Bruce Cotterill: TVNZ has lost its way and the public deserves better

There’s a lot going on. The Middle East. The oil price. The Royal Commission. The polls. The Senate hearings. Epstein. If you’re interested in current affairs, it’s a long list. It’s difficult to stay on top of things.

So I dragged myself back, kicking and screaming, to the 6pm television news. It’s a one-time ritual I’d long ago abandoned. I did so out of a need to catch up with the facts quickly.

I shouldn’t have bothered.

Kerre Woodham: Are you feeling fuel anxiety?

Today we thought it would be Fuel Friday because we haven't really touched on the oil crisis so far, have we? I filled up at my local on the way to work and it was certainly more expensive than it was last week, but nowhere near the heights we've reached previously. Back in the day I had to give up driving the Club Sport, which was a beast of a car —loved that car— when fuel topped $3 a litre. I loved her, but I couldn't afford to keep her.

There's a lot of things like that really. With the war in Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, the only tankers going through are the most tenacious or those with a death wish as they attempt to negotiate the waters. I mean, there is oil getting through, but it seems to be a, ‘well, let's give it a bash’ rather than with any kind of certainty. So, one of the main sources of oil and fertiliser has, in effect, been blocked and Iran's doubling down on that. They're just going to shut up shop and that will be that.

Lindsay Mitchell: National window-dressing on welfare

Last week Simon Bridges, CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber, could be heard waxing lyrical to Mike Hosking about the new partnering initiative, ChamberWorks, between his organisation and MSD (WINZ) to get recently unemployed people into jobs. These are people who have not long been on a benefit but have skills, and recent experience and attachment to the workforce.

Mike's Minute: We have good news on housing

1) It's still a buyers' market.

2) A good chunk of the buyers are first timers.

It’s the debate we should at least acknowledge has been, for now, partially solved.

Sunday March 15, 2026 

                    ⇩

Colinxy: Prelude to the Waikato Invasion (New Zealand Wars)

Modern revisionist narratives often portray the 1863 invasion of the Waikato as an unprovoked act of imperial aggression — sometimes even “illegal” by contemporary standards. But this framing collapses under scrutiny. It ignores the political context, the escalating violence around Auckland, and the strategic threat posed by the Kīngitanga (the Māori King Movement), which had become the centre of organised resistance to the Crown.

The reality is more complex and far less convenient for those who want a simple morality tale.

Stephen Weese: The Inevitability of Self-Driving Cars

The future is now.

When you think of self-driving cars, you may imagine scenes from a sci-fi movie, with sleek silver cars sliding perfectly into and out of the flow of traffic. Pedestrians simply express their desire for a car, and in moments one appears.

Just as easily, you might also think of media reports you’ve seen about crashes and other malfunctions of these vehicles in the recent past. You may even think of both and think that the sci-fi depiction is far-fetched and unlikely. The reality is actually simpler: self-driving cars are inevitable.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 14 March 2026

The Royal Commission the media pretended didn’t happen

The report from the second phase of the Royal Commission into New Zealand’s COVID-19 response was released this week and much of the media treated it as little more than a historical tidy-up. The dominant narrative has been the ol’ New Zealand did well early, ministers were under pressure, mistakes were inevitable but no big deal. But the report contains findings that deserve far more scrutiny. It raises serious questions about the extended Auckland lockdown, the legality of the Christmas boundary, and the roughly $60 billion spent during the pandemic of which around $30 billion of which was not directly related to COVID response measures.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Australia and New Zealand are paying the price for abandoning reform

Within a fortnight last month, Australia and New Zealand placed opposite bets on their economic futures. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates to 3.85 per cent. Across the Tasman, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand held at 2.25 per cent, with Governor Anna Breman signalling that monetary policy would stay loose for some time.

So, one economy is apparently running too hot while the other cannot get off the floor. Surely, they face different problems requiring different medicine?

Elliot Ikilei: District plan means farmers will be extorted by the iwi mafia

Rural New Zealand is under siege from a planning system that is taking a leaf out of the Sopranos' book and turning productive farmland into a maze of red tape and mafia stand over tactics.

Farmers in Gore are staring down a new reality that before they dig a silage pit, build a shed, fix a farm track, or dozens of other everyday farming activities, resource consents must be assessed against Ngāi Tahu cultural values like mauri (life force), wairua (spiritual connections), whakapapa (relationships between all life forms), and utu (restoring balance).

Bob Edlin: Massey remains mute on the matter of science money....

Massey remains mute on the matter of science money, mysticism and a kumara patch

A week ago, the Taxpayers Union was being bombarded with emails on its exposé of the $156,132 “science challenge” which resulted in the establishment of a kūmara patch, funded through Massey University.

Not a big kumara patch – just 3 by 3 metres, the union reported.

Mike's Minute: My observations on week two of the war

My observations on week two of the war.

I'm as convinced as ever I was that this thing is over in the four week-ish window they said it would be.

If true, it means we should not have spent the week guessing when it will be over because we have already been told.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Reality Bites

UK

Make UK urges Miliband to approve new North Sea licences

The government must urgently approve new licences for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea to help protect Britain's energy security amid the war in Iran, the influential manufacturers' body Make UK will warn today.

Yvonne Van Dongen: Women Are Different

The lawyer censured for writing a letter on behalf of a client warning health practitioners about the possible legal consequences of prescribing puberty blockers to young people has finally been cleared of all charges of misconduct.

Speaking to Sean Plunket on The Platform on 10 March, lawyer Stephen Franks outlined what had up until now been a secret process in which he was censured for using terms like ‘social contagion’ as regards the spread of transgenderism.

David Farrar: National security and NZ

The NZ Herald has an op ed by John Howard and Tim Ewing-Jarvie on national security.

I was privileged to hear them speak recently on this issue, and it was hugely illuminating (and depressing).

Before we get into what they say, it is worth highlighting what they have done – as that is relevant to their opinions.

Saturday March 14, 2026 

                    ⇩

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: People panic buying fuel aren't being irrational

Okay, here’s a prediction for you, because there have been headlines today about petrol stations running out of fuel because of panic buying: people will panic buy petrol this weekend.

Yesterday was discount day at Gull so things went a bit crazy.

Ryan Bridge: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

We're learning a few hard truths this week and the old saying rings true - you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.

Parties on the left and the right all crying out for more oil. Turns out, it's actually still quite important.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 8.3.26

Saturday March 14, 2026 

News:
Gisborne councillors back Lytton Rd waste centre plan as mana whenua oppose it
Gisborne is a step closer to taking control of regional waste, but some district councillors expressed “discomfort” over the process.

Councillors voted on a preferred site for developing the regional Refuse Transfer Station and Resource Recovery Centre at a council meeting on Thursday.

Gary Judd KC: National could signal its support for democracy

It could join ACT and NZ First to abolish the Maori electoral seats

This is a companion piece to my just-published Ghettoizing the mind. Both were stimulated by Dr Muriel Newman’s feature article, The Future of the Maori Seats in which she carefully marshalled nearly all the reasons why they should be gone. She also introduced as a guest commentary an address given by Hon Bill English in 2003: Address to the National Press Club Breakfast 24 July 2003.