Clive Bibby: The Age of Double Standards

In spite of the fact that the evidence is mounting in their favour, the Swedes are struggling to make headway convincing a world that is dominated by media fixated with a pandemic narrative that is quickly running out of credibility.

We could have seen this coming.

Tragically, but perhaps unsurprisingly, when the true nature of the Carona virus first became known, it was already too late for most countries that did not enjoy natural borders like New Zealand to take meaningful action in mitigation.

Indeed, the most vulnerable, especially those who had been most exposed to the disease before the Chinese came clean about their little gift to humanity, were in an impossible situation of trying to shut the door after the horse had bolted.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Science, pseudoscience and ethnoscience

Bob Edlin’s article “Biodiversity, science and a Maori world view” (Breaking Views 14 Aug - see HERE) reminded me what an imprecise entity ‘science’ is in comparative linguistic and cultural contexts.

Those of you who remember your high school French may already realise that the word ‘science’ means something rather different in that language from what it means in modern English. French universities have departments devoted to the ‘Science of the Humanities’. To anyone acquainted with only English, this comes across as silly. I mean, ‘science’ is physics, chemistry, geology and all that stuff – nothing to do with literature, history, philosophy and all that stuff….. isn’t that right?

Breaking Views Update: Week of 6.09.20

 

Saturday September 12, 2020

News:
Hawke's Bay 'flying The Flag' For Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori
The five councils of Hawke’s Bay have collaborated to fly bilingual flags to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori Māori Language Week.

The bilingual flags, ngā haki reorua, can be seen proudly flying in locations in Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay.

NZCPR Weekly: Living With Covid-19

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we share strategies from around the world on living with Covid-19 and suggest its time our politicians provided their plans to voters, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Steve Waterson – commercial editor of The Australian – outlines why the authoritarian approach taken by politicians is too heavy-handed, and our poll asks whether you believe a vaccine will end the pandemic or will we have to learn to live with Covid-19.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

GWPF Newsletter: Europe's Green Deal Likely To Fail

 

Most EU Member States Will Miss Paris Targets

In this newsletter:

1) Europe’s Green Deal Likely To Fail: Most EU States Will Miss Paris Targets
reNews, 9 September 2020
  
2) Green Deal: Germany Industry Rejects More Stringent EU Climate Targets
Handelsblatt, 8 September 2020

Barry Soper: Labour should know tax decisions will be out of their hands

Read their lips: there'll be no new taxes, other than for the wealthy, under the second term of a Labour led Government.

That's simple to say but hard to do. As genuine as the sentiment may be, Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson know that it's a decision that almost certainly won't be entirely theirs to make.

Tax issues dogged Labour before the last election and after it. Shell shocked by Winston Peters' appointment of them, they shelved the captain's call made by Ardern for a capital gains tax in her first term as Prime Minister.

Viv Forbes: Not So Green

Solar energy is very dilute, so solar collectors usually cover huge areas of flat arable land, stealing farmland, starving wild herbs and grasses of sunlight and creating “Solar Deserts”.

Wind turbines steal energy from winds which often bring moisture from the ocean. These walls of turbines then create rain shadows, producing more rain near the turbines and more droughts down-wind. Turbines work best along ridge lines where eagles also seek thermals, so birds and bats get chopped up by these whirling scythes. They also annoy neighbours with noise and increase bushfire risk.

They even spread their wall of wind towers offshore, so that less wind and rain even reaches the shore. Not green at all.

GWPF Newsletter: Doomsday Zealots Could Face Five Years In Jail

 

UK Home Secretary threatens to change law to make Extinction Rebellion a criminal gang

In this newsletter:

1) Doomsday Zealots Could Face Five Years In Jail
Daily Mail, 7 September 2020
 
2) Home Secretary Priti Patel: Extinction Rebellion Will Be Punished For Committing Criminal Acts 

Daily Mail, 7 September 2020

Garrick Tremain: Matariki

Here is Garrick Tremain's latest cartoon commentary!

Gerry Eckhoff: A few thoughts…

Inequality is something of a new buzz word, yet this particular human condition has been around for ever. Equality does not exist in nature, the sports field, in business nor in any other aspect of life, yet it appears that financial inequality is to be placed under the spotlight for redistribution.

It (inequality) exists because each one of us acts in differing ways and in our own or family’s interests. Some excel within the arts or academia; others appear to possess the Midas touch. For most however, being prepared to take risk, along with hard work, long hours, short holidays coupled with some good, reasoned choices creates wellbeing but also increases inequality with those who choose a differing value system.

GWPF Newsletter: Extinction Rebellion Facing ‘Organised Crime’ Curbs

 

MPs Unite In Defence Of Free Speech After Extinction Rebellion Attack On Newspapers

In this newsletter:

1) Extinction Rebellion Facing ‘Organised Crime’ Curbs
The Sunday Telegraph, 6 September 2020
 
2) MPs Unite In Defence Of Free Speech After Extinction Rebellion Attack On Newspapers 
The Sunday Times, 6 September 2020

Bob Edlin: The Farce of Cultural Appropriation

Yes, you can win IPONZ approval for your branding but it’s back to the drawing board if some Māori mount an offensive against you

The makers of the gin once branded “indiginous”  announced early in June they were back in business and their product – now known as “imagination” – was available again, in stores and online.

Since then their Facebook page has recorded that whatever it’s called, the hand-crafted gin they make in the Reikorangi Valley, near Waikanae, has gone down a treat with the experts. They were awarded a silver medal and the highest score for a New Zealand gin at the London Spirits Competition; a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the New Zealand Spirits Awards; and a bronze medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in the UK.

The most recent post, on August 18, advised:   

“A very satisfying way to end the medal season! We won our very first medal with our very first gin at the 2019 SIP Awards in the USA, and we’ve gone back to back with another Gold medal for our Triple Distilled Dry Gin for 2020.”

Another of their gins picked up Silver. 

But it has been a harrowing year.

Their “indiginous” gin had been on sale for more than a year when – early in March – they were  targeted in a social media campaign of abuse and threats by people professing to have been offended by a Māori tattoo-inspired label, by the brand name, and by “cultural appropriation”.  

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.08.20

Saturday September 5, 2020

News:

Independent review to investigate claims of racism at University of Waikato

The University of Waikato is commissioning an independent review following claims from prominent academics alleging casual and structural racism at the institution - despite it earlier rejecting the allegations.

The allegations included Māori expertise being ignored, tokenism, lower pay for Māori staff and no meaningful commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup - Has James Shaw sunk the Greens?

How badly will James Shaw’s private school debacle affect the Greens? Will it push them out of Parliament? 

This is increasingly the question being asked as the scandal rolls on and on this week. After all, the two main polling companies have had the party very close to the 5% MMP threshold in their surveys for the last year. So, the Greens only have to lose a small amount of support and they will be tipped out of office.

Greens badly wounded

Most commentators seem to believe that the Green Party has been seriously undermined by the decision to grant nearly $12m to a private eco-school. This is because it suggests the party has lost its way and no longer represents its traditional and more radical vision.

NZCPR Weekly: Tipping Points

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine some of the ‘tipping points’ that have changed New Zealand’s political landscape and ask whether the lack of judgement of the Green Party’s co-leader James Shaw will create another, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Owen Jennings outlines why the Government’s decision to tax methane is unjustified and immoral, and our poll asks whether you believe that James Shaw should resign.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE. 

 

GWPF Newsletter: Appetite For Electric Cars In Britain Collapses As Pandemic Squeezes Finances

 

Britain Faces Growing Risk Of Blackouts, National Grid Boss Warns

In this newsletter:

1) Appetite For Electric Cars In UK Collapses As Pandemic Squeezes Finances
Financial Times, 3 September 2020 
   

2) Britain Faces Growing Risk Of Blackouts, National Grid Boss Warns
The Times, 2 September 2020

Clive Bibby: Self sufficiency should be an integrated part of our recovery

Last week's column suggested free marketeers might have to look at making some adjustments to their advocacy in support of a post Covid restructured economy.

I volunteered one example of how we might do this but did not mean to imply that we should be returning to what some consider to be the "bad old days" during the Muldoon years when government controlled far too much of the supply chain.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: James Shaw has bigger problem than Green School saga

I don't think James Shaw has yet managed to fix this problem he's created.

He's clearly scrambling to find a solution for the Green School controversy and so far that seems to be reclassifying the $12 million for the eco-school not as a grant but a loan.

But that's not going to solve much.

Because it doesn't really matter what he calls it – a grant or a loan or fairy dust – the fact is the money will still be allocated to the Green School. Which means it isn't available to other schools that need it more desperately.

GWPF Newsletter: World’s Largest Corn Harvest In History Expected

 

Best Indian Rainfall Since 1901 Raises Hopes For Record Harvest

In this newsletter:

1) World’s Largest Corn Harvest In History Expected
World Grain News, 31 August 2020
 

2) Best Indian Rainfall Since 1901 Raises Hopes For Record Harvest
Economic Times of India, 31 August 2020

Oliver Hartwich: Turning cities into ghost towns

Walking around central Wellington, more shops are boarded up. On Lambton Quay, two bank branches recently disappeared. Just as the two Burger Kings on Lambton Quay and Courtney Place. Walking down Featherston St, there are empty shops every 40 or 50 metres.

Reports from New Zealand’s forbidden city, formerly known as Auckland, sound even more alarming.

Where Wellington’s economy was cushioned by steady public sector employment, Auckland felt the brunt of a private sector contraction and now another lockdown. A quick online search of advertised retail premises returned 122 listings in Takapuna alone.