NZ Politics
Councils: The Other Side of the Story
BFD contributor Andrew B loves thumping Councils and while some Councils deserve a jolly good thumping, is tarring all Councils with the same brush either honest or fair? His latest piece claimed “Core services now account for just 40% of rates spending.” Andrew B may well be able to find
Sayers Whistle Blows: Fuel Tax Rip Off
Greg Sayers Councillor for Rodney facebook.com Have you wondered why Auckland’s roads look patchy and seemingly not that well maintained? Even sealed roads are falling apart at different locations around the district. Have you ever wondered to yourself if that is the roading contractor’s quality of workmanship,
Daily News Roundup – 22 December 2020
Parliament, and end of year reviews Chris Trotter (Interest): How the state was reclaimed for the people Richard Shaw (The Conversation): 2020 hindsight: can New Zealand apply the political lessons of COVID-19 in the year ahead? ‘Stuff political reporters’ (Stuff): How good were our political predictions for 2020? Well
New Zealand Joins the Bullies against Israel Again at the UN
IINZ israelinstitute.nz Many things changed in 2020 all around the world. However, the disproportionate attack on Israel at the United Nations continued. There were 17 resolutions passed by the General Assembly that singled out the Jewish state, while only 8 other countries were mentioned in 7 other resolutions. Those
NZ Has Become a Nation of Beneficiaries
Britain was once famously hailed as a nation of shopkeepers, perhaps not by Napoleon himself, but certainly by the classical liberal Adam Smith, who published The Wealth of Nations in 1776 and laid the foundations for free-market economic theory. By the eighteenth century, the United Kingdom was an essentially
Employers Are Not the Enemy
ACT Party “Labour must stop seeing employers as the enemy and avoid doing further harm to the productive sector,” says ACT’s Small Business spokesperson Chris Baillie. “The Government was told its latest minimum wage hike will have a ‘disproportionately large’ negative impact on the number of jobs created over
Satirical Image of the Day
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Media’s New Scapegoats for Rising House Prices
The march of the dullards through our society, most obviously reflected in the falling standards of our ‘news’ organisations, continues apace. They are guided not by the rational, but by the emotional, which is hugely subjective and responsive more to one’s own world view and political outlook than reality.
Capital Gains Tax Will Not Fix Housing
It seems that every journalist in this country believes that the introduction of a Capital Gains Tax will miraculously fix the overheated housing market, yet no one ever bothers to explain exactly how this will happen. Apparently, it just will. It won’t. Here are some of the reasons why.
More Bah Humbug Reporting from the Left
Claire Trevett, writing in the NZ Herald, has joined Audrey Young by getting into the Christmas spirit with some Bah Humbug nonsense of her own. Her reporting on the Mallard select committee hearing was about as accurate as Mallard’s answers to National Party questions. Claire dons her rose-tinted
Daily News Roundup – 21 December 2020
Parliament, and end of year reviews Claire Robinson (Guardian): Jacinda Ardern should make Speaker Trevor Mallard pay the price for his costly ‘mistake’ Tova O’Brien (Guardian): It’s been an ugly year for New Zealand politics but there are grounds for optimism in 2021 Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green Party
Police Abandon the Catch Part of Catch and Release
In an effort to stop having to incarcerate criminals only to have them released under this Government’s criminal friendly law and order policies, the Police have now abandoned the catch part of their catch and release strategy. Police will no longer pursue drivers who are speeding, acting suspiciously or
More Kiwi Families in Hardship
National Party While many families across the country will be looking forward to the summer break, the number of people on a benefit is a stark reminder that many Kiwis are struggling to make ends meet and are anxious to find work, National’s Social Development spokesperson Louise Upston says.