Donald Foster: The Coalition Government’s Progress

In his 15^th May, 2024 pre-budget speech, the Prime Minister asserted that “New Zealanders voted for us last year to do three things – rebuild the economy, restore law and order, and deliver better public services”. 

That may have been his personal perspective on the issue, it may even have been the National Party’s perspective on the issue, but the Coalition Agreement more reliably reflected the electoral issues of concern at point three of the preamble to the agreements between National, Act, and NZ First, which stated “The Coalition Government’s priorities for this term include (in addition to those picked out by the Prime minister and amongst other issues) ending race based policies (and)  defending freedom and democracy, (the latter expanded elsewhere in the Agreement  to uphold the principles of liberal democracy, including equal citizenship and parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law and property rights), followed by a number of specific steps to that end.

Clive Bibby: Beware the Ides of March

Although Shakespeare’s immortal line has long been associated with bad omens, the true origin of the reference to the “Ides of March” is more accurately linked to an ancient festival celebrating the changes of seasons. In fact, it was once associated with the Lunar New Year. 

Consequently, during the course of this post, l will refer to it in the more positive context without the “beware” bit.