The latest hoo-ha attaching to our current Prime Minister is the story that there is a film to be made about the Muslim massacre in Christchurch on 15 March 2019, under the title, “They Are Us”. We know who the “They” are. And the “Us” presumably covers the rest of
I’m grateful to my former North Shore MP, Hon Wayne Mapp, whose electorate chairman I was for most of his time in Parliament, for reminding me that the remit I suggested in last week’s column here at The BFD was over-complicated by trying to cover too many points
Way back in 1960, when I first became active in the National Party by helping its candidate in the Island Bay seat held by Arnold Nordmeyer, I was persuaded to become a regular attender at Regional (then called Divisional) and nationwide (then called Dominion) conferences. The selling point that persuaded
The mainstream news views media in recent days have been making much of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern basking in the reflected glory of her newly-found French fan, President Emmanuel Macron praising her “Christchurch call” (restricting social media references to crimes such as the massacre in the Muslim mosques). The same
How long will it be before a kaumatua (respected male elder) or kuia (respected female elder) of exalted rangatira (chiefly) status in Maoridom will call on Maori Party MP Rawiri Waititi to stop making a mockery of what ought to be the kawa (accepted procedure) of our Parliament? (Note to
If, like me, you are a tragically addicted aficionado of politics, there are two political commentators you should make an immediate beeline for in their respective publications: Jane Clifton in The Listener and Chris Trotter on this Newsline, The BFD. In her latest offering for Listener, May 15-21, Clifton excels
First, if you haven’t already done so on The BFD, read the superb speech by the Leader of the Opposition, Hon Judith Collins, to the conference of the Northern Region of the National Party on Saturday. Second, if you share my dedication to protecting our right to freedom of
As last Sunday was ANZAC Day, at the 7.30am Mass at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Takapuna that I customarily attend, the congregation was invited to stand at the end for a recorded trumpet rendition of the Last Post and Reveille, followed by the singing of our national
Next Sunday when we celebrate ANZAC Day and pay tribute to the New Zealanders who fought and died in two horrendous World Wars, we must all remind ourselves of the two main reasons for their supreme sacrifices: Our freedom and our sovereignty as a nation. For in this year of
“There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves,
For those of us who like to think of ourselves as Christians, Easter is the most important time of the year because it is the annual reassurance of certainty in our lives in the here and hereafter. Would that it could be the same for those of us who are
Kaore te kumara e korero mo tona ake reka. (The kumara doesn’t speak of its own sweetness). Today’s column begins with this whakatauki (proverb) as a reassurance that I am by no means insensitive to the importance of tikanga Maori in our lives as New Zealanders. This kumara
T. J. Dunleavy Hon Secretary Submission on Report of New Zealand Climate Change Commission Never before in the history of Earth sciences has so much misrepresentation been concentrated into so long a document advocating such complete overthrow of past progress in human life expectancy and wellbeing, socio-economics and technology, in
Today a tale of two ‘wokestans’, one global and one local, the term ‘wokestan’ indicating a place dominated by woke weirdos and their strange ideas, this time in the financial sphere. First the global wokestan: Read this from our Climate Science Coalition chairman Barry Brill, also a distinguished lawyer and
There are no prizes for guessing what would be top of mind on this 17th day of March 2021 for this native Pakeha of proud Irish ancestry. Since I was a small child in Hamilton, St Patrick’s Day has always been one to celebrate, if only to remind myself
This week, apologies for me opening with an attempt at satire, for which my nature as an inveterate stirrer adversely affects my abilities as a satirist, but this latest piece by Chris Trotter about the banning of Dr Michael Bassett has been my motivation for what follows. First the Attempt
