Dame Elizabeth Rata: Episode 9: Arithmetic 1877-1899

In the video below ( The arithmetic episode) Elizabeth describes the content and how it was taught. Children were taught numbers, how to add, subtract, multiply, calculate, weigh, measure, and count money.

Practising numbers and chanting the times-table were crucial teaching methods. They were justified by the latest psychological ideas about automatic retrieval and the importance of memory for cognitive development. Resources may have been limited but what mattered was the teacher's ability to use resources well. The times-table chart, pinned to each classroom wall, was the most important resource of all.

Nathan Smith: You Don't Need To Defend Frivolous Speech

Come on, guys. We have to get smarter at this.

Complaining about the end of free speech every time someone gets a visit from the police for writing a few words online is childish. Just because you have to say something doesn’t mean you have something to say. And just because you have something to say doesn’t mean you know how to say it. Simply offering a blanket defence of free speech makes everyone dumber. Quality over quantity, every time.

Steve Gaskell: Opportunity - Five Unnegotiable Demands, One Big Headache!

Opportunity's price of admission to forming the next government.

The Opportunity Party (TOP) has arrived at the coalition negotiating table with five non-negotiable demands. Nothing quite like laying down the conditions before the negotiations have even started.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.10.26

Saturday October 31, 2026 

News:
New Zealand First commits to introducing bill forcing Ngāpuhi to sign Treaty settlement if in government
New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones has committed to introducing a bill forcing Ngāpuhi to sign a Treaty settlement in the first 100 days of the next government, if re-elected.

Jones made the commitment during TVNZ's Kaupapa Māori Debate on Thursday night, where he said he would "deal to it in the first hundred days after the election".

Peter Dunne: Political Polls

“National is now in a fight to save the furniture” screamed Radio New Zealand’s headline following the release of its latest poll this week.

The facts, however, tell a rather different story. We all know that individual opinion polls count for very little. They are but a snapshot in time, and not an indicator of a likely election outcome. And we should all know that the trend of polls over time is a much more reliable informant and indicator of a likely election outcome.

Richard Prebble: We need a new plan

National issued a press release headed “National’s plan is working”, welcoming the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold interest rates.

The Reserve Bank predicts inflation will reach 4.4 per cent by Christmas.

If that is National’s plan, we need a new one.

Kerre Woodham: Can you see a light at the end of the cost of living tunnel?

There's a story in the New Zealand Herald this morning about a young couple in Hawke's Bay who are earning good coin, above the average between them, but they're barely able to make ends meet. This is the cost of living election – at least that's what the media outlets are telling us. But I don't know if you heard Enda Brady on with Mike this morning. Have a listen to what he had to say around the British budget.

"People are worried about energy bills, cost of living, food. I went to the petrol station earlier on to get petrol, so I looked at the prices specifically for you, Mike. We are looking at $4.02 a litre for diesel, and I pay $3.52 for unleaded."

Bob Edlin: Alistair Boyce.....

.....the bloke whose (improbable) move from the Backbencher to the back benches has been blown away

If you have ever wondered what cannon fodder looks like in politics, check out the news from Hutt South today.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has urged NZ First supporters in that electorate to give their candidate votes to National’s Chris Bishop to ensure he retains the seat. He is focusing on securing the party vote for NZ First.

As RNZ tells it:

David Farrar: State broadcasters coverage of minor parties

An interesting analysis of time given to minor parties by the two state broadcasters is here.

My summary is:

David Farrar: The Greens are consistent

The only thing surprising about the Greens defending their attendance at a Mongrel Mob hui, is that people were surprised they attended.

The Greens have a very clear view. Co-leader Marama Davidson said “This is not new. It’s not new for the Green Party”[1] and she is right.

Their election justice policy[2] is even more radical than their stance that gangs are legitimate community organisations to engage with.

Nick Mowbray: Split your vote

The followed post was sourced from Nick Mowbray's X account

I am National’s largest donor. But that doesn’t mean I agree with them on everything including how you should vote.

National will tell you not to vote strategically. Like every party they have their own interests. My priority is a centre-right government.

If that’s your priority too my advice is clear: split your vote.

Mike's Minute: The Reserve Bank came to the party

Gold medal for Kelly Eckhold at Westpac.

He called it, or at least suggested the hold we saw from the Reserve Bank wasn't as "home run" as many might have predicted.

This, in a dry, old world of monetary policy, is little short of a blockbuster.

I guess you could argue the 4-3 vote is a good indication of the wider view.

 Friday October 30, 2026 

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Caleb Anderson: The Simplified Life: How the West Lost Its Mind to the Left Brain

It is interesting to reflect on whether ideas corrupt people, or people corrupt ideas. While inevitably a mix, we seem very often to lean toward the latter. The most dangerous thing you can do to an idea is to strip it of its context, and hence of its complexity.

Andy Loader: The Maori Economy

When does the extortion stop?

According to the latest figures that I have available from the March 2023 census New Zealand has 978,246 people registered as of Maori descent (19.6% of the total population). This shows an increase over the numbers in 2018, up from 18.5%.

Based on the Te Ōhanga Māori 2023 Report via Knowledge Auckland. I believe that the total Maori asset base is $126 billion (an 83% increase over the 2018 figure of $69 billion).

Colinxy: A Rabbit, Four Police Officers, and the Future Labour Wants for New Zealand

When mockery becomes policing, and speech becomes a matter for the State.

Recently in the United Kingdom, a 15‑year‑old boy found himself at the receiving end of four police officers after making fun of a local councillor on social media. His crimes allegedly included criticising the councillor’s clothing, comparing his appearance to a “rent boy”, and posting an edited image giving the politician rabbit ears. The teenager was arrested, fingerprinted, photographed, had DNA taken, and had electronic devices seized. Reports indicate police considered offences including harassment, malicious communications, and a possible hate crime[i].

Bob Edlin: “Freedom” group voices dismay at Dame Jacinda’s new job.....

....but what does a Professor of Practice do?

Big-wigs at the University of Sydney this week expressed their delight at hiring Dame Jacinda Ardern.

Their press release said:

Richard Prebble: The importance of being a smart voter

An Epsom National supporter asked whether he should vote for Paul Goldsmith.

Why would he?

National’s problem is not winning too few electorates. It is that it will win too many.

Kerre Woodham: Labour should stay away from housing policy

When I look at Labour's campaign and I look at National's campaign, it's like, look, I'll do it for you next time. Seriously, when something is being done so badly, you think, you know what? I can do that so much better. They've had shocking campaigns, both of the main parties. Just negative, silly stuff. And yesterday, Labour had an absolute clanger. Of all the issues and all the policies that Labour could have come up with to attract voters, to point out deficiencies in the Coalition Government, why on earth did they have to decide on housing as one of their last big pushes before the election?

David Farrar: A split OCR decision

The Reserve Bank announced:

The Monetary Policy Committee today voted 4 – 3 to hold the OCR at 2.75 percent. …

Global events are adding to near-term inflation pressures in New Zealand. Fuel prices have risen further because of ongoing disruptions in global energy markets, and the exchange rate has fallen by around 3 percent since early September. Annual inflation is expected to increase to 4.4 percent in the December quarter, largely reflecting current futures prices for fuel. Near-term inflation forecasts are uncertain given volatility in prices for oil and refined fuels.

David Farrar: TOP insiders speak out

The Herald reports:

Former Opportunity Party board members have spoken out about internal disarray and tribal politics as polling suggests the party may hold the balance of power after November’s election.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald, the former insiders have described a party plagued by a “toxic” and “nasty” culture, with sources feeling they were excluded, blocked from discussion and treated like outsiders when at odds with a “cliquey” faction of the party.

Rodney Hide: Two votes. Use them.

National Party pollster David Farrar had this to say this week on his blog: "There are two paths back into Parliament for Chris Bishop – a win in Hutt South, or the National Party having at least two list MPs. Both of these paths are looking far from certain right now."

That's about as big an admission that we are going to get that on present polling National will get no list MPs at all. National is polling below 30 percent, which means the 800,000 or so Kiwis who party vote National are not delivering one extra MP. They may as well not tick the party vote box.

Mike's Minute: Look at day one voting, there is no voter suppression

The figures keep defying the reality.

68,000 votes were cast on Monday.

That day was a problem according to the conspiracy theorists who suggested that not only had enrolling closed early, but the opening day of voting was a public holiday and for some reason voting on a day off may prove to be some sort of issue.

Thursday October 29, 2026 

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RNZ-Reid Research poll: National below disastrous 2020 result as Opportunity surges

The National Party has dropped below 25 percent in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll, while Opportunity has reached a new high and could decide the next government.

National has dismissed the result as "out of step" with other polls, just nine days before voting closes.

Christopher Luxon's party is on 24.8 percent, down 1.1 percentage points since the last RNZ poll three weeks ago. That puts National below its disastrous 2020 election showing, though still above its historic low in 2002.

Labour remains the most popular party on 30.6 percent, down 0.2 points, while Opportunity records the biggest gain, rising 1.7 points to 7.2 percent.


Click to view

The full poll results can be read HERE

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why holding the OCR in place was the right move

It is fair to say the overwhelming reaction to the Reserve Bank's decision to hold the OCR was surprise and, in some cases, shock.

Everyone thought the Reserve Bank would raise the OCR. ASB says it was 95 percent priced in. Even economists who believed the OCR should be held, so as not to kill the nascent recovery, were on record saying they thought the Reserve Bank would do it anyway. They expected it to make the wrong call and hike.

Clive Bibby: The 4th Estate and 5th Columnists

Readers, including myself, often make the mistake of including these two media outlets in the same benign category of democracy oversight.

In fact the term “Fourth Estate” has traditionally referred to the non-political cornerstone upon which our democracy is based. In a free society such as ours, it is an important part of how our political system works - the election of Local and Central Governments and the format most commonly used by constituents in the process of defending their individual civil rights against powerful community special interest groups.

Alia Bland: An Open Letter To The University Of Sydney

Regarding the appointment of Jacinda Ardern as Professor of Practice

Dear Professor Scott,

I read with absolute disgust that the University of Sydney has appointed Jacinda Ardern as Professor of Practice, where she will apparently be sharing her wisdom on empathetic leadership, social cohesion and civic trust.

You cannot be serious.

Richard Prebble: Cannot be correct

The Labour Party has issued no law-and-order policies.

There are several possible explanations.

Chris Hipkins says Labour is focused on the cost of living. Yeah, right.

Dr Eric Crampton: Ending bail-outs will force councils to confront their bad decisions

If you know that someone will always be there to bail you out if things go wrong, you’ll make worse decisions.

Economist János Kornai called this the “soft budget constraint”. He thought it explained a lot of the pathologies in Eastern European companies and economies before the fall of the Soviet Union.

Companies knowing that they’ll be bailed out don’t keep a sharp eye on their accounts. The same holds for local governments – and their electorates.

JC: Guy Fawkes Is Two Days Too Early

If only the election had coincided with Guy Fawkes Night. That particular event was born out of a political feud. As you will recall the man himself, with a group of Catholic conspirators, hid 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords aiming to blow up the British Parliament and assassinate the Protestant King James I. Unfortunately they were betrayed and the plot was foiled. I predict a similar scenario here two days later on 7 November. The left coalition plot to overthrow the right coalition will be similarly foiled, not by gunpowder but by a mechanism known as the ‘split vote’, perfectly legitimate under the MMP system.

Geoff Neal: Top 10 Voter Issues and Performance by Government

For the first time this election, a comprehensive list of the top 10 voter issues and official government performance data has been compiled into one place - www.KPI.nz (Kiwi Performance Indicators).

Voters can now see:

Dr David Smylie: I Left New Zealand Over An Email

It was a private, four-sentence reply to a sales rep, sent late one night.

For that, the Medical Council found my comments “objectively racist” and put me through a year of ‘re-education’ that I was expected to pay for myself. In the process, New Zealand lost a GP with almost 40 years’ experience and a deep commitment to genuine patient care.

Rodney Hide: Election outcome: the real losers won't be on the ballot

Here’s my election night prediction, for what it is worth.

We will get a centre-right government. National will win an overhang. ACT and NZ First will come out on top. Opportunity will not make it into Parliament. The big losers will be the New Zealand media.

The media are finished

Mike's Minute: The truth always comes out

What do they say about the truth always coming out?

By Friday morning Kerrin Leoni was gone.

She lied and she got caught with the photo and the video. Not only didn’t it pass the pub test, it didn’t pass the truth test.

Campaigns almost always have things in them you never saw coming. For Labour it was a combination of dishonesty and their past.

Wednesday October 28, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Do Labour's complaints about early voting stand up to scrutiny?

Okay, you want to know what a party sounds like when it's preparing to lose an election? Check out Labour.

They've started to ramp up their complaints about so-called voter suppression. Now, to be fair, this is not a new complaint. It's been going on all campaign. It goes back more than a year. But it really went up a level with Ayesha Verrall complaining that the first day of voting would fall on a public holiday and that "it's all adding up".

Ryan Bridge: Will the US midterms matter more to Kiwis than our own election?

Odds are on we'll get another hike to the OCR tomorrow.

That'll take us to 3%.

Markets are pricing the chance of that hike happening at about 85%.

NZCPR POLITICAL PARTY CLIMATE POLICY 2026

Executive Summary

The 2026 election presents New Zealanders with a stark choice over climate and environmental policy. The political blocs are divided not just on emissions targets and regulatory settings, but on the fundamental question of whether climate policy should prioritise economic growth and scientific realism, or aggressive emissions reduction, regulatory expansion, and ideological transformation.

Ani O'Brien: The case for saving Chris Bishop

A Parliament without Chris Bishop would be a worse Parliament

You may have heard about “The Overhang” which looms large over this election campaign. If not, you can read what I wrote a few weeks ago on the situation. In any case, because of the potential overhang that will be created by National having more electorate seats than their party vote entitles them to, they will most likely not take any list MPs into Parliament. That means senior National MPs Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, and Gerry Brownlee would lose their seats. Unless those standing in electorates win their seats.

Pee Kay: The Maorification Virus

A Satirical look at New Zealand Politics, 2017 – 2026

Part 1 Who will save Democracy?

On 26th October, 2017 a hitherto unheard-of virus entered New Zealand.

Democracy didn’t know it but it was to become the key target of this previously obscure and outlandish contagion.

By mid to late 2018 it was becoming obvious to many that Democracy was definitely the target of the virus and, worse still, Democracy had actually been infected.

Peter Williams: Election Fortnight begins

Why can’t we just do it on the day?

And so we’re away.

We don’t have Election Day. We have Election Fortnight. It’s quite ridiculous really.

The candidates can campaign for the next 12 days, but not on the 13th, November 7th.

Guest Post: Tactical voting

The MMP electoral system can be problematic — but, with a good understanding of its nature, there is a way for the National Party coalition government to be more assured of being reelected; and at the same time, give ACT and NZ First more say in crucial matters such as equal rights for all New Zealanders, which National have been too timid to implement, despite having promised to do so before the last election.

Bob Edlin: Maori trust’s beach barrier was blessed with a karakia....

......but it didn’t have the blessing of the local council – or the law

Uh, oh. Tensions between beach-going motorists and beach-protecting vigilantes were reflected in a report headed Kāwhia landowners face threats to burn down marae over beach closure.

The report explained that significant numbers of landowners supported the blocking of vehicle access to the Kāwhia Hot Water Beach beach to protect Te Arai ō Wiwini, a breeding ground and nursery for pātiki and other fish.

David Farrar: Yes Minister is a documentary

Matthew Hooton reports:

They’re called the “bureaucratic priesthood” – powerful officials in Wellington who ministers must work with to deliver their promises but who think they, not democratically elected politicians, should be the judge of what the public wants and what it’s going to get.

The priesthood is only a minority of officials, according to a new study by the free-market New Zealand Initiative to be published after the election. It’s designed to help new ministers and MPs, on either side of the political divide, deal with barriers officials could put up to stop them doing what they have been elected to do.

Graham Adams: Why does the left soft-soap Māori gangs?

The Coalition parties can barely believe their luck as the gang scandal continues to engulf their political rivals even as advance voting begins.

Little wonder Oriini Kaipara has been described as a “sleeper-agent for the centre-right” given that a video she posted of herself at a Mongrel Mob hui — alongside Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and Green candidate Michel Mulipola — sparked the political firestorm.

Rodney Hide: The limits of cleverness versus capitalism

The following column appeared in the NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW October 27th 2017. With the support of Winston Peters, Jacinda Ardern had just been installed as Prime Minister.

Tuesday October 27, 2026 

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1News Verian Poll: Coalition has path to power but Labour steady amid gangs row

National, ACT and NZ First have moved closer to securing a coalition for a second term in power without needing Opportunity's help, the latest 1News Verian poll suggests

Tonight’s results show National is down on last week, but Labour is stuck on 27%, and Christopher Luxon is pulling clear as preferred prime minister


Click to view

See the full poll results HERE

Whangarei Tim: Opportunity Party (TOP) Exposed - Promoting NZ Apartheid

Te Tiriti is the fake gravy-train leeching “Māori edition” of the original authentic English language version of the Treaty of Waitangi signed on the 6 of February 1840. The modern day fake edition is used by politicians like Labour, Greens, and TOP, to help Māorify New Zealand.

Geoff Parker - TPM’s New Constitutional Policy: Who Should Hold the Political Power to Govern New Zealand?

Where should NZ’s political authority ultimately reside?

That is the real issue behind Te Pāti Māori’s new constitutional policy.

Constitutional Transformation

Te Pāti Māori wants to make Crown obligations arising from Te Tiriti legally enforceable and to fund the next stage of Māori-led constitutional transformation.

Steve Gaskell: TOP - A Fresh Political Brand, Treaty Politics and a Tax on Your Backyard.

The Opportunity Party wants to sell itself as something different from the usual crowd in Wellington. Fair enough. But have a look at its first 12 candidates and some interesting backgrounds start to emerge. Climate activism, Māori economic development, environmental restoration and Treaty issues feature in the experience of several candidates. Kayla Kingdon-Bebb was among the contributors to He Puapua, the report looking at how New Zealand could implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Wendy Geus: Electorate vote David Seymour for Epsom.....Mike Hosking is.

Goldsmith retained activist electoral commissioner and is impeding the BSA demise.

David Seymour received a high level endorsement this week for retaining the Epsom electorate. Mike Hosking, desperately trying to be balanced in his election coverage often comes off as piously clinging to the moral high ground.

Guest Post: These Are Stupid and False Claims

Guest Post on GoodOil by LilBaP

Joel Maxwell’s Stuff opinion tells readers they should fear billionaires more than Māori gangsters.

He starts: “Let me make the argument that our queasy fascination with a bunch of creepy, destructive, probably criminal idiots in the final weeks of the election is focused on the wrong group of creepy, destructive idiots.” The fascination is media click-baiting. There is no fascination for the rest of us.

Peter Williams: Opportunity needs a reality check

We can all start voting on Monday, but the perennially offended among us just keep on finding things to whinge about. Apparently, a public holiday means it’s an inconvenient day to cast a vote.

Just like all the complaining about how closing off the enrolment period at midnight this Sunday is “an affront to democracy,” you sometimes worry about the intelligence of people on the left side of politics.