I am not much of a fan of “Gotcha” questions as I think they’re a bit naughty and intellectually lazy. But with the way a once great nation is heading towards the cliff in “Thelma and Louise” fashion, and having had a wee drinkie-poo whilst in charge of a
British politics is a brutal business at times. In this respect it differs somewhat from New Zealand where most politicians are amateurish and ‘small potatoes’. Attempts by NZ politicians to appear ‘big time’ are simply embarrassing. Examples include Bill Rowling’s regular falsetto declarations of “I’m in charge”, or
Information Opinion Queen’s Birthday 1998 was an interesting three-day experience which opened my eyes to all manner of things. I realise this may sound a bit odd, but that weekend was the first time I had ever experienced how “ordinary people” (around 90% of the population) live; their lifestyles,
Information Opinion If you are going to have a communist society – thought police, everyone scrounging at the local tip to find food, tyranny, possibly the “killing fields” – or what is known as “you’ll own nothing and be happy”, there is the ever so slight matter of requiring a population
Many people ask me why it is that I avoid investment or doing business (if it can possibly be avoided) in New Zealand altogether; today I shall give you some hilarious, classic examples of why that is. Don’t choke from laughing too much. Although, rather amusingly, whenever I answer
One of the amusing things about our parliamentarians is their elemental self importance. Most MPs have a strange belief constituents are taking much notice of what they do and consequently their day-to-day actions matter, when, generally speaking, they do not. I shall illustrate what I mean by comparing two MPs
Information Opinion Warning Disclaimer: Nothing in this article constitutes professional and/or financial advice. You alone assume the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or opinion in this article. As concerns about a sharemarket crash gain both speed and credibility, there
Information Opinion How times have changed in New Zealand: naturally for the worse. There was a time when the MP for Tamaki would have stated his viewpoint – and stuck to it! (turned the volume up to 11 once the ‘usual suspects’ started to complain). Nowadays it’s a different story
If you wait long enough, the good guys eventually win. It has finally happened: the US Supreme Court has reversed the evil wickedness known as Roe v Wade; it only took 49 years! The long-rumoured decision was handed down yesterday and it is time to rejoice – babies are just that
Information Opinion So Peter Goodfellow has resigned as President of the National party. It has taken a long time to eventuate and many will be breathing a sigh of relief at his departure, perhaps seeing it as a chance for a new dawn for the party organisation. Oh for the
Information Opinion There is a famous scene in the Godfather movie where Vito Corleone and Tom Hagen are returning home from the meeting of the ‘Commission’ and Corleone says, “I didn’t realise until tonight it was Barzini all along” (who was behind the assassination attempt and desire to get
The rather arrogant Prime Minister was quickly losing support after his/her historic election victory a year and a half earlier. He/she failed to appreciate the effect inflation, in particular, was having on the general public; the concerns people had at the supermarket checkout at the soaring cost of
Information Opinion The resident commies in the Beehive have decided to follow a playbook similar to the one Hillary Clinton followed in 2016, with predictable results. One suspects – knowing what 40-something women in senior jobs who know they’re seriously out of their depth are like – that ‘dissent’ or, heaven
Former British Prime Minister Sir John Major once gave a talk in which he said the reason the job of prime minister is difficult and often unpopular is because ministers send difficult and unpopular decisions up the line. Junior ministers pass them up to their senior cabinet minister colleague, then
I have been a lifelong admirer of Sir Robert Muldoon (so sue me). I loved watching the television news each night as a boy to see what hilarious one-liner or nasty, richly deserved sledge against socialist opponents he’d dropped that day; was all great fun to observe. In June
Over the years I have had a kind of love/hate relationship with the ASB. They are nice enough people but they send me strongly worded letters from time to time – the last was in February. After several weeks of running around getting various bumflufferies together there was the slight
