Peter Bassett: Knocking on Doors, Pretending Not to Notice the Stairwell Is on Fire

Chlöe Swarbrick wants the Greens out knocking on doors.

Not metaphorically. Literally. Imagine her pounding the streets of Auckland Central, her home electorate — clipboard in hand, optimism applied like a hi-vis vest.

Ani O'Brien: Moral sermons of the modern celebrity

The virtuous imposed authority of the insulated elite

The stories that take Hollywood by storm are often tales of the ‘little guy’ triumphing over the bolshy, ethically compromised, rich dude. They are tales of struggle and overcoming the cultural forces that seek to hold the people back. Film and television often capture what is so ugly about an elite class that looks down upon the masses, preaching to them, scolding, sneering. And it is truly a quirk of our world that the very people who bring these characters to life are so blissfully unaware of who they are when they take their costumes off.

Dylan A Mordaunt: NZ’s health data hack needs a proper diagnosis – and a transparent treatment plan

Two cyber hacks have highlighted the vulnerability of New Zealand’s digital health systems – and the vast volumes of patient data we rely on them to protect.

Following the hacking of Manage My Health – compromising the records of about 127,000 patients – and an earlier breach at Canopy Health, a concerned public is asking how this happened and who is to blame.

The most urgent question, however, is whether it can happen again.

Colinxy: Democide - The Rational Fear of Government

Defining Democide

Democide is the systematic murder of citizens by their own government. It is not confined to the actions of a ruler or cabinet but extends to every arm of State power — bureaucracies, medical systems, militaries, and police forces. History makes one truth unmistakable: a person is far more likely to be killed by their own government than by serial killers, mass murderers, or even foreign invaders. The State, when unchecked, becomes the most efficient executioner of all.

William McGimpsey: Liberal Democracy's Fatal Flaw

Neutrality, Managerialism, and the Collapse of Political Community

Introduction – 2001: A Space Odyssey and the logic of breakdown

One of my favourite films is 2001: A Space Odyssey. The central drama (though by no means the only interesting or important part) is the conflict between the ship’s AI computer, the HAL9000, and the crew of the Discovery spacecraft. HAL murders the entire crew except for Ship Commander David Bowman, who manages, heroically, to deactivate HAL.

The relevant question here is why HAL murdered the crew.

Simon O'Connor: Persia persists

Some reflections on the protests in Iran, and exploring the reasons why the usual activists, mainstream media, and others are disturbingly silent despite a nation's desire to be free.

Iran has a wonderful, deep, and rich history. Persia, as it was once known, has enriched the world from the great poetry of Rumi to Avicenna’s work in medicine and philosophy. Persians are a distinct ethnic, linguistic, and cultural group and often, mistakenly, thought of as Arab. Persian’s speak Farsi, whereas Arabs speak, well, Arabic!

Bob Edlin: NZ traders look likely to be hit by flak.....

NZ traders look likely to be hit by flak as Trump plays the tariff card to put Iran’s Ayatollah and his cronies in their place

Uh, oh. It looks like New Zealand traders might become collateral damage as US president Donald Trump’s flexes his muscle against Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, and his theocratic cronies.

Besides threatening to launch military strikes, Trump has said countries that engage in trade with Iran will face a 25 per cent tariff on any business done with the US.

David Farrar: NZDF portrayal is concerning

From a press release:

Independent investigative reporters Penny Marie and Rachel Scott have released a new video and accompanying Substack articles revealing NZ Defence Force (NZDF) training materials that depict “Christian extremists” as the opposing force on a map clearly modelled on New Zealand’s South Island.

David Farrar: Blocking a procession is not free speech

The Free Speech Union released:

The confrontation between Destiny Church supporters and a lawful Sikh Nagar Kirtan parade in South Auckland raises questions about where legitimate protest ends and intimidation begins, says Jillaine Heather, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union.

Wednesday January 14, 2026 

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Breaking Views Update: Week of 11.1.26

Wednesday January 14, 2026 

News:
Tribunal commences national pānui process for Inquiry into Remaining Historical Claims
The Waitangi Tribunal’s Inquiry into Remaining Historical Claims (Wai 2800) will inquire into any remaining historical Treaty of Waitangi claims with outstanding historical issues that have not yet been heard or resolved to date, and that claimants still wish to bring before the Tribunal.

Clive Bibby: Our future in the Hands of Amateurs

This column is not meant to be an attack on the integrity of those in charge of regional business - simply an attempt at drawing attention to the inadequate responses by Council to our real needs.

Here on the East Coast, we lurch from one damaging climate event to the next yet the response from Council appears to be one of an ambulance parked up at the bottom of the cliff.

Pee Kay: He Puapua is alive and well!

If you want to influence and change thoughts or actions, where do you start? In education of course! In particular, the most impressionable, the younger generation.

Have a look at the NZ Secondary Education Curriculum Renovation.

The Ministry of Education states –

Roger Bate: Trump’s Withdrawal from 66 Organizations

When the Trump administration announced its withdrawal from, and defunding of, 66 international organizations and treaty bodies on January 7th, much of the media coverage framed the move as reckless isolationism or short-term budget cutting. That framing misunderstands what is actually happening.

Best of 2025: Heather du Plessis-Allan - Don't touch my pension

Let's talk about this business with the pension age.

Chris Luxon has said twice today that he wants the pension age to go up to 67.

He said it once on Kerre’s show this morning, and then at a post-Budget lunch speaking to business leaders, he repeated it and he told them that this is basically going to be election policy for National next year.

DTNZ: French farmers shut off ports in EU trade deal protest

Farmers across France have stepped up protests by blocking major ports and transport routes, warning that a proposed EU trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc could devastate domestic agriculture.

Demonstrators argue the agreement would allow cheaper Latin American beef and other products into Europe, undercutting French producers who must comply with far stricter environmental and welfare standards.

Brendan O'Neill: 7 October was the biggest mistake Iran ever made

The Iranian regime thought it signed Israel’s death warrant on 7 October 2023 – in fact, it may have signed its own.

‘The Zionist regime is melting before the eyes of the world’, gloated Ayatollah Khamenei in the aftermath of Hamas’s pogrom of 7 October 2023. His giddy foretelling of the death of the Jewish nation was echoed across the realm of Israelophobia. Israel’s downfall ‘is a matter of when, not if’, said the Islamo-loons of 5 Pillars. Leftist hotheads agreed that the invasion of Israel by Iran’s proxies sounded the death knell for ‘the Zionist project’.

Melanie Phillips: A seismic uprising in Iran

Western liberals purse their lips over this blow to their own warped mindset

As the Iranian uprising continues to escalate, it’s been reported that hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime’s security forces.

The internet, phone signals and lighting have been cut, and it’s feared the killings are intensifying behind the blackout.

Bob Edlin: This time a year ago, “Sleepy Joe” Biden was President of the USA....

This time a year ago, “Sleepy Joe” Biden was President of the USA – and Venezuela was governed by a Venezuelan tyrant

Anyone who might have over-imbibed while welcoming in the New Year should soon be sobered by learning of what President Donald Trump – a life-long teetotaler – has been up to since January 1. He has snatched the despotic leader of Venezuela and brought him back to the USA to face criminal charges, re-expressed his designs on Greenland, expressed his readiness to support protesters in Iran, and supported masked ICE officers after the shooting of a protester in Minnesota.

Perhaps more sobering is the thought that this time a year ago, a bloke called Joe Biden was President of the USA.

Matua Kahurangi: The rape of our rockpools - How Chinese are decimating our coastal treasures

In the sun-drenched shores of Auckland’s Whangaparaoa Peninsula, a silent atrocity unfolds daily, one that reeks of greed, entitlement, and utter disregard for New Zealand’s fragile marine ecosystems. Our rockpools, once teeming with life, are being systematically raped by hordes of Chinese families and groups, known as the Bucket People, who descend like locusts on our coastlines, stripping them bare with tools more suited to a construction site than a beach. This isn’t foraging; it’s pillage on a grand scale, and it’s high time we called it what it is: environmental rape, perpetrated with impunity while authorities twiddle their thumbs.