David Farrar: Winston rules out Labour

This is significant, with Peters ruling out Labour, not just Hipkins. It reinforces the only route to power for Labour is with Te Pati Maori.

Roger Partridge: Beyond grievance politics - New Zealand’s search for common ground

Trust in New Zealand is fracturing before our eyes. The 2025 Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a society divided by mistrust. Most alarming is the collapse in media trust. It has plummeted to just 35% – down from 41% three years ago.

But the damage extends beyond the media. For the first time, New Zealand’s trust index has fallen below the global average, dropping to 47% compared with the global index of 56%. Trust in government has fallen to 45%, while business trust stands at 54%.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The NZ Herald & Radio NZ Misled the Nation.....

The NZ Herald & Radio NZ Misled the Nation by asserting "65% of Kiwis Support Capital Gains Tax". The survey they used shows around 90% oppose it.

The Herald & Radio NZ owe the nation an apology. Their reporting has hit new lows. No wonder people don't trust the Main Stream Media. Yesterday they reported on their front pages, "Labour closing in on National in latest Ipsos issues poll, with 65% support for capital gains tax". At best its a misleading headline; at worst its a blatant untruth.

Mike Hosking: PM's trust and integrity in question over Three Waters

What is it we are supposed to make of the revelation that the Prime Minister, having told us she didn’t know about her party's attempt to entrench aspects of the Three Waters law, turned out to be in the very meeting where it was discussed?

A couple of simple questions.

Firstly, where is the media on this? The story had scant coverage - why is that? Is it not a story? Can the media who ignored it, which is most of them, seriously argue it doesn’t deserve a lot more coverage than it got?

Bryce Edwards: Who does the public trust in 2019?

How much trust do you have in politics and public institutions? It’s one of the most important political questions of our time. All over the world there has been a decline in trust, which is leading to a sea change in our politics – from Trump and Brexit through to the emergence of radical progressive causes that are challenging orthodoxies around economics, ethnicity and gender. So, suddenly people are more sceptical about authority, and it’s having major consequences, for good or ill.

Here in New Zealand there’s mixed evidence on the issue of trust, and today some new survey statistics are out which give us a better idea of levels of trust and mistrust. These come via Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, which commissions the Colmar Brunton market research firm to ask the public questions about trust each year.

Gerry Eckhoff: Trust

I’m not sure why a Christmas message on forgiveness and the negative impacts of anger from columnist Colin James is deemed by him to be more relevant during the festive season than any other time of the year. James writes of the need for trust and even forgiveness of gross harm as the way out of the depressive emotion of anger.  He (James) implies that only through learning to trust again and by being willing to rely on the actions of others and their institutions can society change for the better. 

I suspect very few today would agree with James of the need to perpetuate a failing system based on delegated authority. What however was entirely correct and even more relevant was the response to his article from Gil Elliot - (Otago Daily Times January 6 ) -  father of murder victim Sophie Elliot.