Chris Penk First published by The BFD 7th July 2020 The BFD has serialised National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Today is the final extract. “Instead we can dismiss” Let us finish as we began, observing that it was only supposed
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 6th July 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Kind of ridiculous Is there anything more absurd than an instruction to “be kind”? For one thing, it’s illogical. The
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 3rd July 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Loyal Opposition It’s often said that the Leader of the Opposition has the hardest job in politics. That’s doubly
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 2nd July 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. An Act of stupidity The passage of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act will be remembered as one of the most
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 1st July 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Non-essential (Parliamentary) business Emergency powers were invoked by the government, giving itself the ability to amend laws and take actions without
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 30th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Self-isolation self-delusion We’ve already looked at self-isolation in the context of the practically non-existent border controls. This was another missing
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 29th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. A lack of contact While the government was attempting to mask its issues providing PPE (yes, pun intended) it soon found
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 28th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Just a PPE dream As we’ve seen, the perception of widely available testing proved, on closer inspection, to be a
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 27th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. “Elimination” nation No word sums up the government’s misplaced sense of self-congratulation as much as “elimination”. Let’s start with
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 26th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Lessons learnt? The stresses and strains on New Zealand’s teaching fraternity must have been enormous. As always, I take my
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 25th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Stop the press! One of the sectors thrown into considerable chaos by the government’s coronavirus choices is the media. First,
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 24th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Are you certain? And now for another excellent point that the New Zealand Law Society made about the government’s approach
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 23th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. Ignorance of the law It’s pretty important that the laws of our land are easily enough understood to be obeyed.
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 22th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. What becomes of the “non-essential”? A government whose chief virtue is PR can normally be relied on to have “good optics”
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 21th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the country by publishing an extract every day. Disconcerting developments It is worth remembering throughout all of this that the unbelievably cavalier attitude of the government right up to
Chris Penk First published by The BFD 20th June 2020 The BFD is serialising National MP Chris Penk’s book Flattening the Country by publishing an extract every day. None of your business Perhaps the most telling remark on either side of the argument about the lockdown’s length came
