Former National Party candidate James Christmas, who was tipped as a potential minister and Attorney-General, will contest this year’s election as a candidate for the ACT Party. [...]
Christmas, a barrister who worked under senior National figures including Sir John Key, Sir Bill English and Chris Finlayson, will be considered a significant loss for National given he was considered a possible option to take on the Attorney-General role and act as a Treaty Negotiations Minister.
With a deep understanding of Treaty settlements and New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements, Christmas also presents as an ideal candidate to articulate the party’s next attempt at constitutional reform after the failed Treaty Principles Bill, which Christmas’ former mentor Finlayson condemned as divisive.
“I’ve looked at where I can make the biggest contribution, and I made a positive decision to [join ACT],” he said.
“It’s no more complicated than that, there’s no hidden story there.”
NZ Herald
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In 2023, Christmas was ranked 28th on National’s party list before the general election. Christmas had been tipped for senior positions in government, should he enter parliament. However, Christmas was three places too low after National was only allowed five list seats.
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Beard was in hospice care when he died at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with family members at his side, band representative Bob Merlis said.
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The group are mostly elderly and retired and gather at an old sports building in Hastings to make coffins. “We are at a point where we don’t have the room to make any more,” Treasurer Cherie Hames says. “We are basically at capacity of what we can make on the premises. We have to find new premises.”
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The word for today is… raffish (adjective) - 1: marked by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity or crudeness 2: marked by a careless unconventionality : rakish Source : Merriam-Webster Etymology : Raffish sounds like it should mean "resembling raff." But what is raff? Originally, "raff" was a word meaning