Ryan Bridge: The issues we care about

We have a new issues poll out this morning.

It's from IPSOS. 1000 people. Was taken after Waitangi weekend.

The numbers are bad for National, because they should be winning on more issues.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should we really be condemning the strikes on Iran?

Okay, let's talk about the debate Helen Clark has sparked on whether New Zealand should be condemning the US air strikes on Iran.

As you’ll have noticed, New Zealand hasn’t condemned the strikes. In fact, in a radio interview this morning, the Prime Minister said that our position aligns with Australia’s - and Australia has openly supported the strikes.

Geoff Parker: Special Māori Privilege? Minister Overrides Law To Grant Citizenship To Overseas-born Children

A lengthy fight for recognition has ended in relief for one Māori family, after New Zealand’s citizenship system left three overseas-born children in legal limbo.

John Bryers Ruddock, a Ngāpuhi father, has secured full citizenship for his three children following intervention by Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden, but the case exposes the strict limits of the Citizenship Act 1977 — and raises questions about the scope of special treatment for Māori under New Zealand law.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.3.26

Tuesday March 3, 2026 

News:
Kindergarten Taranaki Becomes Part of Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens
Kindergarten Taranaki has formally joined the Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens (WMK) network, marking a significant development for early childhood education in the region. The move brings the long-established Taranaki early learning centre into one of Aotearoa’s largest kindergarten associations, which operates with a strong kaupapa Māori approach to teaching and learning.

Kerre Woodham: The world is in an uneasy place

When it comes to telling stories about what I did in my weekend, I thought I had a pretty good one, but Donald Trump takes the cake. Bombing the hell out of Iran and taking out the Ayatollah Khamenei and other key members of the ruling theocracy surely trumps what most of us did.

As you will know by now, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran beginning Saturday. There were talks going on between Washington and Tehran over Iran's nuclear programme, or what remains of it. But the US and Israel decided the talk was going nowhere, and so on Saturday the strikes began.

David Farrar: Homosexuality linked to older siblings

Until recent years there has been no real idea why 5% or so of the population are attracted to their own sex, rather than the opposite sex. It clearly isn’t a choice, but what was unknown is whether it has a genetic link, or an environmental link or both – and how much.

I have blogged previously on how some studies have shown that there is a link to having older brothers. A new study of nine million people in the Netherlands has been of much higher quality than previous studies, and confirms them. They note:

Mike's Minute: What's the answer to our child poverty issue?

To the so-called poverty issue.

The report actually uses the word "hardship".

Kids in hardship, roughly, is flat. About 14% of kids allegedly live in some form of hardship.

Pee Kay: Inverse Acculturation - The Subsumption of a Culture

For hundreds of years it has been possible for humans to travel across continents but it was not until recently that cheap long-distance air travel, greater affluence in developing countries and information becoming easily accessible, that modern humans are able to migrate on the massive scale we see today.

Google Maps and Google Street View allows us to easily familiarise ourselves with every street of a foreign city through before we even start packing our bags!

Centrist: Three more gang members than police — but 49,000 fewer victims

1News recently reported that there are “10,475 police officers and 10,478 gang members.”

Since the 2023 election, gang numbers have risen 13%, or 1208 more members, while police numbers have increased by 264. Labour’s Ginny Andersen called the new figures “a broken promise from the Prime Minister” and “an absolute failure”.

Yet on the same day, the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey showed there were 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime in the year to October 2025 compared with the previous two years.

Dave Patterson: The Time for Talk Is Over - US, Israel Strike Iran and Kill Khamenei

The time for substantive talks between the US and Iran has come and gone. At 1:15 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, the US and Israel launched a massive airstrike against targets in Iran. Operation Epic Fury was the American name for the attack, while Israel’s code name was Roaring Lion. Unlike similar strikes in the past, Iran’s senior leadership was targeted, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In a Truth Social post, President Trump announced: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” The objective was to decapitate Iran’s leadership immediately in order to provide the Iranian citizens the freedom to rise up against a leaderless government. Much of that job now appears to be done.

Talks With Iran Were Going Nowhere

Simon O'Connor: We no longer recognise evil

As the Islamic regime in Iran begins to crumble, it is clear from comments of some politicians, academics, and activists that they no longer can discern between good and evil, right and wrong.

As United States and Israeli air strikes continue to decapitate the leaders and degrade the facilities of the Islamic regime - who for decades have held the Iranian people hostage to their mad religious ideology – I wanted to share a few reflections.

Matua Kahurangi: Hey Australia, you can have Jacinda, we don’t want her

So it is official. Jacinda Ardern is now based in Australia, at least for the moment. We are told it is about work, family logistics and convenience. We are told she will still spend time back home. Cut the bullsh*t.

The reality is that she walked away from the job before voters could pass their own verdict, and now she has walked away from the country she once claimed to love so fiercely. For a leader who preached kindness and solidarity, the exit was cowardly.

Monday March 2, 2026 

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Damien Grant: ACT is in a death match with NZ First, and the stakes couldn’t be higher

“Let’s be straight up with each other. Any party that wants to ramp up spending is being economically irresponsible. Because the only way to spend more money is to borrow it or to raise taxes.”

Fighting words from the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in his State of the Nation at the soft opening of the SkyCity convention centre.

And since we begin this week’s column at this beautiful stadium let’s take a moment to remind ourselves how it was paid for.

Dr James Allan: Israel’s Judiciary is Out of Control

I confess to being one of Australia’s most pro-Israel law professors. Actually, change that to I proudly confess to being one of Australia’s most pro-Israel law professors. I admire how this tiny country is the only democracy in the entire Middle East. Surrounded by countries that want to wipe it from the face of the earth this minute Jewish homeland has defended itself from invasions and attacks that comfortably coddled Western countries haven’t experienced in 80 years. And be clear that Israel has restrained itself in doing this by orders of magnitude more than the Allies did when fighting Germany and Japan in WWII.

Lindsay Mitchell: How the Sallies have evolved to become part of the problem

The 2026 Salvation Army State of the Nation Report revealed their official conversion to wokeism by repeatedly finding excuses for Maori over-representation in poor social stats because of victimisation through colonisation. This caused a number of readers to ponder future contributions to the organisation.

But it isn't just this development that should concern donors.

David Wojick: AI may bring a cognitive renaissance to human thinking

By “AI” I mean the amazing chatbots that emulate reading and reasoning. There is a lot more to AI but that is how the term is being used these days.

There are a couple of reasons why these powerful AI tools may greatly improve human thinking. Simply put they can save a lot of search time and they find better stuff. This gives people more time to think and better information to think with.

Alain Bertaud: Let cities find their own order

Cities are shaped by millions of individual decisions. When people choose where to live, work and build, an order emerges from their combined choices – what urbanists call "spontaneous order." It arises from markets and human interactions, not from master plans.

When planners impose rigid design visions without understanding these forces, they produce unintended consequences: housing shortages, long commutes and inefficient land use.

Nick Clark: Wellington knows best?

The central Government has a local government problem. Rates have been rising too fast, regional councils are seen as inefficient and unaccountable, and the public wants action. Fair enough. But the solutions on offer share a troubling assumption: that the best way to fix local government is to give Wellington more control.

Two recent consultations illustrate this starkly.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Green Peril

UK

Green party wins Gorton and Denton by-election

The Green Party has won the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Hannah Spencer taking the seat from Labour in the Greens' first ever Westminster by-election victory. Green leader Zack Polanski told BBC Breakfast Gorton and Denton was only his party's 127th target seat and the victory showed "there's no no-go areas for the Green Party".