing media sources, and believe anything they say, you might think that the recent record has something to do with a large and growing number of deaths. Recent articles in sources like CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and CBS News all explicitly claim that climate change is making weather events “deadlier,” or leading to increasing numbers of deaths, or some variation of that same message. I’m sure if you checked thirty such “mainstream” news sources over the past year, all thirty of them would have pieces parroting that same narrative.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We need to talk about Gaza.

First up, we need to talk about Gaza.

I'm not gonna be graphic, and, and I'm not gonna talk about what it is hap what's happening there in detail. You already know, you can choose to read about it yourself, and I recommend that you do just to the point that you can kind of handle it.

Credit, today, to Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.7.25

Saturday July 26, 2025 

News:
Tāmaki Makaurau mana whenua butt heads over consultation process
Te Wānanga o Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau is under scrutiny following an Environment Court decision over who holds mana whenua status in parts of Tāmaki Makaurau. The question is, who gets to decide who is mana whenua in the region - iwi or Council?

Ian Wishart: Major NIWA climate change study gets shredded in OpenAI’s ChatGPT peer-review

Media runs with bad data, again

On 2 July, the NZ Herald republished an opinion piece by Auckland University’s Dr Tim Welch, which, among other things, stated:

“It’s getting hotter. Niwa data shows New Zealand is already experiencing extreme temperatures five times more frequently than historical baselines. Wellington hit 30.3°C and Hamilton 32.9°C in January, both all-time records. Marine heatwaves are persisting around South Island coasts months longer than usual.”

Matua Kahurangi: Another step towards digital authoritarianism

Even Te Pāti Māori got this one partly right.

For possibly the first time in my life, I found myself agreeing, at least in part, with Te Pāti Māori. During yesterday’s debate in Parliament on the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Bill, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi made a few points that were, surprisingly, worth listening to.

Ani O'Brien: NZ Govt instructs Sport NZ to ditch trans guidelines for community sport

What does this mean for women and for trans people?

This morning CEO of Sport New Zealand Raelene Castle released a statement that read like it had been issued with a gun to her head. In the restrained and deliberate language it is apparent rage simmers under the surface. The long battle the Crown agency has waged on this issue is all the more incredible considering that what the New Zealand Government has done is something that should be so unremarkable, so common sense.

Peter Williams: The Great Aotearoa Debate

How did that word get to be on our passports?

It was a good try but Winston, you’re at least five years too late, possibly much longer.

The New Zealand First leader made a not so subtle point during Question Time this week when responding to a query from an opposition MP about a UN oceans conference in France.

The question referred to Aotearoa-New Zealand. Peters replied that he had attended the conference but that “no such country turned up, nor is such a country a member of the United Nations.”

Bob Edlin: Sean Plunket breaks news of Fire & Emergency Services’ new Kaupapa Māori Proposal

Breaking Views has posted news of a broadcast by Sean Plunket at The Platform which was triggered by information he had received about a new Kaupapa Maori Proposal at Fire And Emergency New Zealand.

The information was dropped into him anonymously.

Ele Ludemann: Red & political

Federated Farmers is calling for GreenRedpeace to lose its charitable status:

. . . “Greenpeace need to be held accountable for their repeated illegal activity and the spread of harmful misinformation,” Southland Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick says.

David Farrar: 19 Councils have increases rates more than 40% this triennium

The every useful Rates Report from NZTU shows how much rates have increased for each Council in the last three years, and the numbers are staggering. The 10 worst offenders are:

Friday July 25, 2025 

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NZCPR Newsletter: The Anatomy of Dependency

In spite of the Coalition’s best efforts to create jobs and boost economic growth, State dependency continues to grow with the latest June 2025 statistics showing over 12 percent of the working age population receive welfare.

Caleb Anderson: The Forgotten Excesses of Communism

I was interested to read recently of the activities of the Communist party of Aotearoa. Founded on 22 November 2019.

I have also been shocked by the outright, and well publicized, admissions of quite a number of MPs, on the left side of our parliament, who have forthrightly either identified themselves as communist, or who admitted having sympathies with present and past communist regimes.

Ryan Bridge: A new political battlefront's opening up on homelessness

Nobody wants to see streets dotted with tents like San Francisco or downtown LA.

This much-hyped government report to Tama Potaka gives a few insights, but doesn't really nail the problem.

There are more people living rough, but we can't say for sure how many more, and even if we could, we can't say how statistically significant the change might be.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did the closure of the emergency motels drive the increase in rough sleeping?

Let's be honest with each other about something.

That increase in rough sleeping that the cities are anecdotally reporting to that homelessness report will be caused by the shutting down of those emergency motels. I know the Government's trying to avoid having to admit that, but that is the big thing that's changed since the election.

They've shut down the motels and some of the people who were in those motels, or who might have gone to those motels, have ended up on the streets. And I don't think that that's unexpected.

Professor Jerry Coyne: Another desperate but failed attempt to show that indigenous “science” improves modern science

This article at The Conversation, by a climatologist at the University of Wellington and a lecturer in design (?) at the University of Auckland, is a desperate attempt to buttress Māori “ways of knowing” by showing how they align with modern science conducted in Antarctica. It is purely performative, meant to sacralize Māori “science,” but in fact adds nothing to modern science. Its only aim is to show that if you twist Māori lore sufficiently, and squint hard enough, you can sort of see some similarities with modern science.

Chris Lynch: ACT MP raises alarm over race-based hiring in engineering internship

The ACT Party is calling out what it describes as race-based discrimination in a major engineering firm’s internship recruitment process, warning the practice reflects a dangerous shift from merit-based hiring to identity politics.

ACT spokesperson for Tertiary Education and Skills, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, said a concerned parent alerted her to an application form for a summer engineering internship that stated Māori, Pasifika, Aboriginal, or Torres Strait Islander applicants would automatically be advanced to the interview stage.

Peter Dunne: Replacing Cook Strait Ferries

In March this year, Straits Shipping, operators of the Bluebridge Cook Strait ferries, announced the purchase of a new ferry. The nearly 28,000 tonne Livia, built in 2008, was bought to replace the 28 year-old Strait Feronia, in service with Bluebridge since 2015.

The Livia arrived in Wellington earlier this month and began service on the Cook Strait run this week. No terminal renovations have been required in either Picton or Wellington to accommodate the Livia, which will carry around 375 passengers and 200 cars. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, owners of Straits Shipping since 2022, have not disclosed the Livia's purchase price nor how long the purchase negotiations took.

Peter Williams: Sport's decisions on transgender will be decided by money

But the number of actual participants is likely minuscule

There are minorities and there are minorities.

Males at 49.7 percent of the New Zealand population are a minority. Māori are 17.8 percent of us. Those of Asian ethnicity are 17.3 percent. In the 2023 Census only 4.1 percent reported a sexual preference other than heterosexual.

Then there are those who say they’re transgender.

Matua Kahurangi: Cultural barcode

The moko has been devalued beyond repair

There was once a time in New Zealand when the ta moko was sacred. Etched into the skin through pain and ritual, it was reserved for those who had earned it through status, service, and mana. In today’s landscape, it seems the moko has become little more than an accessory, stripped of its meaning and reduced to a performative symbol of identity politics. A virtual signalling barcode, if you will.

Bob Edlin: How can the PM butter up the voters to win back flagging support?......

How can the PM butter up the voters to win back flagging support? Answering simple questions might help

PoO scribes recall reading that under National’s tax plan – announced to win hearts, minds and votes before the 2023 election – a household earning $120,000 a year with no children would receive up to $100 a fortnight while an “average” household with children would get up to $250 a fortnight.

John Raine: Holy Water

As the coalition Government reviews Te Mana o Te Wai policy, it must come down on the side of both science and common sense. We must not move to a future where Iwi authorities have an exclusive co-governance role, with the additional costs, cultural impositions and rent seeking this involves. Public concern and anger over future water management in New Zealand are running hot across the country.

Mike's Minute: Here's where the Govt are in trouble

The Government are in trouble in a couple of areas:

1) FamilyBoost. What they said would happen, numbers wise, didn't.

2) Police recruits. What they said would happen, will not.

3) The ban on foreign buyers for houses now looks farcical.

Thursday July 24, 2025 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why did Nicola Willis hype the Fonterra meeting?

So guess what's happening after Nicola Willis' butter meeting with Fonterra last night? Nothing.

After hyping the meeting, after Mikey chasing Miles down the street, after the news going live with the banner across the TV that the Fonterra meeting is underway, after all of that - nothing is happening because nothing can happen, because Fonterra's not ripping us off.

Ryan Bridge: Is supermarket pricing as bad as we think it is?

This business with the supermarkets and their pricing...

Consumer NZ has launched a petition. They want change to stop prices being incorrectly labelled.

So you go to checkout and scan receipts, something's different to what you expected. Then we would get a refund on the product, and the product for free.

John McLean: Yet Another Perfectly Innocent Mistake......(Not)

NZ's Department of Conservation pleads guilty to a lesser crime

On 5 June 2025, the Department of Conservation (DoC) declined a mining company’s application for a resource consent to expand an existing gold mining operation - by a moderate 6 hectares.

The company is OceanaGold. The mine is Macraes mine near Dunedin. Macraes, which opened in 1990, is New Zealand’s largest gold mine.

David Farrar: A very silly bill

NZ First announced:

New Zealand First has today introduced a member’s bill which would make it law that government buildings can only display the official flag of New Zealand.

“Government buildings are for all New Zealanders and should not be hijacked to force cultural, woke, or divisive political ideology down the throats of others” says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters.

Professor Barbara Oakley: Why students say they are learning nothing

When students across New Zealand say they are not learning anything at school, we should listen.

After nearly six months speaking with New Zealand’s schools and universities, I have witnessed firsthand how this nation has become the unwitting laboratory for one of education's most destructive experiments.

Simon O'Connor: The Druze

I met some of the Druze community in Israel a few months back, and the response by New Zealand, the UN, and others to their suffering in Syria is both tragic and telling.

The Druze of Syria are currently being attacked and killed and yet much of the world remains silent or panglossian (there’s a word for people to look up!) that the new Syrian regime will be able to fix the solution. The head of the United Nations is doing what he always does, and that is obsess about Israel. Here in New Zealand there is political silence as this small, yet significant, religious group are being killed purely because they are Druze.

Matua Kahurangi: The myth of indigeneity

Are Māori really native to New Zealand?

In New Zealand, we’ve drawn a clear line when it comes to our natural world. There are two categories of animals - those that are introduced and those that are native. A dog, for example, is an introduced species. The kiwi, on the other hand, is native. That classification matters in conservation, in law, and in how we see the world around us.

Here’s a thought no one dares to say out loud - humans are animals too.