Author Archive

India Rises

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, May 1st, 2022 - 10 comments

Why is India such a world player right now?

What Can Be Saved?

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, April 29th, 2022 - 157 comments

The tide of this government is running out. There’s 18 months left in the term. What would you save?

Who Will Protect Us From Media Power Now?

Written By: - Date published: 6:28 pm, April 26th, 2022 - 9 comments

With RNZ and TVNZ now in full merger mode, we have yet another untested state megalith upon us. But where is the power that will hold it to account?

Water and Money

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, April 7th, 2022 - 20 comments

If the 3 Waters reforms can survive its attacks and be implemented, a consequence will be that we are going to have a most enormous nationwide economic argument about the price of water and who pays for it all.

Change nothing

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, April 6th, 2022 - 15 comments

You get to a point – and Ardern must be close – where the most you can do is hang on.

3 Waters Reform Must Happen

Written By: - Date published: 5:22 pm, April 3rd, 2022 - 147 comments

If you’re out there in ZB land and believe that water management should be democratically elected, you won’t find respite here.  Local Government has done a terrible job dealing with water and change is urgently needed.

Should We Just Settle?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 29th, 2022 - 60 comments

New Zealand does not have to settle for being small, quiet, and weak.

Can This Government Be Saved?

Written By: - Date published: 5:43 pm, March 25th, 2022 - 118 comments

Can Labour win a third term? Here are some pathways up, and some pathways down.

The Peace Settlement Must Start

Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, March 24th, 2022 - 172 comments

Pressure for a Ukraine war settlement starting with a ceasefire will continue to mount. If this does drag out, there’s more chance of the conflict widening. Belarus could attack. NATO-allied supply convoys could be attacked. I’m trying not to go further. As with all major wars since Vietnam, the media frenzy puts the highest cost […]

Crisis, What Crisis?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, March 22nd, 2022 - 88 comments

There is only so much New Zealand and its government can do to soften the blows of the instability that are besetting the world.  And the problem is without dramatic change New Zealand will remain one of the most car-addicted, petrol reliant societies on earth for several decades to come.

Pick a side

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 17th, 2022 - 351 comments

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelinsky has made a direct appeal broadcast to the United States Congress. That will sort out the Putin supporters from the rest.  And with climate change beckoning it is time to pick a side.

The world in 6 months

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, March 15th, 2022 - 117 comments

In six months time the world could be in a very precarious position.

The latest poll

Written By: - Date published: 7:54 pm, March 10th, 2022 - 124 comments

National/Act (47%) would beat Labour/Greens (46%) if there were an election held tomorrow, according to the latest One News Kantar poll.

The International Legion of Territorial Defence

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 7th, 2022 - 107 comments

However much infighting there was on the Spanish Republican side between leftists, Communists, anarchists and others, you could be confident that the Nazis were on the other side.  In the Ukraine it is not so simple.

Is This The Boom We Wanted?

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, March 4th, 2022 - 65 comments

New Zealand’s time as high end ingredients producer to the world has arrived. But it has big costs.

Remarkably Hopeful

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 1st, 2022 - 18 comments

We will probably never get over the feeling that somehow, if enough people just banded together, it would all get better again, like we did when the United Nations charter was struck.

How Russia wins

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 25th, 2022 - 47 comments

Russia hasn’t lost an intervention in quite some time.

Watch China’s next move

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 pm, February 24th, 2022 - 61 comments

Why should we in New Zealand give a damn about Ukraine? My answer is: China.

They Are Us

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, February 20th, 2022 - 129 comments

The people camping outside Parliament are also us.

100 Things We’ve Lost

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, February 16th, 2022 - 25 comments

Over the past two years we have lost so many things that are not coming back.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff to Retire

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 15th, 2022 - 6 comments

Some thoughts on the contribution of Phil Goff to Auckland during his term as Mayor.

Can this government get re-elected?

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, February 13th, 2022 - 34 comments

Where will the votes come from to get Labour a third term? 

Chloe Swarbrick Needs A Reset

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, February 10th, 2022 - 42 comments

Chloe Swarbrick has requested that the government help Auckland central’s restaurants.  But in a post Covid pre climate change world this is not going to help.

Prime Minister Ardern on Climate Change and the economy

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 pm, February 9th, 2022 - 33 comments

The full text is worth perusing across multiple areas, but Prime Minister Ardern’s speech in Parliament yesterday gave useful hints about how the economy and climate change are being integrated into a single economic strategy.

What Do We Keep?

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, February 7th, 2022 - 37 comments

The things we don’t regret keeping are a strong measure of what we don’t value. COVID’s 2 year anniversary asks us this simply through what events we commemorate.

How the Covid era changes us

Written By: - Date published: 3:42 pm, February 3rd, 2022 - 45 comments

With Prime Minister announcing effectively the beginning of the end of state control of COVID, the question that has to be asked is how will the end of COVID change us all?

And what have they done anyway?

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, February 2nd, 2022 - 107 comments

With Ardern getting a good-old media beat-down, remember here’s how to change a country for good like no one else but Labour can.

Light Rail: The State Is Back

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, January 31st, 2022 - 30 comments

The light rail route and mode decision this week shows something new. It’s in the nature of the state itself.

The Price Isn’t Yet Right To Invade Ukraine

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, January 26th, 2022 - 59 comments

The entity making the most money out of threatening the Ukraine is the Russian Federation government itself. Follow the money.

In Tax we trust

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, January 24th, 2022 - 86 comments

In a welcome change Millionaires and billionaires worldwide are calling for governments to tax them more.

On the death of Joan Didion

Written By: - Date published: 6:58 am, December 29th, 2021 - 5 comments

We need to remember Joan Didion, who died December 23rd, as perhaps the best defensive pessimist we’ve ever had. She nailed the feet of her times down to the floor to make sure it talked and wept all its pain out. It’s not enough to call Joan Didion just a pessimist, because she wrote hard […]

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