Rodney Hide: Raine showed us the lecture room. Here's the staffroom.

John Raine has laid bare what our universities teach students. The University of Auckland's new gender equity plan shows the same machinery aimed at staff: hiring, promotion and annual reviews. No budget, no targets.

"I thought back then that we might quickly pass peak woke and that rationality would have taken hold again by now," writes Emeritus Professor John Raine in The indoctrination must stop but Labour would double down. "Not so fast, some warned - they were right!"

Andrew Dickens: These flip flops from the right and the left need to stop

I had to chuckle after yesterday's interview with Mr Abercrombie from the PPTA who grudgingly accepted that improvements to the education sector by the government is a factor in teacher registrations being up 40 per cent this year.

Mr Abercrombie, other industry advocates and the Labour led opposition have been dead set against the changes but now they’re slowly admitting that things are better.

Mike's Minute: Like children, our problems are for others to solve

I tell you who should be feeling good this election campaign: political parties.

If the commentary and expectation I'm seeing so far is truly representative of where we are at in this country, as consumers we have slipped back into a gliding-on type world of the 1970's.

Peter Dunne: Leaders Debate

The first leaders' debate was a dismal affair. Neither leader was persuasive, nor were their responses especially convincing. Both failed to achieve the circuit breaker each was seeking to reinvigorate their currently stalling campaigns. Together, their performances explain why the two major parties are attracting the lowest combined support levels since MMP was introduced thirty years ago.

Brendan O'Neill: Gaza: the most lied about war in history

Finally, on the third anniversary of 7 October, the left’s empire of falsehoods against Israel is starting to crumble.

What would you call a country that is experiencing one of the highest levels of population growth on Earth? How would you describe a country where the child malnutrition levels are similar to those of that industrial powerhouse of Europe, Germany? What would you say about a nation that was in receipt of so much food aid that at one stage around 3,163 calories were available per person, per day? I’ll tell you what you couldn’t say: that that country is suffering one of the most demonic genocides in history. That its people are being forcibly starved. That its pain finds no parallel in the annals of human wickedness.

 Friday October 9, 2026 

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Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll: October 2026

Here are the headline results for October's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: John Key's speaking sense about billionaires

Thank goodness for Sir John Key speaking some sense about billionaires, am I right?

I don't think anybody expected billionaires to become a topic of discussion in this election but here we are.

It started, of course, with Jack Tame's question to the Chris' during the leaders' debate on whether it was basically morally offensive for someone to be a billionaire.

John Raine: The Indoctrination Must Stop But Labour Would Double Down

The Ongoing Long March Through the Institutions

More than three years ago, along with many others, I was drawing attention to New Zealand’s trajectory towards cultural authoritarianism, and the widespread identity politics and critical social justice activism in our public service, the universities, the wider education system, but also in the private sector. I thought back then that we might quickly pass peak woke and that rationality would have taken hold again by now. Not so fast, some warned - they were right!

Heydel Mankoo: The rise of Cultural Marxism In 5 Minutes

On John Anderson Media, Rafe Heydel-Mankoo traces how the failed communist revolution of the 20th century morphed into a "cultural Marxism" that seeks to use minorities and university elites to overthrow our culture.

Click to view

Olivia Pierson: There Once was a Civilisation

There once was a civilisation which came out of two world wars the world had never seen the like of, and it was brutally hollowed out. Its epicentre, its heart, bones and spirit, however, were still sturdy enough that it limped, wounded and diminished, into the years after, because one of its leaders was a freakishly beautiful giant among men. Winston Churchill knew that letting a culture of 5000 years in the making die undefended by the will of the nearest psycho thug with a massive chip on his shoulder was the worst crime on offer.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Trump’s diesel squeeze leaves NZ dangerously exposed

Donald Trump’s second term has given Europe one fight after another. Tariffs, Greenland, Ukraine and Iran have all had their turn.

Last week, the Americans added one more: diesel. On Thursday, Reuters reported the Trump administration had told Germany and France to draw down their emergency diesel stocks “or face a potential US diesel export ban”. By Trump’s standards, it was a polite request.

Kerre Woodham: Did we learn anything from the leaders debate?

Well last night I took my mum to the Q Theatre to see a performance of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which was fantastic. Last couple of days, I really recommend you get along and see it – I think there's a few tickets left. It was fantastic. And then I had to come home and watch the leaders' debate on demand, and I know what I'd rather have been watching, that's for sure. I agree with Mike, the format of these "debates", in inverted commas, because they're not debates.

Bob Edlin: A Treaty signed in 1840, sovereignty and genetic engineering....

.....Maori want a bigger slice of the action

An item on the Scimex website – drawing attention to a new research paper on the history of genetic modification in New Zealand – mentions “Maori” just once.

The paper to which attention is drawn, on the other hand, makes much of the role of Māori (or lack of it, we are led to believe) in the shaping of GM policy over the past 50 years.

The abstract says the authors trace five consistent threads across the complex history of GM,

JC: The Left Are Out to Lunch

I don’t mean having left the building to buy lunch, rather they are exhibiting a state of confusion and are largely out of touch with reality. The left treat every election like one huge child’s birthday party. The treats, in the form of giveaways are handed out and, in many cases, are free or have no prices attached. These ‘treats’ are nothing more than bribes designed to hoodwink the less aware in society to vote for them.

David Farrar: Why Mowbray donates

Nick Mowbray writes:

I’m aware of the criticism we receive for donating to National and ACT. I’m also aware of the false narrative that we lobby the government and expect something in return.

So let me be clear: we have never lobbied the government. Less than 1% of ZURU’s revenue is in New Zealand.

We donate because we care about this country’s future and believe National and ACT have the right talent and strategy to move it forward.

Richard Prebble: Does winning the leaders’ debate matter?

I remember New Zealand’s first televised leaders’ debate in 1969. To the commentators’ surprise, Norman Kirk was judged to have got the better of Prime Minister Keith Holyoake.

Holyoake went on to win the election.

It set a pattern that has lasted 57 years.

Opposition leaders have a remarkable record in leaders’ debates. Yet governments, despite losing or failing to win the first debate, have usually gone on to win the election.

How is that?

Rodney Hide: Luxon - Gone By Morning Tea

Imagine the scene. Chris Luxon is speaking to a shed full of blokes in high-vis. He clears his throat, looks sincere, and announces that the future of world leadership is white and it's male.

The clip hits the internet before he’s out of the shed.

What would happen?

Thursday October 8, 2026 

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Roger Childs: The Post, not impressive

I regard Hobson’s Pledge as a repulsive organization. Matthew Hooton, The Post, Friday October 2

Stuff

The Post’s editorial last Friday showed Stuff at its worse. The previous day it had printed a full page advertisement from Hobson’s Pledge which was basically a cartoon wondering why Labour leader Chris Hipkins doesn’t rule out the racist Maori Party as a possible partner in a Labour-led coalition should they be able to form a government after the election. Editor Hooton conceded that the advert did not breach the law or advertising standards so Stuff decided to run it.