Skip to content

History

The Man Who Wouldn’t Take It Any More

The Man Who Wouldn’t Take It Any More

The hit movie Joker was not just great cinema, it was often eerily familiar to those of us of a certain age. The film draws heavily on the milieu of late 70s and early 80s New York, when the pre-Giuliani city was a wasteland of crime and dereliction. Martin

Members Public
No Jury Really Would Convict Him

No Jury Really Would Convict Him

It’s an old cliche: “no jury would convict him/her”. In the case of of Gary Plauché, it seems likely that no jury in his state of Louisiana would have. Born Leon Gary Plauché in 1945, he led a fairly ordinary life: he served in the USAF, rising to

Members Public
‘Should Be Withdrawn from Classrooms’

‘Should Be Withdrawn from Classrooms’

Hoaxes are very easy to pull off, but very tiresome to debunk. Consider the Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds: newspapers ran wild with claims that it sparked mass panic. That is absolutely untrue, yet the hoax is still widely believed. Crop circles immediately grabbed the tiny

Members Public
Weather Eye with John Maunder

Weather Eye with John Maunder

John Maunder Some of the answers to the complexities of the climate system are given in my recently published book Fifteen shades of climate… the fall of the weather dice and the butterfly effect. The following are extracts are from pages 197-201. The Greenlandic Vikings’ Apogee The Greenlandic Vikings’

Members Public
man and woman sitting on bench in front of beach

Unadulterated Nonsense

Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com A private Super Fund purveyor, Sam Stubbs, gained ill-deserved headlines when he described the decision by Rob Muldoon to scrub Labour’s 1974 Super Scheme as, “The Worst Decision by a New Zealand politician ever”.  Plainly Stubbs knows bugger all about New Zealand history,

Members Public
The Disgraceful New Zealand Royal Society

The Disgraceful New Zealand Royal Society

Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com The New Zealand Royal Society continues to disgrace its British parent body’s prescribed rationale of absolute respect for factual scientific evidence, every time it touches on Maori issues Its latest unadulterated nonsense, published over the heading “New Research Shows Maori Travelled to the Antarctic

Members Public
‘They’ Are Us – But Who Are ‘We’?

‘They’ Are Us – But Who Are ‘We’?

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

Members Public
What Did They Ever Do for Us? Quite a Lot Actually.

What Did They Ever Do for Us? Quite a Lot Actually.

Hobson’s Pledge Trust When National Party MP Paul Goldsmith unfashionably remarked, last Tuesday,  that colonisation benefited Maori, the howls of outrage from some Maori MPs were hysterical, and quaint, considering their generous salaries and perks courtesy of the coloniser system are proof of advantage. Former Labour Cabinet Minister Michael

Members Public
The BFD  Comment of the Week

The BFD Comment of the Week

As part of our drive to keep our comment section the best in New Zealand we showcase each week an example of a top-notch comment that adds value to The BFD. Today’s comment was written by George. Thank you George for taking the time to craft such an

Members Public
Colonization Gave Maori Cause for Hope

Colonization Gave Maori Cause for Hope

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Political historian Michael Bassett CNZM is the author of 15 books, was a regular columnist for the Fairfax newspapers and a former Minister in the 1984-1990 governments So, in the opinions of Peeni Henare and Willie Jackson, two of the weaker minds in our ministry,

Members Public
baby in white onesie lying on floor

Marie Stopes International’s First Abortion Clinic Closes

Right To Life News righttolife.org.uk MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly known as Marie Stopes International) permanently closed its flagship central London clinic last Friday. The clinic performed 4,235 abortions over 2018 and 2019. The Marie Stopes House clinic, located on Whitfield Street in Bloomsbury, was Britain’s first

Members Public
King Tut’s Coffin Is on the Move

King Tut’s Coffin Is on the Move

When you think of Tutankhamun, you almost certainly picture his fabulous, solid gold and lapis lazuli death mask. But that mask was but the innermost of layers upon layers of coffins and sarcophagi which housed the pharaoh’s remains. Tutankhamun’s tomb was in fact something like a Russian Matryoshka

Members Public