Author: Supplied

OPINION: Triona Scully They say everybody has at least one book in them, but they are lying. As an author and editor, I can attest that many people barely have a paragraph in them, and for most of human history, they knew this. Then, enter stage right, ChatGPT. The most prominent of the large language models, offering the tantalising prospect of words strung together more lucidly than many people could manage alone. Suddenly, otherwise bad writers could imagine literary success, unscrupulous editors had a whole new customer base, and Jeff Bezos had another reason to celebrate as aspiring authors rushed…

Dr Craig Heilmann “Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck.” (Donald Horne) Australia must change or it is in danger “to slide into becoming a second-rate country”. So—this past week—said former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, an incredibly mediocre figure. Australia has been called the ‘lucky country’ but a lucky country populated by mediocre people. It is hard to argue with Donald Horne’s analysis. Although Horne later regretted his remarks, I suggest he was right: our government is an abject grab bag of spivs and dissemblers who have distinguished themselves in three main…

Chandler Peterson/Global Christian Relief Pastor Samuel ministers to a congregation of displaced people – Christians in Burkina Faso who were driven out of their homes by jihadists, just as he was. Most of them cannot read and few own Bibles. They meet in an unfinished building with a dirt floor, and it’s the only place that most of them are able to encounter Scripture. “We manage through prayer,” Samuel says. “We manage by the grace of God.” Samuel’s Persecution Story Samuel came to faith in Christ after his mother was healed from an illness. A pastor from the region where…

OPINION: Bryce Wilkinson Voters are rightly worried about the cost of living. How can they balance the household budget? Should they move to Australia? It is a nationwide issue. After allowing for inflation, population growth and seasonal effects, real national disposable income per person fell 4.3 percent from the September quarter 2022 to the September quarter 2024. A modest subsequent rise has reduced this decline to 1.5 percent. If you are feeling harder up now than in the second half of 2022, you are not alone. If you are not, you should feel fortunate. And do not forget that incomes…

(Contributed) OPINION: Horus Media A party whose board has no skin in the game it’s designing. This party was the first party I was a member of, because of disillusion with society’s degradation and government’s contribution to that. My life was tumultuous — kicked out of home at 17 by my solo-mother — a talented rugby player with a gift for pattern recognition and a sharp memory buttressed by a passion for many things. I managed to finish high school at Rosehill College anyway and got into Auckland University to study Psychology, Philosophy, and Ancient Greek History. My attendance there…

OPINION: Ravi VenkatesanI have long been puzzled by something: How can smart, well-educated, decent people look at the same facts and come to completely different conclusions? Someone who has read history and understands what happened in Nazi Germany or Rwanda can still cheer for a strongman who spews hatred. Someone who is kind to their neighbours can believe that a whole group of people doesn’t belong, or doesn’t deserve to be treated as fully human. The easy, and wrong answer is that these people are stupid, ignorant or just bad. I have rarely found that to be true of the…

Liam Rondi Almost nothing you’ve been shown online explains why almost half a million people marched last Saturday On October 6th, Donald Trump told his followers on the ironically named Truth Social that what was happening in France “isn’t about schools”. It was about Islam, he explained, wanting to take over a once-great country. He offered no evidence, as is his custom, yet the post travelled the way his posts always do. Fifteen days earlier, pupils at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, on the south-eastern edge of Paris, had blockaded their own school gates. Their complaints were about that building…

OPINION: Menin Rodrigues For a long time, I believed social media had democratized truth. Everyone could speak and report. Information was instant, free, and everywhere.Today, I believe it has democratized something else: misinformation, which is, in most cases, fantasy-driven. Therefore, I have made a conscious decision: I am going back to traditional media.I am returning to the daily newspaper, its morning editorial, and the thrill of turning pages. To reports filed by reliable sources, by journalists who put their names, their reputations, and their organizations behind what they write. To dabble in my daily appetite for the Crossword puzzle. What…

OPINION: Joel M. Margolis Under pressure from leading Western democracies to form a legitimate government, the Palestinian Authority (PA) recently agreed to hold a national election on Nov. 18. It would have been the first such vote in 20 years. However, earlier this month the PA postponed the event to Sept. 11, 2027. The delay is supposed to help them avoid repeating the mistakes of the 2006 election. A look at the history shows why. The Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords of the 1990s created the PA. It is an interim body with limited, non-sovereign powers to govern municipal affairs in Gaza…

OPINION: David Harvey One of the more absurd questions to emerge in the leaders’ debate on Tuesday 6 October focused upon the morality of wealth and whether it was morally acceptable to be a billionaire. The absurdity continued into the “Futures” debate the next evening. In my view, the question should have been rejected at the outset. To ask whether being a billionaire is acceptable or moral assumes wealth needs moral permission, as if the default is guilt. An honestly earned fortune isn’t something to excuse. It’s an achievement to admire. The productive billionaire is a moral hero. But not…

Supplied by Iran Alive Ministries For the first time, Iran’s Islamist regime has made it a crime to watch Persian-language Christian television programs. Under a new espionage law, select Persian-language Christian satellite channels including Iran Alive Ministries’ TV channnel have been designated as “hostile organizations.” Simply watching or sharing a Gospel broadcast can now be treated as cooperation with an enemy of the state. Yet even as authorities try to silence the Gospel, Iranians are still hearing about Jesus Christ—and some are risking their freedom to share Him with others. Nila is one of them. Her journey began during one…

OPINION: Sean Ackland-Facebook A completely unbiased ranking from worst to best of last night’s minor leaders’ debate performance, hosted by Tova O’Brien on TVNZ. Fifth place: Winston Peters Watching Winston Peters felt like watching a nostalgia act, with him playing all the old hits, referencing policies and stories that happened decades prior. However, when it came to actually challenging other members of the debate stage, he usually fell like a flat fish. He clearly went into the debate intending to target Qiulae Wong, no doubt because she represents the biggest threat to Winston’s kingmaker position. However, his attempt to dismiss…

Factors favouring the Greens include a clear, bold vision, popular leaders, a weak Labour Party, and global demand for change on the left. But can the party’s momentum continue with a month to go? OPINION: Elliot Crossan The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is currently surging in the polls. The party is up to an all-time high of 16% in two consecutive 1 News-Verian polls, and is currently projected to win a record number of seats according to 5 of 6 pollsters. The Greens are gathering steam with a month to go in the 2026 election campaign, and will…

OPINION: Michael Johnston One of the most important things teachers can do to help their students improve is to give them feedback on their work. To be effective, feedback must be timely and specific. As the election campaign gathers pace, it is timely to give the political parties some feedback on their policies. They certainly need improvement. Labour, you got off to a slow start this year. Frankly, you’ve been coasting. You’ve finally discovered some motivation but your work remains sloppy. Your proposed capital gains tax would be a tax on inflation. This has been explained to you before and…

OPINION:John Raine The Ongoing Long March Through the Institutions More than three years ago, along with many others, I was drawing attention to New Zealand’s trajectory towards cultural authoritarianism, and the widespread identity politics and critical social justice activism in our public service, the universities, the wider education system, but also in the private sector. I thought back then that we might quickly pass peak woke and that rationality would have taken hold again by now. Not so fast, some warned – they were right! We have witnessed an extension of the “long march through the institutions” as proposed by…

OPINION: Paul Melville. This election, the standout issue is the cost of living. It’s all the focus groups want to talk about. Petrol, food, insurance, electricity, rates. The cost of everything has gone up and something must be done. Looking back to 1990, everything was cheaper. Something has clearly gone wrong. The party that can do the most to bring down the price-of-life should therefore win on November 7th. NZ First would buy back the BNZ and break up the gentailers. National wants more supermarket competition. The Greens want a government-owned supermarket and will make university fees free. Labour will…

OPINION: Kerry BakerThere has been a movement in recent times to push a name change for our country to “Aotearoa” by way of creeping normalcy. This subversive agenda is brazenly orchestrated by ideologically biased media … especially via News presenters. Before this woke crusade is allowed to go too far, people need to be enlightened as to all aspects of a name change, especially considering what is at stake, i.e. the financial cost as regards our hard-earned Internationally recognised “NZ” marketing brand. There should also be consideration for our soldiers who died fighting in two World Wars – 30,000 of…

Supplied by FMCG Business  New World has once again been named Supermarket of the Year in the Roy Morgan New Zealand Customer Satisfaction Awards, taking out the top honour for 2026. The win marks the second year running New World has been named Roy Morgan Supermarket of the Year, following its 2025 win. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says New World was the clear winner in the supermarket category in 2026, taking out all four quarterly wins and continuing the lead it’s held in previous years. “Supermarkets play a central part in the lives of most New Zealanders. New World’s…

Contributed by John McLean The Sunday closest to 15th September is traditionally Battle of Britain Sunday. I remember as a child seeing men proudly wearing their medals to church on this sacred day as well as an elderly neighbour turning up there wearing a breastful of colourful medals – those earned by her two sons, both of whom were killed in Bomber Command within a very short time of each other. Sunday, 15th September, 1940, was the turning point in the all-important Battle of Britain, which decided whether Tyranny or Freedom would prevail. In this battle of destiny for the…

OPINION” Andrew Doyle ‘O Jesus, send me a wound to-day,And I’ll believe in Your bread and wine,And get my bloody old sins washed white!’ These are the closing lines of Siegfried Sassoon’s war poem Stand-To: Good Friday Morning (1916). The soldier despises life at the front, and makes a deal to accept Christianity so long as Jesus arranges an injury that will get him invalided out of the trenches. It’s cynical and transactional, but unlikely to offend modern readers. This was not the case in New Zealand in 1922, when John Glover was prosecuted under the law of ‘blasphemous libel’ for publishing…

The Himalayan Times A total of 258 bodies have been recovered from various locations following Wednesday’s devastating flash flood in the Bhotekoshi River, with search and rescue operations continuing across several districts. According to the latest update from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the recovered bodies include two from Rasuwa, 12 from Nuwakot, 27 from Dhading, 20 from Gorkha, 108 from Chitwan, 12 from Tanahun, 63 from Nawalparasi East and 15 from Nawalparasi West. A total of 13,295 security personnel have been mobilised for search, rescue and relief operations. The deployment includes 7,250 personnel from the…

Supplied by Christian Concern ‘Equality and Human Rights Commission’ Releases Draft Guidance For UK Schools With A Disturbing Message: Christians Must Be Restrained The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published new draft technical guidance for schools. It is asking whether the guidance clearly and accurately explains schools’ duties under the Equality Act 2010. It does not. Christians involved in education should read it and respond to the consultation, highlighting the concerns it raises. The guidance is important because, although it is not a statutory code, the EHRC says it may be used as evidence in legal proceedings, as it has…

Supplied by NDTV World A polar bear cub residing in an aquarium in Japan’s Akita Prefecture has gone viral for his love of traffic cones. Mobile phone footage obtained by the Associated Press showed the cub, named Momota, pushing his head inside a cone and poking his mother’s back.

OPINION: Bryce Wilkinson. Last month, the Ministry of Social Development released the latest of its excellent statistical reports documenting the extent of child poverty, hardship/deprivation in New Zealand. The proportions are much below their peak rates around 15 years ago but are still too high. In 2023-24, New Zealand’s child material hardship rate on a standard measure was 13% for children aged 0-17 years. The average for European Union countries was 14%. On the severe material deprivation measure, our 5% rate was bettered by 13 of 29 European countries. Several of those countries also have lower incomes per capita than…

OPINION: Bruce Cotterill. There once was a young woman. She had long dark hair and a nice smile. She was a politician. She came out of nowhere. She was bright and charismatic, communicated well, and the media adored her. The people adored her too, despite not knowing that much about her or the team around her. She became our Prime Minister, with promises of kindness, more houses and less poverty. Six years later, she left our politics. The dream was over and so too were the promises. Her party’s policies during the Covid pandemic saw businesses close down and people…

Jacob Edson Finding a new home is rarely just about changing your address. Whether you’re relocating to a different city or entering a fresh season of your spiritual journey, leaving your old community behind is one of the hardest transitions you can face. You aren’t just looking for weekend worship — you want a place where you can be discipled, build relationships, serve others, and find both comfort and challenge as you grow your faith. This article will help you find and choose a Christian community where you can truly thrive. Whatever your stage of life — from college students…

OPINION: Oliver Hartwich Nostalgia is a wonderful state of mind but, almost by definition, it glorifies the past while ignoring things that were not so good. Many older New Zealanders are nostalgic for the 1970s. But 1973 saw 843 people die on the roads, the worst road toll on record. Of every 1,000 babies born in 1970, almost 17 died before their first birthday. More than a third of adults smoked. The top income tax rate was 60%, and inflation was about to slip its leash. Not everything has improved since then, of course. A country that ranked third in the world for income per head in the 1950s ranked 37th by…

OPINION: Chris McVeigh KC. A small part of me wants to take some pride in the bestowing of an honorary degree by Oxford University on our former PM, Dame Jacinda Ardern. However I can’t quite escape the feeling that I’m watching the equivalent of a Michelin star being awarded to our local Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. I know that’s a little unfair because their hot’ n’ spicy chicken wings with a side of potato and gravy is actually pretty damn good but I think that even that old huckster Colonel Sanders would agree that they’d be unlikely to trouble the…

Peter Burke/Agribusiness Ministry for Primary Industries Director General, Ray Smith with the SOPI report. Dairy continues to be the mainstay of the country’s primary export earnings. In the year to the end of June, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is predicting that export returns from our cows and dairy farmers will be $28.6 billion – up 5% on last year’s record earnings. Dairy exports now make up 47% of our total primary exports and nearly a third of our total exports. MPI Forecasts Dairy Export Earnings to Top $31 Billion by 2030 According to MPI’s latest Situation and Outlook Report…

OPINION: John McLean. In the wake of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, which ended once and for all the centuries old French threat to England, the British Government, in gratitude to God for Wellington’s victory, provided a million pounds to the Church of England to build churches in newly developing areas. These were known as the “Waterloo churches”. To this was later added another half million pounds in 1824. Since then governments have followed the sound policy of not using taxpayer/ratepayer money for building churches that, by their very nature, are for the benefit of believers of one sect only.…

Mark Whitely/BikePush.com Forget the idea of a slow decline. Science shows aging hits in sharp bursts, with major shifts around our 40s and 60s. The good news is that we’re not helpless against these changes, and cycling might just be our secret weapon. Scientists have discovered that cycling, particularly as a long-term endurance activity, can effectively push back against these age-related changes. Think of it as your body’s natural time machine, minus the fancy special effects. Regular cycling has been shown to maintain crucial bodily systems well into later life, making it one of the most accessible and effective forms…

OPINION: John McLean Near where I live the authorities are constructing a roundabout on the junction of State Highway 1 and the off road down to Waitarere Beach. At this point SH1 is single lanes each way and the surrounding land is flat, open farmland without trees. It could not be easier for building a simple roundabout. Construction started on 29 October, 2025, and the Ministry is now crowing that it will be all finished in November, 2026. Thirteen months to build a roundabout in the most ideal conditions and on one of the busiest roads (SH1) where one would…

Opinion: Lisa Te Morenga Over the past few weeks, there’s been some fairly complex kōrero on Māori social media about strategic voting and roll‑swapping. It hits the mark because Māori voters are strategic. We understand the MMP game, perhaps better than most. We know to give our party vote to the party that can shape parliament the way we want it to look, and we know that our electorate vote should go to the candidate we think will best represent local issues. Or, just as importantly, the candidate who’s our aunty or uncle. For those of us on the Māori…

Supplied: Barnabas Aid. The plight of Christians forced to flee their homes because of their faith gave amateur runner Isabel Freed the motivation to finish this year’s London Marathon. The 20-year-old university student, who was running to raise funds and awareness for Barnabas Aid, collapsed from heat and fatigue at mile 15 and was advised by course medics not to continue. However, Isabel was determined to finish and, after resting for two hours, walked the remaining 11.2 miles, cheered on by friends and family. “Knowing that many Christians around the world have to run for their faith gave me the…

Opinion: Alfred Johns, Te Aroha Former U.S. President Barack Obama was speaking to Americans—not New Zealanders—when he issued this warning in 2006. Yet his words seem uncannily relevant to New Zealand today. “Ethnic-based tribal politics has to stop. It is rooted in the bankrupt idea that the goal of politics or business is to funnel as much of the pie as possible to one’s family, tribe, or circle with little regard for the public good. It stifles innovation and fractures the fabric of society. Instead of opening businesses and engaging in commerce, people come to rely on patronage and payback…

OPINION: Sir Roger Douglas. New Zealand’s serious superannuation problems began in 1976 when the Muldoon Government replaced Labour’s compulsory super savings scheme with a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) system. That single decision changed everything. PAYGO allowed politicians to make generous promises without having to fund them properly. It created massive unfunded liabilities — IOUs that future generations would have to pay. Today those unfunded liabilities stand at around $2 trillion. The burden falls squarely on the young. Successive governments have conveniently kept these liabilities off the official books, misleading the public about the true state of our finances. This is not just…

OPINION: (The author’s name was supplied but is withheld at their request.) The controversy around the Waitangi Tribunal, the rapid growth of Māori attempts to exert authority over the government and country, and the question of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi omits one major and crucial element – The ‘Littlewood Treaty’. It has always been a source of debate that there are two official versions of the Treaty – Te Tiriti O Waitangi in Maori and the Treaty of Waitangi in English. There are significant differences between the two documents. One of the functions of the Waitangi Tribunal is the…

By James Pocock/Editor – Gisborne Herald A bittersweet celebration of church history and memories opened a weekend of events marking the upcoming dissolution of the Gisborne Presbyterian Parish. The Gisborne Herald reported last October that the parish, made up of the churches of St Andrew’s and Matawhero, will close on June 30 this year because of falling congregations. Talks from dissolution committee members, Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz and Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand leaders who had travelled from out of town spoke to the value the church buildings, along with St Andrew’s Hall, had brought to the community. On display in…

Supplied/Save The Children. Sudan is bracing for a rise in child malnutrition as the lean or pre-harvest season starts with the prospects for crop production looking bleak after more than three years of war with conflict ongoing, warned Save the Children. Agriculture accounts for up to 80% of food and income in Sudan, but the conflict, combined with climate pressures, has decimated farming and further declines in cereal production are forecasted ahead of planting starting this month. Already about 19 million people – or two in every five Sudanese – are facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food…

This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission. If you’re the conspiratorial type, you probably have a “favorite” conspiracy theory. From the moon landing to JFK’s assassination, every tin foil hat-wearer has a theory they’re absolutely convinced is true. Well, one of those famous conspiracy theories will now apparently be put to the test, finally answering the question: “What in the world is going on with Denver International Airport?” For the unfamiliar, the Denver airport may seem like any other major U.S. air hub. But for people who’ve actually spent some time taking the sights and sounds…