Dr Eric Crampton: Bring the noise! Or zone housing for choice

If you think hell is other people, then cities aren’t a great place to live.

We are all at least a little bit annoying. We all impose small bits of nuisance. Those of us unwilling to live in an off-grid hermit’s shack have to find tolerable ways of accommodating each other.

There are no perfect solutions. But surely improvements on New Zealand’s status quo are possible.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Splitting power generators from their retail arms would not cut electricity bills

With energy prices spiking, an old idea has gathered fresh momentum: break up the big electricity companies. New Zealand First put the proposal on its agenda at the party’s State of the Nation address, calling for the four gentailers, companies that both generate and retail power, to be split apart.

When people are hurting, the urge to do something is understandable. But doing something is not the same as doing the right thing. I should disclose that several gentailers, and Chorus, are members of The New Zealand Initiative, which I run. But the case against splitting them depends on economics, not loyalty.

Dr Michael Johnston: Technology lessons

In 2007, then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a ‘digital education revolution.’ His government allocated A$2.4 billion (A$3.9 billion in today’s money) to the project. A large chunk of that went to providing a laptop to every senior secondary student.

Australia was not alone. There was an international rush to adopt digital technology in classrooms. Principals were afraid their schools would be left behind. Eyewatering sums were spent on replacing pens and paper with keyboards and screens.

Roger Partridge: Why boundaries matter in government

The Reserve Bank keeps inflation in check, oversees the financial system, regulates banks and issues the country’s currency. These are important jobs, defined by Parliament. Nowhere among them does it say: decide where banks must put their ATMs.

But that is what the Bank is now attempting. It wants banks to establish more than 1,200 cash service sites across the country, at an estimated annual cost of $104 million. An 84-page consultation document details coverage maps and cost projections. What it conspicuously lacks is a legal basis for any of it.

Nick Clark: The census that counts more by counting less

New Zealand has solved one of the great puzzles of modern government. A Bill currently before Parliament abolishes the census and declares its replacement to also be a census, only annual and therefore better.

Since the 1850s, this exercise required statisticians to ask every person in the country where they live, how many people they live with, what languages they speak, what faiths, if any, they observe, and much more. The results were invaluable but increasingly expensive.

The 2023 census cost $326 million, roughly $63 per person counted, assuming they were counted, which not all of them were.

Mike's Minute: The key player in this war

A bloke called Roman Gofman could be the key to all this.

Gofman is the incoming Director of Mossad.

If you believe the story about the war, Netanyahu got the intel that the heavyweights in Iran would all be in the same room on that fateful Saturday. So, if there was ever a time to strike this was it.

Sunday April 19, 2026 

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Ani O'Brien: I changed my mind on Luxon

How Liam Hehir convinced me I was wrong

Yesterday in my weekly political wrap up I wrote:

Again we find ourselves with another lot of coup rumours. Yesterday, Luxon insisted repeatedly that he has the full support of his caucus. Sadly, the only time a leader has to say that is when he does not.

My assessment of things is that the end of the road is nigh for the Prime Minister. He can not continue fending off these attacks. And I no longer think he should. Leadership coups are messy and difficult to get right, but the polls are heading nowhere good and Luxon seems unwilling to do anything to correct his course. He chases votes he will never get while New Zealand First robs the nest where neglected and increasingly frustrated National voters languish.

We are finally at the point where virtually any combination of senior National MPs would present a more palatable option to the people of New Zealand than Christopher Luxon. He has the choice to continue to fight or put party and country first and fall on his sword. With Labour ahead in the polls on the back of doing absolutely nothing, it is clear that the electorate has rejected him. Time to resign, Prime Minister. And if he won’t, National needs to get brave and take him out.

Today I read this piece by Liam Hehir. I highly recommend reading it. [below]

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: UK’s energy weaknesses exposed

UK

IMF warns that Britain faces the biggest shock in the G7

Britain faces the biggest economic shock in the G7 this year, the IMF has warned, as it cut its UK growth forecasts for this year and next. The IMF cited the "impact of higher energy prices”. By contrast, energy exporters such as the US and Canada will see a much smaller hit to growth.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 19.4.26

Sunday April 19, 2026 

News:
Education treaty mandates: Waitangi Tribunal wraps urgent inquiry into clause repeal
The Waitangi Tribunal has concluded final arguments in an urgent inquiry into the government’s decision to remove Treaty of Waitangi mandates from the education system.

The focus of the proceedings is the repeal of Section 127(1)(d), a law passed in November 2025 that removed the legal requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 18 April 2026

Election 2026: Defections, debuts, and the latest leadership drama

Former All Blacks captain Taine Randell has thrown his hat in the ring to contest the Tukituki electorate for New Zealand First. He brings a wealth of business and fisheries knowledge, coming in hot on energy, immigration, and regional economic issues, all of which sit squarely in NZ First’s wheelhouse. What a fish for the party to land!

Peter Williams: The FNDC debacle – Why democracy matters

The Local Government Act must be changed

Democracy, as Sir Winston Churchill once said in the House of Commons (quoting an unknown parliamentary predecessor) is the worst form of government, apart from all those other forms which have been tried from time to time.

Democracy, from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and kratos (rule, power or strength) in its purist form is government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Thousands of organisations, from the smallest membership based incorporated societies to local authorities and central government vote for the people they wish to govern them.

Bryce McKenzie: We're taking Gore District Council to court

Bryce McKenzie, co-founder of Groundswell NZ explains clearly what is happening in Gore and why it is relevant to all of New Zealand.

We’re writing to update you on the proposed Gore District Plan, how it will affect all of New Zealand, and our latest step to take our campaign for property rights to the courts.

This isn’t just about Gore, but the ever-expanding ways interest groups use planning legislation to wedge themselves between landowners and the legitimate uses of their land. It’s Gore today, but it could be any council tomorrow.

DTNZ: Trump thanks Iran for opening Strait of Hormuz as oil prices in freefall

The US president vowed, however, to continue to blockade Iranian ports.

Iran has announced that it will allow passage for “all commercial vessels” through the strategic Strait of Hormuz following the declaration of a 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. However, US President Donald Trump has vowed to maintain his blockade of Iranian ports.

Ele Ludemann: Open letter to National MPs

Dear National MPs,

Your party members, the ones who support events, fundraising and you, hate disloyalty and leaks.

Voters punish both.

Melanie Phillips: An unholy accommodation

The Pope’s genuflection to Islam spells disaster for Western civilisation

When US President Donald Trump sent Vice-President JD Vance to negotiate with members of the Iranian regime in Islamabad, people initially thought that Vance — reportedly the most outspoken voice in the Trump administration against going to war with Iran — would be a soft touch.

When the talks in Pakistan broke down, however, Vance’s position could hardly have been tougher. Having seen the Iranian regime up close, he said, he was absolutely certain that these people must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons.

In recent days, he has again taken a position which contradicted previous assumptions about his worldview.

Roger Partridge: Still Admiring the Emperor’s New Clothes

Why loyalty outlasts the evidence

A year ago this week, my Quadrant column, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – written before this Substack launched – asked a question that irritated more people than it persuaded: How could so many thoughtful conservatives, people who once championed limited government and constitutional norms, support a president whose actions so plainly contradicted those principles?

The answer drew on Jonathan Haidt’s research into moral psychology. Trump, the column argued, had tapped into something deeper than policy preference – loyalty, authority, sanctity – the moral foundations conservatives weight more heavily than liberals. Facts that contradicted the tribal narrative would be reinterpreted or dismissed. “Short-term pain for long-term gain,” supporters would say. Or: “He’s playing four-dimensional chess.”

Andrew Dickens: All eyes are on Christopher Luxon

The story that has made the front page of the Herald this morning and dominated the conversation was the leadership of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He is facing what party insiders describe as “the most difficult fortnight of his leadership”, with growing speculation about his support within National's caucus as Parliament returns next week. Sources say that the whip, Stuart Smith, tried to present Christopher Luxon with evidence that caucus backing for his leadership had weakened. He tried to do that before Easter, but Christopher Luxon did not want to hear this.

Bob Edlin: Breaking the high-kicking rule on sports grounds around Queenstown....

Breaking the high-kicking rule on sports grounds around Queenstown could earn you much more than time in the sin bin or a red card …

If it had been published on April 1, your PoO team would have had a good chuckle and credited Stuff with posting a splendid spoof.

Not just a spoof, but a spoof spiced by a raunchy headline:

 

Players told ‘no kicking balls high’ during football tournament

Saturday April 18, 2026 

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