The Hound

Silly Season

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping up as the ‘stupid season’.

OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider wooden bicycle enthusiast community would be on their soapboxes screaming about dirty farmers and demanding a harsh penalty, which regional authorities would be gagging to administer.

Diplomatic Incident

OPINION: Your old mate hears an international incident is threatening to blow up the long-standing Anzac alliance as Kiwis and Aussies argue over who wants new Australian resident and former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Lame Duck?

OPINION: The media is already playing the 'who will Winston choose?' game every time the polls show Labour and National neck and neck.

Penny Pinching

OPINION: A mate of yours truly reckons rural Manawatu families are the latest to suffer under what he calls the Government's "performative restraint" - penny pinching on needed community stuff while the bureaucrat head count and wasteful spending in Wellington charges on undiminished.

New Order

OPINION: If old Winston Peters thinks building trade relations with new nations, such as India, isn't a necessary investment in our future, he has rocks in his head.

Double Standard

OPINION: The proverbial has really hit the fan in Wellington and exposed a glaring example of a double standard in environmental accountability.

'Altered'

OPINION: Dark suited spin doctors exist to, well, spin, and the nice cuddly progressive types at Greenpeace Aotearoa practice this dark art with the same cynicism as your average corporate giant.

Bulldust!

OPINION: Here w go: the election date is set for November 7 and the politicians are out of the gate with the bulldust and empty promises.

No good news?

OPINION: ECan data was released a few days ago showing Canterbury farmers have made “giant strides on environmental performance”.

Time and place

OPINION: First on the scene after the recent devastating storms in parts of the North Island were emergency services and selfless members of the public.

Where is Luxon?

OPINION: Why can't Christopher Luxon stand up to Winston Peters over the latter’s high-profile attack on the proposed Indian FTA?

Realpolitik!

OPINION: Meanwhile, red blooded Northland politician Matua Shane Jones has provided one of the most telling quotes of the year thus far.

The Kiwi way

OPINION: This old mutt has been around for a few years now and it seems these ‘once in 100-year’ weather events are occurring nearly every year.

Green no more?

OPINION: Your old mate has long dismissed the Greens as wooden bicycle enthusiasts with their heads in the clouds, but it looks like the ‘new Greens’ may actually be hard-nosed pragmatists when it comes to following voters.

Too political!

OPINION: After seven years of Adrian Orr’s antics as Reserve Bank NZ governor, the priority of his successor, Anna Breman, surely is rebuilding the tarnished reputation of the RBNZ, not stepping on the Foreign Minister’s toes by commenting on US domestic politics.

The bow-tie effect

OPINION: If the hand-wringing, cravat and bow-tie wearing commentariat of a left-leaning persuasion had any influence on global markets, we'd be in a full-blown crash by now, what with the pessimistic wailing about the recent political 'reshuffle' in Venezuela - orchestrated by the US Administration Arm and executed, quite efficiently,…

Famous last words

OPINION: With Winston Peters playing politics with the PM's Indian FTA, all eyes will be on Labour who have the casting vote.

PM finds the fence

OPINION: When he promised an Indian FTA in his first term, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was really putting it all on red for the win. Against the odds (and with help from Todd McClay and others), he has thumbed his nose at the many doubters by closing just such a…

Stinging response

OPINION: MPI's response to the yellow-legged hornet has received a mixed report card from New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI), with praise for the Ministry's expansion of response funding and front-line efforts in Auckland, but a sting in the tail - criticising MPI for not focusing enough on regions outside the…

Yes, Minister!

OPINION: The release of the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill to replace the Resource Management Act is a red-letter day for the agricultural sector, kicking to touch the single biggest handbrake on agricultural productivity and rural economies – the much-hated RMA.

Two-legged pests

OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to highlight the most troublesome farm pests – a serious issue that needs some urgent attention from the Beehive.

Slippery slope

OPINION: It used to be that the National Fieldays attracted brickbats for being officious clipboard carriers, while the regional, farmer-run field days enjoyed the bouquets for being easier to deal with.

Political colours

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable to the ridiculous, depending on what axe people had to grind.