Browsing: Opinion
hand wringers section
The Coalition’s proposed shakeup of local government is well underway. Time is now running out for councils to decide on…
OPINION: Michael Swanson When the polls closed on election night in 2023, Labour had been reduced from a governing majority…
OPINION: Lindsay Mitchell. For those of us who take an interest in child welfare and listen to various media outlets,…
OPINION: Bruce Cotterill. There once was a young woman. She had long dark hair and a nice smile. She was…
OPINION: Michael Swanson. Anyone who has watched New Zealand politics over the past few weeks will have noticed something about…
Opinion: Karen Lehmann. For a few remarkable weeks, the World Cup reminded us of something we too often forget. Billions…
OPINION: Oliver Melnick The word Genocide has become a leitmotif when Israel is being discussed among foes. It has become…
OPINION: Mike Bain Ray Davies, frontman of The Kinks, once sang about a “mixed‑up muddled up shook‑up world” in Lola.…
OPINION: Don Brash There is an old political lesson which Christopher Luxon and the National Party would do well to…
Jonathan S. Tobin /JNS.org That’s the defense being employed by supporters of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the wake of…
OPINION: Maurice Williamson Imagine you’d decided to leave the car at home and make the shift to public transport. After…
OPINION: Michael Swanson Every sitting day in the New Zealand Parliament, when a contested vote is called, MPs do not…
OPINION: Roger Partridge. The exercise has many names – privilege walk, power line, power walk – and a well-documented lineage.…
Some significant progress was made in a room where communities in conflict grappled with peaceful agreement and disagreement. Opinion: Michael…
OPINION: Michael Swanson I asked AI to model the 2026 General Election Last Friday night, when I was sat on…
OPINION: Lindsay Mitchell A report from the Chief Executive of the NZ Council of Christian Social Services has made some…
OPINION: Peter Williams. Money triumphs over editorial sense In the immortal words of tennis legend John McEnroe: “You cannot be…
Opinion: Dr Muriel Newman After decades of rampant migration across Europe, governments are finally confronting a problem they have ignored…
OPINION: Ani O’Brien. Note: it is my editorial policy to use pronouns that relate to the biological sex of the…
Opinion: Brandon Showalter, Opinion writer and social commentator Several years ago, someone I’d gotten to know at a church I…
Opinion: Rodney Hide. Last year in New Zealand 486 people had their lives ended under the End of Life Choice…
Opinion: Peter Williams. It’s sure to be second time successful for the former TV host One of the rapidly emerging…
OPINION: Oliver Hartwich Nostalgia is a wonderful state of mind but, almost by definition, it glorifies the past while ignoring things that were not…
Opinion: Melanie Phillips Anti-Zionism, wherever and whenever it appears, is an attack on Judaism itself. The current onslaught against the…
OPINION: Rodney Hide. Sitting through karakia I am invariably reminded of the book of Daniel in which faithful Israelites found…
OPINION: Chris McVeigh KC. A small part of me wants to take some pride in the bestowing of an honorary…
OPINION: Lindsay Mitchell According to Treasury, “People present in New Zealand each year are increasingly non-NZ citizens”: “In 2024, there…
OPINION: John McLean. In the wake of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, which ended once and for all the centuries…
Opinion: Rev. Dr. Stuart Lange In the last couple of weeks, there has been some public concern about words spoken…
OPINION: Peter Williams. Is the cheerleading of expensive eating an appropriate use of TV news time? Sometimes you just cringe…
Editorial: Mike Bain Last week’s plea for unity lasted exactly seven days before the churches of New Zealand were forced…
OPINION: Michael Swanson. Incremental change, critical junctures, and the impact of path dependency. New Zealand occupies a curious position in…
OPINION: John McLean Near where I live the authorities are constructing a roundabout on the junction of State Highway 1…
OPINION: Lindsay Mitchell It’s appalling that a quarter of a million children now need an income from the state to…
Opinion: Gary Judd KC. Why the Reserve Bank must distinguish monetary inflation from supply shocks This morning I heard Auckland…
Opinion: Lisa Te Morenga Over the past few weeks, there’s been some fairly complex kōrero on Māori social media about…
Opinion Ashley Church. Over the past few days there’s been a lot noise about the agreement reached between the United…
OPINION: Michael Swanson Note: I wrote this just before the latest polls, so doesn’t take into account the latest from…
OPINION: SA McCarthy/The Washington Stand I generally don’t watch sports and can honestly say that I have never watched a…
OPINION Chris Trotter. It was a decent turnout for a cold winter’s night in the Auckland suburb of Three Kings.…