The Te Aka Maori Dictionary defines Mana and Myth as: MANA – prestige, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma – mana is a ‘supernatural force’ in a person, place or object. MYTH – the modifier (adjective) “mythical” in this example is defined as “Some mythical tales of the Pakeha should be told
Michael Bassett 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 bassettbrashandhide.com Unless you were present to hear the Prime Minister deliver his State of the Nation speech on 18
Politicians are unique in one special regard: they never suffer the consequences of their actions and amazingly move from one well-filled trough to the next almost seamlessly. And so it is with Grant Robertson, arguably the worst Finance Minister in living memory. He’s quit Parliament and landed a
AI nzcovidresponse.substack.com This is a shorter version of a more detailed post on early 2020 modelling documents and how then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Chief Science Advisor came up with Alert Levels (with no apparent public health involvement) in March 2020. The Ministry of Health published
Jacinda Ardern can do no wrong in the eyes of some mainstream media, making her government’s list of failures of no interest to them despite the public emphatically rejecting a further term of financial mismanagement, cost blowouts and social restructuring. Doubtless, the MSM will give the coalition no quarter
Graham Adams Graham Adams is a freelance editor, journalist and columnist. He lives on Auckland’s North Shore. bassettbrashandhide.com Last week, Mihingarangi Forbes made an extraordinary claim while interviewing David Seymour on Mata Reports, a taxpayer-funded current affairs programme which, she says, looks at events through an “indigenous
The state of the nation is very fragile, as PM Luxon has rightly stated. Tough choices and tough love are what’s needed for a “fragile” New Zealand as it faces a “rough” economic forecast and massive infrastructure deficit, says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. NZ Herald Let’s look at
lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com In today’s State of the Nation speech Christopher Luxon talked repeatedly about getting young people off welfare. It seems that National has devised a traffic light system which will use increasing levels of sanctions – welfare deductions – when beneficiaries fail to meet their obligations. He uses the
The NZDF lost in the Court of Appeal which upheld an earlier case declaring the vaccine mandates for the NZDF were illegal. I’ve lost count of how many times Ardern’s draconian mandates and lockdowns have been found illegal. But now: In a bombshell legal decision, the Court of
One of the big problems with medical and scientific malpractice is that it’s a lot easier to commit than expose or remedy. Thalidomide, for example: it took years and tens of thousands of deformed babies before the drug was taken off the market. By the time the Wakefield paper
Harry Palmer It intrigues me as to how many companies, corporations and public bodies like city councils the (Western) world over have been ‘turned’ in recent years to adopting modus operandi like ‘wokeism”, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity), etc that are demonstrably counterproductive to their once-overriding raison d’être.
Alwyn Poole Alwyn Poole founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. MH Academy is now an in person private school for Year 11–13. There is now a nationwide online provision called Mt Hobson Academy Connected for Years 1–13. alwynpoole.substack.
The Labour Party is desperate to light a fire under the Government’s tobacco excise increases. Unfortunately they have a very weak person on the job. It’s the former Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, who, going by her performances in the House, would be hard pushed to light a cigarette,
