Karl du Fresne: Pushing the views that suit them

It’s verging on dishonesty for RNZ to describe political commentator Janet Wilson as a former National Party press secretary, as it did yesterday in an item about the reported unrest in the National caucus, as if her former status endows her opinion with special force or credibility.
For the record, Wilson described National as a “slow-slip political earthquake” and “a miasma of nothingness”. These were damning words. The unmistakeable implication was that if Wilson is dissing Christopher Luxon then the party must be in a truly dire predicament – because after all, isn’t she supposed to be on National’s side?

Gary Judd KC: Dare to be a Daniel

Dare to be a Daniel

Dare to stand alone

Dare to have a purpose firm

Dare to make it known

So runs the refrain in a nineteenth century hymn inspired by the biblical story in the Book of Daniel, of a Jewish captive in Babylon (a region compromising parts of present-day Iraq and Syria, with the city of Babylon about 85 km south of today’s Baghdad). According to the account Daniel’s rivals tricked Babylonian King Darius into signing a decree that forbade praying to anyone but King Darius. Despite knowing the penalty was death, Daniel went home and prayed three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem, as was his custom. He was thrown into a den of lions, but God “shut the lions’ mouths,” and he was found unharmed the next morning. Furious, Darius had the conspirators “cast … into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.”

Graham Adams: Media talks up Winston Peters’ rise

The path to election glory has traps.

NZ First’s prospects at the election after a run of good polling are being talked up by increasingly enthusiastic commentators. But if a week is a long time in politics, more than six months is an eternity. And there are traps aplenty for the party to navigate before November 7.

Listening to the media, however, you might think the continuing rise of Winston Peters and NZ First is unstoppable.

Ani O'Brien: Luxon wins confidence vote, what now?

Media fails to roll the Prime Minister

Today must end it. After a weeks and months of constant cycles of breathless speculation, anonymous briefings, and increasingly hysterical headlines, Christopher Luxon walked into caucus, forced the issue, and called a vote of confidence on his own leadership. It passed.

That has to be it. Line drawn in the sand.

Guest Post: Time to change the record?

A guest post by Michael Littlewood on Kiwiblog.

Is anyone else a little tired of articles that tell us we aren’t saving enough for our retirement, or that the country can’t afford New Zealand Superannuation (NZS)? Most seem fuelled by KiwiSaver providers or financial advisers who tell us we don’t know what we are doing; also that we need the government to force us out of our apparent indifference. Or even that the financial sky is falling in, or will be.

Instead of acting as the voice for financial service providers, why don’t reporters do some research; ask some questions; demand answers?

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - The Devil in the detail of NZ First's supermarket reform

Winston Peters has smartly read the room for a second time this month. Just weeks after announcing NZ First would campaign to break up the big four electricity gentailers, he has turned his sights on the supermarket duopoly: announcing that a future NZ First government would legislate to split Foodstuffs into two nationwide cooperatives based on brand: one for New World and Four Square, and another for Pak’n Save. Both, Peters says, would then compete directly with Woolworths.

Dave Patterson: Sudan Civil War - A Horrendous Human Crisis

While the world’s attention has been captured by the Iran conflict and the Russian-Ukrainian war, lives are being lost at a horrendous rate in Northeast Africa. The Sudan civil war is entering its fourth year with no end in sight. Sides have been established, and fighting is continuous and brutal. The losers have been hundreds of thousands of hapless Sudanese caught in the middle.

War Continues in Sudan

Kerre Woodham: What happened to common sense and looking after yourself?

They're damned if they do and damned if they don't, aren't they? Last week people were castigating MetService for overhyping the incoming storm. And I would argue it wasn't MetService who were overhyping it, it was the media making an absolute meal out of it. Today, people are calling out MetService for not getting enough warning about the life-threatening rain and winds that are slamming Wellington and the Wairarapa district as we speak.

Whatever happened to looking after yourself? Gathering the information, you need and making decisions based on that? We seem to have descended into a national state of learned helplessness.

David Farrar: Do it Goldie!

Stuff reports:

The Government is weighing changes to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, with Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith signalling disestablishment is currently his preferred option.

Goldsmith says no final decision has been made, but confirmed the Government is considering whether to retain the authority, redefine its role, or scrap it entirely, NZ Herald reported. …

Wednesday April 22, 2026 

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Ngāi Tahu Attempt Shakedown Of The Santana Mining Project

On The Platform, Michael Laws chats about another Ngāi Tahu grift scandal, the attempted shakedown of the Santana mining project in this short video.

Click to view

Ryan Bridge: Luxon needs more than his base to win the election

People hate the media so hating on the media is not a bad strategy.

It's worked for Winston over many decades, although the bloke only needs 10% of people to like his style, most find it a bit abrasive.

As I've said previously, Ministers are the de-facto top brass in the caucus.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: You've got to respect Chris Luxon's courage

Well, blow me down - they had a leadership vote in caucus, called by Chris Luxon himself, and he survived.

Good on him for doing that. That is exactly what I said he had to do if he wanted to shut this stuff down for the next week and a bit that Parliament has left to sit.

Ryan Bridge: Kiwis actually love Butter Chicken, Shane

Take away migrants from our economy and the thing pretty much falls apart.

This is not Europe, where they're overrun with migrant boats and expensive hotel bills to house the passengers.

This is not the US, where illegal migrants poured across a porous border.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 19.4.26

Wednesday April 22, 2026 

News:
The Government has quietly agreed to repeal several references to Treaty principles within laws.
The move – which wasn’t publicly announced – follows a National-NZ First coalition agreement to review Treaty provisions across 28 pieces of legislation.

“There are about 28 pieces of legislation that refer to the principles of the Treaty. About 10 of them are going to be dealt with through separate arrangements, like the Resource Management Act, which is going through separately ...

Mike's Minute: The issue the Govt promised to address

You’ll be aware of the Far North Council and their unelected Māori voting plan.

It is of course a scandal, but more importantly it is part of the overall de-Māorification of the economy this current Government, in one form or another, promised to address.

The fact this stuff is still going on proves they are failing.

JC: Where to From Here for National?

In 1961, Adam Wade in America and Tommy Steele in the UK both had hits with the song “The Writing on the Wall”. Sixty-five years later, those words should be ringing in Christopher Luxon’s ears but I don’t think they will. No leader likes the idea of losing the crown, particularly one with the self-belief that Luxon apparently holds. He has some similarities with disastrous UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in terms of low poll ratings and a reluctance to do the obvious and resign as leader. We have now had too many polls saying much the same thing – showing that Luxon as leader of the party is not a winner with the public.

Guest Post: How to Change Your Polling Overnight

A Guest Post by Danny Bright on GoodOil.

An open letter to Christopher Luxon. Here, at no cost to the taxpayer, are some things that could change everything almost overnight. You don’t need all of them. Pick three. Stand behind them. Mean them. And watch the polls respond.

Dear Mr Luxon

It seems nobody in your administration is telling you, or you’re just not listening to them, so let me have a try.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Luxon Vs the rebel MPs

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon goes into his weekly National Party Caucus meeting tomorrow to try to put an end to the insurgent rebellion against his leadership. He will walk out either still leader, or not. There is no longer a third option where everyone pretends nothing is happening.

It’s become clearer that there is now a rebel group of National MPs pushing for a change of leadership, and they’re clearly willing to keep leaking to the media about Luxon. It’s therefore ceased being credible for Luxon and his supporters to pretend the caucus is rock solidly behind him or that leadership speculation is a media invention.

David Harvey: Unawareness, Blind Ignorance and a Sense of Unreality

The Green Party Proposals for Electrification as an Answer to the Fuel Crisis

Mainstream Media reports that the Green Party will campaign on mass electrification for the election, saying the sun, wind, water and geothermal energy “don’t come through the Strait of Hormuz”.

Chloe Swarbrick with that wild-eyed enthusiasm that only she is capable of offers a simplistic solution. I use the word “simplistic” advisedly. She herself says the solution is simple.

She says: