This is edition 2026/048 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. Greens Who Will Be Missed.
Chris Trotter
- 🎭 Compares the Green Party’s candidate list reshuffle to “a little list” from The Mikado, suggesting some MPs are being quietly sidelined
- 📉 Highlights the demotion of three sitting MPs — Mike Davidson, Scott Willis, and Steve Abel — noting all are men and implying gender may be a factor
- 👨⚖️ Argues Mike Davidson’s short tenure shouldn’t justify his drop, as new MPs typically become effective within months
- ⚖️ Suggests replacing experienced MPs with newcomers (like Tania Waikato) risks weakening parliamentary effectiveness
- 🌿 Criticises Scott Willis’s demotion despite his background in green energy and rural environmental values
- 🌳 Calls Steve Abel’s demotion especially puzzling given his strong environmental activism and alignment with core Green ideals
- 🧠 Attributes the reshuffle partly to identity-focused politics (“you’ve got to see it to be it”), prioritising representation of marginalised groups
- 📢 Describes the Greens’ approach as “performative politics,” focused on visibility and symbolic gestures rather than legislative outcomes
- 🧣 Uses examples like MPs wearing keffiyehs to argue Parliament is being turned into a मंच for political theatre
- ⚠️ Warns that excessive performative politics risks backlash from parliamentary rules and institutions
- 📜 Emphasises Parliament’s primary role is lawmaking, not symbolic activism or social signalling
- 🧩 Argues diversity is valuable only if it contributes to effective legislation and policy development
- 🤝 Points to former co-leader James Shaw as evidence that pragmatic cooperation across parties yields real results
- 🚫 Suggests Shaw faced internal resistance for prioritising outcomes over ideological purity
- 🐱 Concludes the Greens should prioritise competent, pragmatic MPs (like Davidson, Willis, Abel) who can deliver results, regardless of identity
- 📝 Final message: sidelining experienced legislators in favour of performative representation risks weakening the party’s effectiveness and impact
