This is edition 2025/189 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Hi all,
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. The Passion of Saint Jim
Liam Hehir
- ⚖️ Bolger's Consistency: Bryce Edwards misinterprets Jim Bolger's values, calling them contradictions when they were simply applied to different circumstances with the same core conscience.
- ✝️ Types of Catholics in Public Life: Bolger was a "Constant" Catholic—steadfast and shaped by faith without intellectualizing it. His Catholicism was about duty, fairness, and dignity.
- 📖 Evidence of Bolger's Faith: His Catholic upbringing instilled a strong moral foundation that guided his decisions, not a doctrinal battle but practical values like fairness and dignity.
- 🤝 Pragmatic Politics: Bolger's decisions were shaped by moral instincts, not ideological purity. He shifted policies based on circumstances, not personal transformation.
- 💡 Consistency in Leadership: His late-life criticism of neoliberalism wasn’t a conversion but a return to his original beliefs—economics should serve people, not the other way around.
- 🔄 Pragmatism, Not Inconsistency: Bolger’s political approach was about balancing ideals with the practical needs of the time, akin to conservative values rooted in Christian teachings.
- 🏛️ Christian Democracy Legacy: Bolger, like European Christian Democrats, valued market economics tempered by moral obligation, focusing on communities rather than capital.
- ⚒️ Faith and Politics in New Zealand: New Zealand’s secular culture struggles with faith in public life, yet Bolger managed to navigate it with quiet integrity and coherence, acting from faith without always vocalizing it.
