Victor Davis Hanson: Iran, Anti-War or Anti-Trump? The Left’s ‘Hysterical’ Opposition to Iran War Explained

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the media hysteria over Iran, anti-Trump protests, and the stakes for 2026. After everything Donald Trump has taken on, will division hand Democrats the win?

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Geoff Parker: When Did 'Consultation' Become 'Partnership'?

Lately I’ve noticed something creeping into the way government agencies talk — especially Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

An increasing number of projects now seem to involve “partnering with mana whenua. (Maori tribes)”

Not consulting. Not engaging. Just partnering.

That might sound like a small shift in language, but it’s doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Because here’s the simple question that doesn’t seem to get asked:

When did consultation become partnership?

Judy Gill: New Gods for a Dying Church

Or syncretism preparing the path for a one-world religion?

Contents

1. Syncretism and the absorption of Matariki into Catholic language and liturgy

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 4 April 2026

BREAKING! Stop the press! Biggest news of the week!

Duncan Garner drove on a suspended license. Our media were on top of the story from the moment news broke. Push alerts. Banners. So serious was the reporting that Garner’s dear mum got into a state because she thought he had been hauled off to prison. But these journalists missed the real scoop. No, I’m not talking about the Leader of the Opposition being caught in another lie (although that happened). You heard it here first on Thought Crimes… back in the day Duncan Garner was banned from the annual media golf tournament aged just 22. How has he got away with it for so long? Why is he able to roam the streets freely without at least an ankle bracelet? He must be cancelled immediately! Tear up his goddamn passport!!

Simon O'Connor: BSA - Ideologically compromised?

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) decision to include online broadcasting under its jurisdiction is an overreach, ideological, but also part of a global push to control speech.

So the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has just granted itself more powers, notably to empower the complaining class an opportunity to harass those online sharing their views.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - The Political editors deliver their verdicts on Luxon’s reshuffle

Yesterday I wrote my own analysis of Christopher Luxon’s Cabinet reshuffle, arguing it was fundamentally about a Prime Minister punishing his rival and rewarding his loyalists. Today I want to go through what the political editors are actually saying about it, because on several points, the verdicts line up.

How the reshuffle was rushed into existence

Bob Edlin: Advice to Todd Stephenson - leave the patsies to others...

Advice to Todd Stephenson: leave the patsies to others and press on with promoting common sense in state agency names

ACT MP Todd Stephenson has used his right to question government ministers in Parliament to toss a patsy about the Government’s response to the prospect of a fuel shortage.

He could be accused of squandering his right.

Patrick McLaughlin: Capturing the Administrative State, Word by Word

Congress can tell you, to the dollar, what a new program will cost over ten years. It’s much harder to answer a simpler question: how much regulation are we adding—or subtracting—when we change the rules of the game?

We treat fiscal policy like a ledger. We treat regulation like a weather report: lots of feelings, few numbers.

David Farrar: Why are taxpayers lending money tied to airports?

Shane Jones announced:

A project to extend Hamilton Airport runway will receive a $6.5 million loan from the Regional Infrastructure Fund, boosting resilience for Waikato and the national aviation network, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: WCC’s Actions Are a National Moral Hazard

At the heart of the Wellington City Council’s (WCC) decision to transfer water assets to a new, externally governed entity lies a fundamental ethical failure. These assets were not created by the Council, nor do they belong to councillors in any moral sense. They were paid for by Wellingtonians over generations through rates, charges, and debt serviced by the public. The Council holds them in trust, charged with their care, maintenance, and prudent management on behalf of the community.

Saturday April 4, 2026 

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John Robertson: The New Zealand Army Has Been Hijacked...

.....quietly, structurally, and without democratic consent. What should be a disciplined, secular fighting force has drifted into something else entirely: an institution requiring its personnel to participate in a belief framework they may not share. This isn’t about language or symbolism; it’s about compelled conduct.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 29.3.26

Saturday April 4, 2026 

News:
Preparing for reforms: new co-chairs for Regional Leadership Committee
News from Greater Wellington Regional Council Te Pane Matua Taiao
Regional council chair Daran Ponter and Ngāti Toa Rangatira Chief Executive Helmut Modlik will chair the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee (WRLC) for the 2025-28 triennium. While appointed as chair and deputy, the two will act as co-chairs.

Ani O'Brien: More advice ignored, Hipkins prioritised vaccine targets over safety

What the documents reveal about dose spacing, myocarditis risk, and political priorities

You can read my first dive into the Official Information Act requests here.

In this article, I focus on the tension between what evolving evidence and medical experts were advising about the spacing between first and second doses of the vaccine and the decisions regarding spacing made by the New Zealand Government, plus the way promotion of the vaccine may have breached law.1

David Neumark: The Minimum Wage Is a Dead End

Policymakers and voters care about reducing inequality and poverty, although they have historically disagreed about how to do this. In recent years, though, higher minimum wages having emerged as one of the most—if not the most—politically popular approaches to supporting low-wage workers and low-income families.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Luxon’s reshuffle reveals a PM punishing rivals and rewarding loyalists

Christopher Luxon has announced his election-year Cabinet reshuffle. Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds enter Cabinet. Cameron Brewer and Mike Butterick become ministers outside Cabinet. Simeon Brown picks up energy. Paul Goldsmith gets the public service. Louise Upston becomes Leader of the House. The details matter. But the real story is what happened to Chris Bishop.

Bishop has been stripped of three roles: Leader of the House, associate sport, and most significantly, his position as chair of National’s election campaign. In return, he picks up the Attorney-General portfolio. On paper, you might call that a lateral move. In practice, it is a demotion dressed up as a promotion.

David Harvey: The Distant Yet Pervasive State

The Shepherd and the Flock: De Tocqueville’s Warning and the New Zealand Condition

This article arose after I had read a number of different pieces. One was Bryce Edwards’ “Democracy Briefing: The Establishment joins the electricity insurgency”. That in turn led me to Danyl McLuchlan’s Listener article “Fuel for a Crisis”. Then from out of the blue arrived a piece about the state of social media discourse and how volatile, vicious and elemental it can be. All this gave rise to some thinking about how remote Wellington seems to be, how out of touch the bureaucrats (who control the decision making process) actually are and yet by the same token when the going gets rough the howl goes up “The Government must do something.” These general themes prompted some research and and some thinking. The results follow.

There is a pattern to New Zealand’s political life that is so familiar it has ceased to surprise us — and that, in itself, ought to give us pause.

Brendan O'Neill: Anti-Trump catastrophism is the real menace to the West

The cultural elite’s dream of an American defeat in Iran scares me far more than Trump’s premature claims of victory.

Snark really is all that President Trump’s critics have left. They greet his every utterance, whether made in the flesh or on Truth Social, with instant sarcastic derision. Their cliquish cynicism was on full display during Trump’s address to the nation on the Iran War last night. No sooner had Trump said the US was nearing victory than his opposing army of nay-sayers was gleefully crowing: ‘Nah, it’s a disaster, we’re screwed.’

I can’t be the only person who now finds this voguish gloom more grating than Trump’s starry-eyed statements? Give me Trump’s possibly premature declarations of victory over these wet dreams of defeat any day of the week.

Roger Partridge: Wellington takes the gold

Winston Peters was in Westport on Sunday, announcing that a future NZ First government would return 50 per cent of all mining royalties to the regions where mining occurs. It is one of the more sensible growth ideas to emerge from this election campaign so far.

The logic is simple. When a mine is proposed, local communities experience the disruption – the consent battles, the pressure on roads and services, the divided town meetings. Wellington gets the royalties. In those circumstances, local resistance to development is not irrational. It is a predictable response to a badly designed system.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: NZ is too busy governing badly to govern well

There is an old joke about a man who visits his doctor complaining of fatigue. The doctor prescribes a course of vitamins and tells him to come back in a month. When the patient returns, the doctor asks whether the pills have helped. “I have no idea,” the man replies. “I could not get the bottle open.”

In this case, the joke is on New Zealand.