On July 13, 2024, Mr. T. M. Crooks attempted to assassinate Mr. D. J. Trump, narrowly missing by mere millimetres. Firstly, our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Trump and his family.
Birth rates have dropped to an all-time low, as has the percentage of European New Zealanders, and the population is ageing. That's the summary of headlines around fertility data and demographic change in New Zealand.
In a sign of worse things to come Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced a general election for July 4th while reading out a robotic speech as he was drenched in the rain.
For many years the Australian “returning offender 501” legislation has had a significant strain on the New Zealand justice, welfare, and corrections systems.
Amie and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this week, and her 30th birthday the week prior. The celebrations were a bit low-key as we're going to take an extended holiday together in a few months, without the three kids for the first time.
A video game review might not exactly be the kind of political content you expect from me, but I spent a few hours playing a newly released game last Saturday.
The School Strike 4 Climate NZ campaign has had a bit of scope creep: it's about Palestine, honouring the Treaty, lowering the voting age, and changing the weather.
The case of unjust judgements is becoming an increasing feature of our society. It's probably been this way for a long time, but the visibility is becoming greater.
It's been 100-days since the Coalition government started their first three year team. They announced an ambitious 100-day plan with over 40 points of action.
This week has been a bit of a wild ride and I have an unexpected follow up on a column from two weeks ago, A Turn for the Better. You will have read about the sudden death of Newshub by now with the organisation slated to close its doors in June.
My first radio show "The Dialogue" was broadcast yesterday from 10am-1pm on RCR. It was a childhood dream I never truly expected to eventuate. I grew up listening to a lot of talk radio—and I mean a lot. There were years where I listened almost daily.
In case you missed it: I am hosting a summer series of shows on Reality Check Radio starting Wednesday 14th February—the day after my 29th birthday. Thanks to Paul Brennan and Cam Slater who have done some promos for me on their shows this week.
Before I tackle this week's column, I would like to start with a word of thanks to all the paying subscribers of The BFD and also to Juana, our amazing editor, and to the proofreaders who help her in the background.
Google released its new Gemini AI to the public this week, and the results were… worse than expected. The feature that everyone is immediately interested in when it comes to a new AI tool is the "safety" feature.
