Best of 2025: Ryan Bridge - The Gen Z stare

I went out for lunch to a café the other day and our table was served by a couple of waiters who all seemed to have a similar vibe about them.

They just. Did. Not. Seem. To. Care.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 21.12.25

Friday December 26, 2025 

News:
Court of Appeal: Māori Land Court cannot rule on Porotī Springs water
A long‑running effort by hapū trustees to have their customary rights to Porotī Springs legally recognised has hit another hurdle, with the Court of Appeal ruling their claims must instead be taken to the High Court.

Ani O'Brien: Will NZ-India trade deal survive NZ Parliament?

The announcement that came yesterday of a much-worked-for trade deal with India is a big deal for New Zealand. It is also, like everything in the world of politics in 2025, wrapped in a complex set of conflicting interests that could see it killed off in Parliament.

This is a trade deal with interesting political ramifications more so back home in New Zealand than between the two countries, though as usual there are plenty there too. Despite negotiations with India being a real longterm challenge for successive governments, the real story here is not tariffs, schedules, or annexes. It is coalition disagreement, parliamentary arithmetic, and two-thirds of the Coalition Government discovering that its biggest foreign-policy trophy may only survive if the opposition decides to carry it across the line.

David Farrar: A good critique

David Harvey has a good critique of the proposed social media ban for under 16s. I certainly support the intent that we should keep under 16s off social media. The linkage to poor mental health outcomes is incredibly powerful – especially for girls.

DTNZ: Trump says Greenland is ‘vital’ to U.S. national security interests

U.S. President Donald Trump has defended his renewed push for control over Greenland, arguing the Arctic island is essential to America’s national security following the appointment of a special US envoy to the territory.

Trump said Greenland’s strategic position makes it critical as Russian and Chinese vessels increasingly operate in the region, insisting the US “has to have it” for security reasons.

Matua Kahurangi: The Great Replacement isn’t a theory anymore - it's reality

For years, “The Great Replacement” has been dismissed as a conspiracy theory. A lazy label, rolled out whenever anyone dares to question immigration settings that are clearly transforming New Zealand at speed. But when Singh has now been the most common surname for babies born in this country for seven years running, it becomes increasingly difficult to pretend nothing unusual is happening.

This is not theory anymore. It is observable reality.

Bob Edlin: Māori trade lobby (waving the Treaty) is miffed by FTA with India....

Māori trade lobby (waving the Treaty) is miffed by FTA with India – but it’s hard to find the discriminatory provisions

Here at PoO we can understand the disappointment of the dairy industry, after the Government announced a “free trade” agreement with India which offered very little to them.

We are not so sure about the miff expressed by an outfit called Ngā Toki Whakarururanga,

NTW broadcast its disappointment in a statement headed India FTA – A Lost Opportunity For Māori.

Really?

What opportunity has been lost?

Bob Edlin: High Court champions prisoners’ rights and Goldsmith gets a Thistoll-whipping....

High Court champions prisoners’ rights and Goldsmith gets a Thistoll-whipping – but govt can make law-breaking legal

Maybe there’s no pressure, but stand by for more laws being amended under urgency – to make legal what the Government has done illegally.

The rest of us don’t have that privilege but it’s something governments can do. And it’s something the Luxon government has done already this year.

Will it happen again to remedy more recent transgressions?

Wednesday December 24, 2025 

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MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Christmas in the Colonies

Dear all,

Thanks for reading the columns I have written in 2025 and for the helpful comments. In celebration of Christmas and the New Year, I am sending you an interesting and entertaining poem.

This poem was written by Thomas Bracken (1841–1898) – the Irish-born New Zealand poet, journalist and politician. He is best known for writing “God Defend New Zealand”, which was adopted as the country’s national anthem. He published several volumes of poetry celebrating the New Zealand landscape and identity and also served as a member of parliament.

NZCPR Newsletter: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

On behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

John McLean: Axeable agencies of state

The Government and main stream media outlets have been doing their best to paint a picture of an economic upswing, just in time for Christmas. But the portrayed rosy economic future is a vision through rose tinted glasses. Inflation is at 3%, the highest it’s been since mid-2024 and unemployment, at 5.3%, is the highest since 2016.

More particularly, New Zealand’s core national debt had risen from $81 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2023 (the last quarter of the departed Labour Government’s term in office), to $170 billion at the end of Q3 2024, to $182 billion at the end of Q3 2025. The annual interest cost of NZ’s debt is about $10 billion. New Zealand’s debt will top $200 billion within the next few years (that’s $40,000 for every single man, woman and child in New Zealand). Nothing’s really changed, economically, since my Substack exactly two years ago:

Ani O'Brien: Brian Tamaki and the Sikh parade confrontation

Facts, fears, and the kimits of protest

The confrontation that occurred during a Sikh religious procession in South Auckland a few days ago has ignited condemnation and raised questions about protest, imported political conflicts, and national identity. While the incident itself was brief and not violent, it has alarmed many who do not want to see the cultural and religious disharmony that is rife overseas playing out in New Zealand. Anxiety over immigration levels and the challenges of multiculturalism have become more pronounced globally and this is creating tensions over public expressions of culture and belief.

Bob Edlin: Losing candidate has cause to rue spending $6426 on litigation rather than on her election campaign

We are wondering, here at PoO, what might have transpired in Porirua had a candidate who lost by just nine votes taken a different tack.

She should have done much better – we calculate – by spending more on campaigning and by taking advantage of Policy.nz’s efforts to broadcast policies to voters. See above to learn what it can tell us about the candidate in question, Jess Te Huia.

Matua Kahurangi: Free trade, open borders - The India deal New Zealanders never voted for

Even though I am on annual holidays, I thought it was right to write something on this topic, because in my opinion we really are losing our Kiwi way of life in some ways. If there is one thing New Zealanders should be alert to right now, it is the quiet habit of governments giving too much away in the name of “progress”, while ordinary people are left to deal with the consequences.

That is why New Zealand First is right to be deeply sceptical about the so called free trade deal with India. Not because trade is bad in principle, but because this deal looks neither free nor fair, and it once again treats immigration concessions as a bargaining chip rather than a national interest issue.

JC: Leftist Bias Is Here To Stay

The two public broadcasters in this country, Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand, both had a chance to redeem themselves recently and, unsurprisingly, neither of them took it. These two organisations, that we the taxpayers have the privilege of funding are forced to fund, appear reluctant to change their ways: they are hotbeds for left-wing journalist activism and seem happy to keep it that way.

Tuesday December 23, 2025 

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David Farrar: NZ and India agree an FTA

I was sceptical when Christopher Luxon said prior to the election that he thought they could do a free trade agreement with India within three years. India has been a notoriously challenging country to do FTAs with, and the relationship between governments was quite poor under Labour. The thought of a comprehensive FTA so quickly was somewhere between ambitious and unlikely.

But Todd McClay, and no doubt many MFAT staff, have delivered and an agreement has been reached – in just two years. I have little doubt that the PM’s personal commitment to the FTA, alongside his trips to India, made a critical difference also.

Key aspects are:

Ramesh Thakur: Appeasement 0, Jew Hatred 15

As, slowly and painfully, we come to terms with what happened on Bondi Beach on Sunday, I divide my reactions into four parts: one question each addressed to the Prime Minister and the virulent anti-Israeli protestors, a comment on the Prime Minister’s leadership failings, and an anticipatory reaction to charges of Islamophobia.