Caleb Anderson: Mainstream Media - Have we closed the door behind us?

Notwithstanding some gains, the governing coalition has disappointed in a number of key regards, One of these dealing with the appalling and ever descending mainstream media.

In a well received, but typically testy, interview with Jack Tame prior to the last election, Mr Peters commented on the lamentable state of the mainstream media, its appalling bias, and how this would not be tolerated by a new government. If I recall, Mr Tame said something like "Is that a threat Mr Peters?" ... and Mr Peters responded with something like "Wait and see".

Clive Bibby: A Welfare State at the Crossroads

The best way to offer meaningful solutions to the country’s modern welfare needs is to first understand the client of the system.

And in association with that understanding needs to be a recognition of the original concept for that original ground breaking, life saving development in our society.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: There's a time and a place to protest

Now, have a listen to this. This happened in Thames this morning as the Prime Minister arrived to go and check on the damage to the properties and check out the roads and to meet with the victims' families. 

It's a disgrace what you're doing with your climate positive, Prime Minister. It's an absolute disgrace and we're suffering now.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 18.1.26

Saturday January 24, 2026 

News:
Greens put forward member's bill to entrench Māori seats
The Green Party has put forward a member's bill to entrench Māori seats into law, arguing the electoral settings are undemocratic.

The party announced the bill, in the name of its Māori Development spokesperson Hūhana Lyndon, at Rātana celebrations this afternoon.

Mike's Minute: ACC is being scammed, but it can be fixed

ACC is in crisis.

I'm not sure if that’s news to you or not.

They are sinking in a sea of debt. They are forecast in four short years to be in the hole to the tune of $26 billion.

Matua Kahurangi: Mass immigration, double standards, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge excuse

I find it strange that NZ Transport Agency has rejected the anti mass immigration march organised by Brian Tamaki for 31 January, claiming that a march across the Auckland Harbour Bridge could cause serious structural damage. It is a flimsy excuse. More than 200,000 vehicles cross that bridge every day. We have also seen large numbers of people cross it during the Toitū Te Tiriti protests without the sky falling in.

JC: 2026 Through a Political Lens

This year, 2026, will be interesting, absorbing even, with an election at home and plenty of interest happening in the international sphere. While the election here will dominate a lot of the political discussion, events abroad will not be able to be ignored: Donald Trump will see to that. Iran, Greenland, a faint possibility of break up of Canada, increasing dissension within the EU, the continuing rise in right-wing parties’ popularity across Europe, the UK and Australia and the American mid-term elections will all demand our attention.

David Harvey: Power Shifts and the Rules Based Order

The Illusion of Certainty in International Affairs

In contemporary international affairs, the “rules‑based international order” usually refers to the post‑1945, largely Western‑led system of institutions, norms, and practices that seek to structure state behaviour through agreed rules rather than raw power or ad hoc deals. The term is politically contested and not synonymous with positive international law, even though it heavily draws on, and often claims the legitimacy of, the UN Charter system and wider treaty and customary frameworks.

John MacDonald: Hey Labour, don't tell us you've changed - show us you've changed

If you bump into Chris Hipkins today, can you tell him he’s dreaming?

Because, now that we know this year’s election is happening on 7 November, Chris Hipkins is saying that Labour can get more than 40 percent of the party vote and form the next government.

He also wants Labour to win back Auckland.

Matua Kahurangi: The Great Replacement is real

“The governments of Western Europe, and the United States and Canada, New Zealand, and Australia did this on purpose to their own people. They opened their borders and paid for the rest of the world, the Third World, to move into their countries.”

Those words are not from a fringe blogger or an anonymous forum. They come from Tucker Carlson, and they sit at the centre of his new documentary Replacing Europe: Following the World’s Deadliest Migration Route.

New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and Canada all receive a direct mention.

David Farrar: 12 years in a Chinese prison

A moving story at The Free Press about Mark Swidan who spent 12 years in a Chinese prison on trumped up charges. Basically totalitarian states arrest random US citizens from time top time to use as bargaining chips to get their spies etc released. Some extracts:

David Farrar: My polling predictions at Newsroom

Newsroom asked some pollsters for their predictions for 2026. Mine are below:

Every poll (or almost every poll) will show that both National and Labour will need two partner parties to govern, not just one – that is: only National/Act/New Zealand First and Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori will have enough seats to make 61.

Friday January 23, 2026 

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Peter Bassett: When the world is declared ‘water bankrupt’, reach for your wallet — and your scepticism

The phrase lands with a thud. Water bankruptcy. Not scarcity. Not stress. Bankruptcy — a word borrowed from finance, freighted with guilt, failure and finality. It suggests recklessness, mismanagement, and the need for an external administrator to step in and take control.

That is the language used in a new United Nations–backed report warning that parts of the world are approaching irreversible water collapse.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Does JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon have a point about AI?

If you don't know him, Jamie Dimon is the boss of JP Morgan and quite a smart guy, obviously.

I've mentioned him a few times on this show because he's a good thinker - and says some pretty reasonable and practical things about big issues.

Point of Order: NEW POLL - New Zealand First’s record high result; country direction takes a hit

The Taxpayers’ Union reports –

New Zealand First rise to their highest ever result in a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia Poll (polling since January 2021). The Coalition also strengthen their lead.

The poll shows Labour gain 2.8 points to 34.4 percent, while National gains 1.5 points to 31.5 percent.

Peter Dunne: 2026 Election Day

The announcement this year’s general election will be held on November 7th should come as no surprise. It is the date least encumbered by other events, and the last realistic date which gives post-election government formation talks the best chance of being completed before the Christmas break. Parliament is required to meet no later than two months after an election – in this case by January 7, 2027 – so an early November election makes it possible for the new Parliament to be convened in probably the week before Christmas.

Ani O'Brien: Hipkins launches Labour's gaslighting election campaign

An election-year address that only works if New Zealanders have collective amnesia

ANNOUNCED TODAY : GENERAL ELECTION 2026 IS ON SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER

Chris Hipkins’ caucus-retreat speech was intended to signal renewal, momentum, and hope. Instead it revealed a Labour Party still unwilling to take responsibility for the impact of its time in government and one willing to engage in historical revisionism. Hipkins’ speech was not a forward-looking address about what Labour would do differently. It was an exercise in proportioning blame, deflection, and narrative laundering.

Pee Kay: Who would vote for that shower of incompetents again?

Post election Hipkins will have zero option but to further promote Labour's divisive agenda of identity politics and division by race because of Labour's all too powerful Maori Caucus!

Willie Jackson is on record as saying “Democracy in 2022 is broader and more expansive than just one person, one vote.”

And “The push to have co-governance and co-management arrangements beyond those already introduced through Treaty settlements, were a response to the need to meet Māori ambitions, and address Māori inequality.”

Anton Chamberlin: When Production Isn’t Production and Prices Aren’t Prices

Many debates on economic topics hinge on a set of familiar words: production, prices, costs, value. These terms appear constantly in political speeches, news articles, and policy discussions. Yet they are rarely used with much precision (at least where academic economists are concerned). As a result, people often talk past one another while believing they are in agreement — or disagreement — about the same thing.