Dodgy!

OPINION: If you believe Maori Party president John Tamihere’s claim that “nothing dodgy” occurred at Manurewa Marae during the last election, the Hound has a bridge to sell you.

Non, Paris!

OPINION: Critics of NZ’s commitment to the Paris Accord, such as Groundswell and others, continue to push for an exemption for ag, arguing that the threat of trade retaliation is more hypothetical than real.

Waffle man

OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been a soft interview with ZB's Mike Hosking, Luxon unnecessarily "made a meal of it", to paraphrase Hosking.

Banks on notice

OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ First colleague Andy Foster had his Members' Bill drawn from the ballot recently.

House in order?

OPINION: Your old mate reckons a wake-up call is overdue for the platoons of non-productive (and now unemployed) bureaucrats, researchers and various other bludgers whingeing about the current government putting out the bonfire of taxpayer money that burned so brightly in recent years.

Chicken Little

OPINION: If you're one of the few still reading the NZ Herald, you'd have seen Chicken Little academics screaming that the sky is falling because Judith Collins has focused Marsden science grants on actual science.

Sacrificed?

OPINION: Henry Dimbleby, author of the UK's Food Strategy, recently told the BBC: "Meat production is about 85% of our current farming use so we can afford to pull that back a bit in order to restore nature... in order to get clean energy. That is not a major sacrifice."

Entitled much?

OPINION: For the last few weeks, we've witnessed a parade of complaints about New Zealand's school lunch program: 'It's arriving late.' 'The portions are wrong.' 'I wanted caviar.'

Dressing down

OPINION: You must feel a bit sorry for poor old Christopher Luxon.

Ruth reckons

OPINION: Ruth Richardson, architect of the 1991 ‘Mother of all Budgets’ and the economic reforms dubbed ‘Ruthanasia’, added her two cents to the Treaty Principles Bill with a submission that essentially says it’s time to “have the sovereign authority” define the principles of the Treaty “by design” rather than continue…

Veg, no meat?

OPINION: Why do vegans and others opposed to eating meat try to convince others that a plant based diet is the best, when they themselves actively seek out veg-based products that taste like meat?

Who's the glutton?

OPINION: We are told there is a wine glut - production outstripping demand worldwide - and the words 'wine lakes' are being thrown around.

OPINION: Science funding for the bulwark of the nation, agriculture, is in a parlous state and less taxpayer money is shelled out for it every year.

OPINION: Back in the 1960s and '70s, and even into the '80s, successive National government Agriculture Ministers and Trade Ministers were at the top of the cabinet rankings.

OPINION: The new Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche has just had the hallelujah moment of the 21st century in his candid review of the NZ public service.

OPINION: Media luvvies have pigeon-holed the Taxpayers Union (TPU) as some right-wing lobby, but as far as this old mutt can tell, the TPU focuses on shaming poor behaviour and wasteful spending by those that govern us, no matter who's in power.

OPINION: Some commentators across the ditch reckon the second Trump administration's anticipated trade protectionism, coupled with China's economic fragility, poses a significant risk for Australia's agricultural export industries.

OPINION: The end-of-year booze-up at the posh Northern Club in Auckland must have been a beauty, as the legal 'elite' let their hair down and showed us how entitled and political some in the judiciary really are.

OPINION: It divides opinion, but the House has passed the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill.

OPINION: Finance Minister Nicola Willis has targeted cuts in the public service to balance the books, particularly the spend on consultants, drawing trenchant criticism from... consultants.

OPINION: The death of Dame Tariana Turia is a loss for the country and a reminder of how far the quality of politician has fallen in the party she founded.

OPINION: Before we all let The Green Party have at it with their 'bold' emissions reduction plan, the Hound thought it wise to run the numbers through the old Casio.

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Dodgy!

OPINION: If you believe Maori Party president John Tamihere’s claim that “nothing dodgy” occurred at Manurewa Marae during the last…

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