New Zealand has a gang problem. There has been much discussion about this problem in recent weeks, especially with everyone gearing up for the election season.
I listened to Liam Hehir's podcast with Thomas Coughlan from the NZH and there were some very key things talked about that confirm I am on the right track.
The summit organised by Peter Mortlock was on the North Shore at 7pm on a Tuesday evening, so I arrived late. It was very well attended, perhaps 700 people and we needed to park on the road.
There are a few topics this week that I considered weighing in on: bi-lingual road signs, drug prescriptions, and accusations of homophobia. There is a common thread that runs through these stories.
A little bit of a bizarre situation has formed in the wake of New Zealand's COVID lockdowns and forced vaccination policies. The opposition to these things was chaotic and disorganised.
The Media Council is somewhat of a strange beast. Sometimes it delivers good and interesting verdicts on issues of media balance, but most of the time it seems to share the heavy left-wing bias of the organisations it represents.
Not all technological advancements are good. The ability for the government to harass you via the device you carry in your pocket is one of those extremely negative developments.
I confess that I don't really know anything about the "Dominion Post" other than occasional references to it in media. On 14th April the owner and CEO of Stuff proudly announced that the word "dominion" was going to disappear from the newspaper's name.
A week is a long time in politics. I started off a Saturday morning in late March escorting Helen Houghton from New Conservative to speak at Kelly-Jay Keen's "Let Women Speak" event in Albert Park.
The media is reporting again on the Labour government's inability to implement a mining ban promised in 2017. The ban would infringe on the property rights of Ngāi Tahu, which was awarded ownership of all pounamu (greenstone) in its 1997 Treaty se
New Zealand experienced two very important events this week that are more closely related than you might think. First, the chairman of the social housing ministry was sacked for making political statements in public.
New Zealand often plays an insignificant part in greater geopolitical schemes. But we've been part of the current world order since before the outbreak of the Great War.
While I've enjoyed many summer birthday celebrations, I was born in the winter. The cold and wet weather of this year's birthday felt like something of a flashback to 28 years ago.
If you've had a look at the new census forms being sent out, you will have noticed there's a new question: "what is your gender" which is followed immediately by "what was your sex at birth?" This is deliberately dishonest on their part.
When I saw Paul Hunt's comments on white supremacy being woven into the fabric of New Zealand, I thought about putting some brief comments on my Telegram or my Twitter and carrying on.
