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Covid-19

Letter from the North: July 7

Letter from the North: July 7

More details are emerging of the problems with Leicester. In attempts to escape the lockdown, creative pleasure seekers have been caught trying to book coaches to take them to nearby Nottingham to coincide with the re-opening of public houses. The police got wind of this and put a stop

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“Instead We Can Dismiss”

“Instead We Can Dismiss”

Chris Penk 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 to be the curve that got flattened, not

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To Be, or Not to Be…

To Be, or Not to Be…

A family member came home shocked, as he was shouted at by a woman when out in the community. He was shouted at for not being in the right place. A friend was challenged and harangued as she walked her dog on a leash across a park. The challengers believed

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Using Fear to Indoctrinate

Using Fear to Indoctrinate

I recently read a good column in the UK Daily Express by Frederick Forsyth, a no-nonsense octogenarian, who was pointing out that brainwashed Britain must stop living in fear. Frederick is of the stoic species of humanity and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. In his opinion piece he bemoans

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Daily News Roundup – 7 July 2020

Daily News Roundup – 7 July 2020

Parliament ODT Editorial: Grubby politics wearing thin Zane Small (Newshub): Todd Muller defends Chinese Communist Party-linked National MP Jian Yang, who’s accused of avoiding English media Election 1News; Battle for Northland seat between Matt King and Shane Jones shaping up as a must win for NZ First Newstalk

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Letter from the North: July 6

Letter from the North: July 6

With the reimposition of the lockdown in Leicester, there is more trouble on the horizon. By analysing test results we find that the 10 population centres most at risk of going back into lockdown are: Thirty four per cent of confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 32% of deaths in

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Kind of Ridiculous

Kind of Ridiculous

Chris Penk 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 essence of kindness is that a person acts

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Daily News Roundup – 6 July 2020

Daily News Roundup – 6 July 2020

Labour Party Thomas Manch (Stuff): It might be ‘team’ Labour, but there’s little doubt about who’s the skipper, and ‘saviour’ Audrey Young (Herald): No ordinary Labour speech by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (paywalled) Richard Harman (Politik): Labour’s red glow Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour starts election season with

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Bordering on Conversations

Bordering on Conversations

Dr Eric Crampton Chief Economist nzinitiative.org.nz Some conversations are difficult, but critical. This week, Sir Peter Gluckman, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, and Rob Fyfe released a short ‘conversation paper’ called Re-engaging New Zealand with the World. Rather than saying how and when New Zealand’s borders

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If It’s in the Papers…

If It’s in the Papers…

I’m not a native Aucklander, but for the past 20-plus years I’ve tolerated the place and during that time I’ve lived no more than a few hefty stone throws away from Dominion Road. I traverse it and use it often: my kids went to a school

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Let Me Out of Here

Let Me Out of Here

So we’ve done it. We have got COVID under control. We have no community transmission and only 18 active cases, all in quarantine, caught at the border. We have done what very few other countries have managed to do. We can truly describe New Zealand as COVID free. This

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Loyal Opposition

Loyal Opposition

Chris Penk 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 so in a time of national crisis, when

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Labour’s Latest Polling Must Be Bad; David Clark Resigns

Labour’s Latest Polling Must Be Bad; David Clark Resigns

Labour must have seen some bad polling because until yesterday the Prime Minister was expressing confidence in her hapless Health Minister. Now Jacinda Ardern has weakly accepted his resignation, just in time for David Clark to head home for the school holidays. Beleaguered Health Minister David Clark has resigned as

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