John Robertson: New Zealand is being culturally hijacked......

New Zealand is being culturally hijacked — and we’re all meant to smile, nod, and pay for it. 

Let’s stop lying to ourselves. This forced bilingualism isn’t “inclusion.” It’s a political power game. A language spoken fluently by less than 4% of the country is being rammed into every crack of public life — whether we want it or not. And if you speak up? You're a racist. That’s the level of intellectual rot we’re dealing with.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is it really the Government's fault the gang numbers cracked the 10,000 mark?

You know that story about the gang numbers cracking the 10,000 mark? That's classic gotcha politics, isn't it?

It doesn't count when the number is 9,999, but once it hits 10,000 - or in this case, 10,009 - it's a thing, and it's the Government's fault.

Is it the Government's fault though? I mean, should we actually be angry at Mark Mitchell for this one? I don't think so.

Ryan Bridge: Have we lost the plot on Health and Safety rules?

Brooke van Velden's anti-health and safety crusade's taken a rather bizarre twist - it's the plot twist nobody saw coming.

She's consulting the public on safe activities kids are allowed to do on farms, like watering plants and collecting chicken eggs.

It's a bit of an odd strategy, but the strategy seems to be that there's a potential problem with the law.

Matua Kahurangi: Banning paywave fees won’t save shoppers much

The National Party’s latest move to ban Paywave surcharge fees is being spun by them as a win for everyday Kiwis, but the reality is anything but. It's a shallow attempt to appear helpful at the checkout, and voters are beginning to see right through it.

Customers already have the option to avoid Paywave fees by simply inserting their card and entering a PIN. It takes less than ten seconds. This isn’t a policy that changes lives, it’s just another National PR stunt, plain and simple.

Chris Lynch: Government approves major pay rises for Crown board members......

Government approves major pay rises for Crown board members, with some fees increasing by up to 80 percent

The Government has quietly approved a significant increase in the fees paid to board members of Crown entities, with some roles seeing rises of up to 80 percent.

The changes, detailed in a Cabinet Office Circular published today, increase the maximum fee for some governance board chairs to more than $160,000 per year.

DTNZ: India produced over a billion tons of coal in 2024-25

The South Asian nation plans to further increase domestic production, the coal and mines minister has said.

India has produced over a billion tons of coal in 2024-25, Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy said on Monday.

Dennis Wesselbaum: How real-time data can lead to better decisions on everything....

How real-time data can lead to better decisions on everything from NZ’s interest rates to business investment

It is late July, and New Zealand is slowly receiving economic data from the June quarter. Inflation has hit a 12-month high, for example, confirming what many already suspected. But the country is still nearly two months away from getting figures on economic activity – namely, gross domestic product (GDP).

Kerre Woodham: Yesterday was a day to forget for the Government

There is much that this coalition government is dealing with that is not of their own making – they are mopping up, cleaning up the mess. Then there are the own goals that should not be happening 18 months into office – and I would argue that the announcement trumpeted yesterday afternoon is an example of an own goal.

JC: We Are Well and Truly ‘Browned’ Off

The more the discontent with this government by its supporters grows, the more it seems the government is determined to show us the middle finger. Much of the issue surrounds the ‘Māorification’ of this country because what they promised they would do is not what they are in fact doing. It would appear that they are taking every opportunity to find pathways to incorporate a Māori perspective into legislation on any flimsy pretext.

David Farrar: Waikato Medical School gets approved

The Herald reports:

The Government has agreed to build a new medical school, costing more than $230 million, at the University of Waikato.

The New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine will offer a four-year graduate programme for students who have completed a three-year undergraduate degree. …

Mike's Minute: Sir Michael Hill will be missed

One of the more memorable days of my life was spent at Michael Hill's house at Lake Hayes in Central Otago.

He showed me his art. There was a lot of it and it was eclectic.

He had his own nine-hole golf course, and it was all par 3s. This was in the days before The Hills, which in many respects was what Michael was all about – vision.

Wednesday July 30, 2025 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why Sir Michael Hill was an example to us all

Sad news today - Sir Michael Hill, jeweller, has passed away. Again, he's another larger-than-life figure in New Zealand business - the likes of which we don't seem to be making anymore.

Now, I don't know if you realize - I mean, we've all grown up with Michael Hill just being a name we knew - but I don't know if you realize how amazing his story was.

He did not start his jewellery business until he was 40 years old. Up til then, he'd been working as a manager in his family's jewellery business. He left school at 16 and headed straight there. He was there for 23 years, got married and had a couple of kids.

Dr Michael Bassett: Wellington - What's wrong with it?

On Monday 28 July there was a strange story in the New Zealand Herald about advice that had been given to the Attorney-General, Judith Collins, by her officers. They had told their minister that the Justice minister’s intended changes to the electoral legislation banning enrolment during the 13 days before an election when early voting gets underway, breaches the Bill of Rights Act. Weird! Most particularly because it tells us that whoever gave that advice to the Minister clearly had little or no knowledge of the history of the rules that cover enrolment and voting in New Zealand.

Brendan O'Neill, How the West’s Israelophobia has made life hell for Palestinians

The human catastrophe in Gaza is a product of the delirious moralism of our anti-Israel elites.

A question haunts me: why are there still women and children in Gaza? This is a strip of land 25 miles long and seven miles wide. It’s a quarter the size of London. And for nearly two years it has been engulfed by war. An army of anti-Semites is fighting one of the dirtiest wars humanity has ever witnessed, hiding in civilian infrastructure to plot its murder of Jews. Israel is dropping bombs. There are gunfights. And there are all the horrors that attend war: death, hunger, sickness. And yet there they are, the women and children, fleeing the fighting and scrabbling for food alongside men.

Dr Eric Crampton: Cutting through the confusion on low-risk drinking guidelines

Some things are legitimately confusing.

Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines are not confusing. They are readily available on Health Canada’s website for anyone who cares to ask Google: up to fifteen standard Canadian drinks per week for men (three per day, four on special occasions), ten for women (two per day, 3 on special occasions, avoid while pregnant).

Simon O'Connor: The vanguard argument

Too often debates on topics are reduced to one phrase "this is not good for Māori". While this may apply in some instances, it is now deployed so often that it has become a nonsense.

In recent days, the government has announced its intention to reform electoral laws. There are several proposed changes, but one of note is the intention to end election day registration – that is, the ability of someone to walk into a polling booth on election day, sign up for the electoral roll, and then cast a special vote.

Matua Kahurangi: Sending women to Australia for cancer treatment

You know the NZ Health system is screwed when we’re planning to send women to Australia for cancer treatment

By any reasonable measure, New Zealand’s health system is broken, and nothing screams that louder than Health New Zealand actively considering sending women with gynaecological cancer to Australia for treatment.

Dark Jester: Is There a Woke Right?

In an interview with Konstantin Kisin, James Lindsay described the rise of what he called the ‘woke right’. This was a term he used to describe a right-wing version of ‘wokeness’, in which people on the right are adopting the tactics of the progressive social justice warriors, including cancel culture, grievance and victim mentality.

David Farrar: How is Argentina doing under Milei?

• Inflation down from 211% to 27%
• Economic growth from -1.6% to 5.2%
• Unemployment from 6.4% to 7.9%
• Poverty rate from 42% to 37%
• Fiscal deficit from -4.9% to 0.3% of GDP
• Government spending down around 30%

Mike's Minute: We changed the election laws because we're hopeless

If you want to get a bit angsty about the voting changes, the one everyone seems to have missed is the one about how it's being changed because we are so hopeless.

On the “disenfranchised” side of the equation, I have little, if any, time for it.

 Tuesday July 29, 2025 

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Ryan Bridge: Here we go again with the nurses strikes

If you've got an appointment at the hospital this week, you might want to check it's still going ahead.

Nurses are going on strike tomorrow from 9am for 24 hours. 4,300 surgeries and specialist appointments will be affected.

It's a complete withdrawal of labour. It's 36,000 nurses.

Matt Ridley: Stop taxing the poor to fund useless climate programs

Editor’s note: this article was originally published in the Daily Mail, but it contained errors introduced by its editors. Below is the correct text, directly from Matt Ridley:

The climate boondoggle is one of the most regressive wealth transfers in history: never in the field of human commerce, or at least not since the sheriff of Nottingham, has so much tax been paid by people so poor to people so rich. Perhaps Ed Miliband is hoping that by giving lots of money to rich people, he can then impose a wealth tax on them in a sort of economic perpetual-motion machine.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why the surcharge ban will fix nothing

The news of the day, politically, is that surcharges are gone, as the Government's just banned them.

You know what I'm talking about here, right? They're the little extra amount that you get pinged when you turn up at the dairy and you use your credit card, or you use your paywave - it's gone from May next year.

Ani O'Brien: It's just a passport cover... except it's not

The battle over the words on our passports says a lot more about New Zealand than we’d like to admit.

So, they’re flipping the words on the cover of the New Zealand passport… again. New Zealand is to return to sit above Aotearoa. Cue the headlines. Cue the outrage. Cue the proverbial dick measuring. Cue the race-baiting.

Ian Miller: Covid lockdowns devastated an entire generation of children

In what we now understand were completely theatrical attempts to control the Covid-19 pandemic, experts demanded and politicians mandated all sorts of intrusive policies.

Mask mandates were one of the most obvious. School closures. Lockdowns. Curfews. Capacity limits. Fear campaigns. The list is and was endless. And unfortunately the public willingly complied with all of them.

DTNZ: Government moves to cut red tape in construction......

Government moves to cut red tape in construction with reform of scaffolding and safety rules

The Government is launching a major consultation with the construction industry aimed at simplifying health and safety rules, particularly around scaffolding and prequalification processes.

Chris Lynch: Government to ban card payment surcharges

The Government has announced it will ban retail surcharges, which are costing New Zealanders up to $150 million a year.

However, it will still cost merchants, who will need to absorb the cost or pass it onto customers by hiking prices.

Chris Lynch: Government opens up construction market to cheaper overseas products

Thousands of overseas building products will be easier to use in New Zealand from tomorrow in a move the Government says will reduce costs and increase competition in the construction sector.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said quality overseas products, including plasterboard, cladding systems, external doors and windows, have been given the green light for use in New Zealand construction projects.

Bruce Cotterill: Why a new slave labour commissioner won’t change anything

Labour MP Camilla Belich has lodged a member’s bill asking for another commissioner, this time to monitor our use of slave labour. Her proposal implies that there are too many cases of slave labour here, but also notes that our imports have a high content of slave labour. She seems to think that we will be able to convince our overseas suppliers to modify their employment practices.

Kerre Woodham: MMP - does it need tweaking?

Politicians rely on voters having short memories. They all do it.

Politicians and governments get swept out of power, they fester away on the opposition benches, and then a year before the next election, they make sweeping statements and promises about what they'll do if voters have the good sense to put them in.

Mike's Minute: Who I'd have for the Governor of the Reserve Bank

Can I suggest Jarrod Kerr for Governor of the Reserve Bank?

Jarrod is Kiwibank's Chief Economist.

He has been completely consistent in his ongoing commentary around interest rate cuts and the Reserve Bank's need to do more.

Peter Williams: The unstoppable move south

Our quiet internal migration

We shared a pleasant lunch with some newish acquaintances yesterday at the home of a couple we’ve recently met. They live about half an hour’s drive away near Alexandra. We were all of a mature age, what you would call comfortably off and happy in our Central Otago lives.

But here’s another thing we had in common – five years ago none of us were living in the South Island.

JC: Dumb (TVNZ) and Dumber (RNZ)

Their failure to discern what their problem is tells you a lot about their overall capabilities or lack thereof.

Today’s broadcasters, Newstalk ZB excepted, appear to be a bunch of lost souls. Those at TVNZ and RNZ seem to have no idea why the viewers and listeners are deserting them in droves. The minister of broadcasting, if he had the answers, is apparently unable to pass them on as that would be deemed political interference. So Paul Goldsmith, who owns these entities on our behalf, is powerless and just has to sit back and let them bumble on, costing the taxpayers plenty.

 Monday July 28, 2025 

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Ryan Bridge: cone overkill must stop

Chris Bishop says we're sick of over-the-top cone use and expensive traffic management plans.

And he'd be right. They are so annoying and often, to the untrained eye at least, completely pointless.

They take a $100 job and make it a $1000 job.

So why is this till happening?

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.

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: