David Farrar: Good insights on the Medical Council

Grant Duncan writes:

Its draft “Statement on Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety” begins with the obvious – “Aotearoa New Zealand has a culturally diverse population” – but leaps ahead to assert: “Some dimensions of identity result in power and privilege whereas others result in underprivilege, which can lead to discrimination or marginalisation”. No scientific grounds are given for that statement, and anyway it’s simply ungrammatical: it uses an abstract noun – identity – as if it were a thing with “dimensions” that can “result in power”. Unfortunately, such poor writing gets a pass in some university courses.

Grant Duncan: Luxon and Hipkins ranked on their mid-term prospects...

‘Politically weakened’ or ‘muddling through’ – Luxon and Hipkins ranked on their mid-term prospects

We’re roughly half way through this parliamentary term, and it looks as though the 2026 election could deliver “Christopher vs Chris: the sequel”.

Neither leader is currently riding high, though. National’s Christopher Luxon and Labour’s Chris Hipkins are both scoring in the low 20s in the most recent preferred prime minister polls.

David Farrar: Grant Duncan on the change in universities

Grant Duncan writes:

What’s unusual lately, though, is to see university administrators taking public stands on contentious political events, shutting down or de-platforming certain people, and imposing particular political opinions as the “correct” opinions.

Grant Duncan: Remote Control

With local body elections currently underway, democracy makes its triennial appearance in New Zealand’s towns and cities once again. But elections alone don’t automatically make for democratic governance at street level. And this is particularly true of Auckland.

Since the unification of regional, city and district councils in 2010, the so-called “super city” has been run by a single Auckland Council.