This is edition 2025/150 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Hi all,
This morning, in the usual Face of the Day spot, we ran our obituary for Juana. Please drop by and leave a comment. It was difficult to prepare and put together and was a team effort from editorial staff and contributors.
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. New Zealand’s perfect political storm approaches
Bruce Cotterill
- 🌪 Perfect Storm in Politics: A rare combination of negligence, delusions of grandeur, and accountability failures has created a political crisis in New Zealand this week.
- 🎓 Education System Failures: Education Minister Erica Stanford worked to secure cross-party support for a review of the secondary school qualifications system, but the Opposition, led by Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime, failed to respond, jeopardizing long-term stability in education policy.
- 🔄 Policy Flip-Flopping: The political cycle continues as the current government attempts to undo the oil and gas ban from the Ardern era, showing instability in policy changes between administrations.
- 🌱 Green Party’s Ambitious Claims: The Green Party, despite limited support, claimed they should lead the next government, even suggesting a co-leader with no finance experience as the next Finance Minister, highlighting their inflated sense of importance.
- 🏛 Covid-19 Royal Commission Snubbed: Key Labour figures, including former leaders Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, refused to participate in the public hearings of the Covid-19 Royal Commission, avoiding accountability for their decisions that impacted the country.
- 🗳 Democratic Accountability Issues: The current electoral system limits voters’ ability to replace unaccountable MPs, particularly those on the party list who are not directly accountable to their electorate.
- 💸 Financial Mismanagement: Polls show that despite the damage done by previous governments, many Kiwis are still willing to vote for parties that created financial crises, increased debt, and failed key sectors like education and healthcare.
- 🛠 The Choice for New Zealand: The country faces a choice between continuing with negligent and delusional leaders or opting for responsible, informed governance. The upcoming 2026 election will be crucial for New Zealand's future.
