The Prime Minister, the Government and the Director-General of Health would have us believe that last week’s announcement about masks and the Director General’s very public COVID test were just a coincidence and had nothing at all to do with the outbreak in South Auckland. To quote
It’s become clear this week that we’re going to see more cases of COVID-19. Nobody should be surprised. That’s how a virus works and only somebody extremely dim would expect anything different. 100 days without community transmission is, to be kind, a false negative. Before knee-
If you were one of many New Zealanders wondering why suddenly, out of the blue and with ZERO community spread, the Director-General of Health last week began reminding us that COVID-19 isn’t over yet and that we should remain prepared for another spike and organize masks, wonder
Am I the only one who thinks this is an absolutely absurd expression? I’m never going to agree to disagree with anybody. Either we agree on a matter or we don’t. Either it’s factually correct or it isn’t. There’s no middle ground. Isn’t it
If you’ve been watching the machinations of the American left with concern but indifference because it’s so far away from us and doesn’t really affect us, “think again” springs to mind. Pretty much every fad that had its origins in the USA from Elvis Presley’s gyrating
This is a fact. I visited Guangzhou about a year ago. The population of this city is some 15 million, though I’m not exactly sure where they all were when I was there as it didn’t seem crowded at all. I did notice that their traffic was chaotic,
There’s an old saying: “Anger is a bit like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it doesn’t take you anywhere.” You could say the same thing about polls. If they back up your view of the world, they are moderately interesting and
In my circle of friends and acquaintances there are several who range in areas to the left of centre. Some of them are just mildly so with a “feelgood” attitude that everybody deserves a fair go, while others are so far out in left field with their thinking, that they’
Last week, Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton unloaded at a few people involved in Formula 1 for not providing sufficient support for his stand on Black Lives Matter. Funny thing for me is that his skin colour was never an issue. Not for me, not for his teams, not
The Andrew Falloon debacle this week is a timely reminder that we have appallingly inadequate qualification requirements for anybody standing for public office. The assumption that people who manage to get themselves elected to positions of responsibility have somehow been tested in the court of public opinion and are therefore
Please remember that Jacinda Ardern did not win the last election. She improved on their polling and arguably got a better result than they would have under Little (which is tantamount to the multiple Facebook “thumbs up” for a picture of a cute kitten), but neither she nor Labour won
Keeping in mind that at the time of writing we don’t have the full story and who knows what’s likely to come crawling out of the woodwork, this could arguably be the best decision Todd Muller could make. It takes courage to see your own failings, face them
While the decision has already been made and Hamish Walker is the one to go, we might do well to consider the full implications of what transpired, along with a look at what it says of the man who aspires to the highest political office in our country. Without dragging
While browsing through Stuff, I came across an opinion piece that looked interesting given the amount of worldwide publicity around Black Lives Matter at the moment. “Doing well for a Maori”: My experience of racism in New Zealand. As a European New Zealander, one who was actually born in Europe
There are (or should I say should be) three realistic options among the political parties in New Zealand for the conservative voter. Obviously, the main one should be the National Party, if only it would get back to its conservative principles and stand for something instead of the wishy washy,
Many of my friends and associates are small business owners. They took several deep breaths when the Prime Minister threw the country into her exaggerated and ill-conceived lock down. They hunkered down and did the best they could to keep their staff and their businesses in survival mode. Most
