<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Bassett, Brash & Hide]]></title><description><![CDATA[Brash&Mitchell]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/home</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:00:59 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.brashandmitchell.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[OLIVER HARTWICH: Splitting power generators from their retail arms would not cut electricity bills]]></title><description><![CDATA[With energy prices spiking, an old idea has gathered fresh momentum: break up the big electricity companies. New Zealand First put the proposal on its agenda at the party’s State of the Nation address, calling for the four gentailers, companies that both generate and retail power, to be split apart. When people are hurting, the urge to do something is understandable. But doing something is not the same as doing the right thing. I should disclose that several gentailers, and Chorus, are...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/oliver-hartwich-splitting-power-generators-from-their-retail-arms-would-not-cut-electricity-bills</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e5a0480c8d230c9e940f59</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 03:59:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_bca3d6f255fd46b0ac1734a1e981b89b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ANI O'BRIEN: I changed my mind on Luxon]]></title><description><![CDATA[How Liam Hehir convinced me I was wrong Yesterday in my weekly political wrap up I wrote:     A gain we find ourselves with another lot of coup rumours. Yesterday, Luxon insisted repeatedly that he has the full support of his caucus. Sadly, the only time a leader has to say that is when he does not.     My assessment of things is that the end of the road is nigh for the Prime Minister. He can not continue fending off these attacks. And I no longer think he should. Leadership coups are messy...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/ani-o-brien-i-changed-my-mind-on-luxon</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e416be0c8d230c9e90f0df</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:37:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_a7720f9429504106b37b093bd0e0b23b~mv2.webp/v1/fit/w_88,h_88,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: Still Admiring the Emperor’s New Clothes]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why loyalty outlasts the evidence A year ago this week, my Quadrant column, “ The Emperor’s New Clothes ” – written before this Substack launched – asked a question that irritated more people than it persuaded: How could so many thoughtful conservatives, people who once championed limited government and constitutional norms, support a president whose actions so plainly contradicted those principles? The answer drew on Jonathan Haidt’s research  into moral psychology. Trump, the column argued,...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-still-admiring-the-emperor-s-new-clothes</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e2a4b9908f1714a0e10b6c</guid><pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 03:20:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[BRYCE MCKENZIE: We're taking Gore District Council to court]]></title><description><![CDATA[Bryce Mckenzie, co-founder of Groundswell NZ explains clearly what is happening in Gore and why it is relevant to all of New Zealand. We’re writing to update you on the proposed Gore District Plan, how it will affect all of New Zealand, and our latest step to take our campaign for property rights to the courts. This isn’t just about Gore, but the ever-expanding ways interest groups use planning legislation to wedge themselves between landowners and the legitimate uses of their land. It’s Gore...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/bryce-mckenzie-we-re-taking-gore-district-council-to-court</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e292a2a96d49e56ebddbee</guid><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 20:21:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_5358a17b08e846f0944457be67109f8b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_225,h_225,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ANI O'BRIEN: Useful idiots? The vegan astroturf organisation that has tricked Kiwi farmers]]></title><description><![CDATA[How “Fair for Farmers” risks turning Kiwi farmers into foot soldiers for anti-farming activists Note: I was a vegetarian for 10 years and previously worked at the SPCA. I am a believer in high animal welfare standards and think that many animal welfare groups do a great deal of good work. Many of them are a bit nuts though. There I was, scrolling the apps, when a familiar Kiwi farmer’s face appeared with a message that sounded quite good. I halted in my tracks and bestowed a view on the...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/ani-o-brien-useful-idiots-the-vegan-astroturf-organisation-that-has-tricked-kiwi-farmers</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e1c6d743fd38a1bb6e3483</guid><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:54:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_a7720f9429504106b37b093bd0e0b23b~mv2.webp/v1/fit/w_88,h_88,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: Why Courts Cannot Determine the Scope of Their Own Authority]]></title><description><![CDATA[Critics of judicial overreach face an odd challenge. The most sophisticated response is not to defend the decisions – it is to deny that constitutional limits exist at all. If courts made the rules, the argument runs, courts can remake them. Last month’s column, An Inheritance Worth Defending , drew that response, among others. Four arguments recur. On the surface they are distinct – one concerns the foundations of parliamentary sovereignty, one the proper limits of common law development,...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-why-courts-cannot-determine-the-scope-of-their-own-authority</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69def22dd16dd0f27a0d7b4a</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 02:29:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ZORAN RAKOVIC: The Tyrant Without a Face]]></title><description><![CDATA[Inspired by RCR Bites, a modern interpretation of Aristotle on how uncertainty, information overload, and ambiguity quietly shape power. Aristotle reaches us today not through a lecture hall or a worn manuscript, but through a passing line in a modern bulletin, RCR Bites . A fragment dropped into the stream of daily updates. And yet, like all enduring ideas, it refuses to stay small. “It is also the policy of a tyrant to impoverish his subjects… that they may be kept busy with their daily...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/zoran-rakovic-the-tyrant-without-a-face</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ddb2c48946a7ddf470695b</guid><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:27:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_8f6c0ea1bb7b4410867f7f56c6e4af42~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ACT: A great idea for councils, from the Labour Party]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Labour Party constitution contains a real gem. We doubt Willie ‘democracy has changed’ Jackson has read his party’s constitution, but here it is: “All political authority comes from the people by democratic means, including universal suffrage, regular and free elections with a secret ballot.” It is the first principle in their Party Constitution, and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. If democracy means anything, it’s that the majority can vote the bastards out. Democracy amounts...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/act-a-great-idea-for-councils-from-the-labour-party</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69dc9eac43e56f31776fce0a</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:44:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_b91491d494334562828c68ab7d93d9dc~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_859,h_934,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[LINDSAY MITCHELL: Immigrants pull their weight]]></title><description><![CDATA[Just-released March 2026 ethnic data  shows Maori form the largest group of dependent unemployed people. At the end of March 2026 48,261 Maori  were receiving a Job Seeker-Work Ready benefit (Job Seeker-Health Condition/Disability is a separate category for those considered temporarily unemployed  due to illness.) NZ Europeans followed at 43,626. Pacific  people occupy third place at 19,005. Asians trail back at 6,840 with  Middle Eastern/ Latin American/ African   people numbering 2,178....]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/lindsay-mitchell-immigrants-pull-their-weight</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69db536c8614fb4128b0360b</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:04:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_85fc3715e713436486db90dd6ff83ae6~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Elizabeth Rata: NEOTRIBAL CAPITALISM AND CO-GOVERNANCE]]></title><description><![CDATA[In a Nutshell Capitalism creates prosperity. But its relentless drive to accumulate must be controlled by democratic politics. Neotribal economic corporations (the 'neo' means they are different from the pre-modern tribal re-distributive economy) are like socialist ones. They merge the economy with politics. Dangerously, they institutionalise the merger in legislation, policy and practice. Because those combined interests are invisible, they are unchallengeable. Democracy first required the...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/elizabeth-rata-neotribal-capitalism-and-co-governance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69db1af275afb0779a739d9e</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 04:11:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_bf86860a74b34b8b91d8775ec3b7dd08~mv2.webp/v1/fit/w_180,h_180,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bryan Leyland and John Raine: THE ENERGY STORAGE ELEPHANT]]></title><description><![CDATA[Christopher Luxon announced the LNG Storage Terminal plan on 9 th  February 2026. By 28 th  February, the USA and Israel had attacked Iran, and we were forcefully reminded that New Zealand’s is one of the most  vulnerable advanced economies to oil supply disruption. We are geographically isolated, fully import‑dependent for refined fuels, and exposed to geopolitical upheaval and chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz. The energy storage behemoth has been in the room for a long time and was...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/bryan-leyland-and-john-raine-the-energy-storage-elephant</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d985f875afb0779a703892</guid><pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:33:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_ec160e3721164954864fad8397e855bb~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_275,h_183,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: What Freedom of Speech Is For: The case against silencing]]></title><description><![CDATA[In 1633, the Roman Inquisition condemned Galileo for heresy. His offence was to argue that the Earth moves around the Sun. The Church was not acting out of malice. It was protecting a politically approved consensus against what was considered to be dangerous nonsense. The theologians and philosophers who condemned Galileo were not fools. They were defending what every educated person knew to be true. They were also wrong. And being wrong with institutional authority behind you is far more...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-what-freedom-of-speech-is-for-the-case-against-silencing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d95033515c02011a0c665d</guid><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:02:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[GRAHAM ADAMS: The Rosy Resurrection of Helen Clark]]></title><description><![CDATA[Just don’t mention the foreshore and seabed.   Helen Clark’s gift of $86.8 million to the arts sector in May 2000 turned out to be a canny investment. The opera aficionado’s benevolence early in her first term as Prime Minister seems to have guaranteed her the undying devotion of the luvvies who dominate the world of theatre, music and film.    They will forgive her anything — except perhaps 2004’s Foreshore and Seabed Act.   Little surprise then that Auckland Theatre Company — which received...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/graham-adams-the-rosy-resurrection-of-helen-clark</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d8056c0b7119100d01b37f</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:04:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_3de95095e60c4fd8bbbd8cb694c13d25~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_960,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[DON BRASH: IT’S NO LONGER SAFE TO BE AN AMERICAN ALLY]]></title><description><![CDATA[For all my now-rather-long adult life, there has been a largely unquestioned assumption that the best way for New Zealand to get along in the world is to be an ally of the United States.   And an ally we’ve been since at least December 1941 when, after being attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbour, the United States entered the Second World War.   New Zealand was a formal treaty ally of the US from 1951 when the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty (ANZUS) was signed.   The...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/don-brash-it-s-no-longer-safe-to-be-an-american-ally</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d70d49a51db32c14c150a2</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:37:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_2947fe4ce58848a681ec1a27681251da~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_155,h_204,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Don Brash</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[KARL DU FRESNE:  Luxon still hasn’t got the hang of politics]]></title><description><![CDATA[“I’m not going to play that game,” Christopher Luxon said – rather lamely – when Tova O’Brien asked him how many Maori National MPs were in his cabinet. “It’s not a game,” countered O’Brien, doubtless trying hard to conceal her glee at having so easily caught the prime minister out. Oh, but it is a game. The game is called scalp-hunting and it’s commonly practised by journalists and broadcasters who mistakenly think their role is to make politicians squirm. The funny thing is, no one can...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/karl-du-fresne-luxon-still-hasn-t-got-the-hang-of-politics</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d6115bd3b1a3633e6f1f4d</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:28:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_4ba936ffab4d4d149f5f03aa7db47cde~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_191,h_264,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ELLIOT IKILEI: It is worse than you think: Far North Council has been taken over]]></title><description><![CDATA[Things are going badly wrong in the Far North, and the Government is choosing to sit on its hands and let it happen. We have to take action now. A sitting councillor, Davina Smolders has come forward in an interview with Duncan Garner on his podcast and described what is happening inside the Far North District Council. This is no petty disagreement over policy. It is a fundamental shift in who is exercising power and the complete overriding of democracy. We are calling for Minister for Local...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/elliot-ikilei-it-is-worse-than-you-think-far-north-council-has-been-taken-over</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d59ed9212fd86027b4f7ed</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:22:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_879272a1e00549eea838332bd03100cc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_243,h_207,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: Wellington takes the gold]]></title><description><![CDATA[Winston Peters was in Westport on Sunday, announcing  that a future NZ First government would return 50 per cent of all mining royalties to the regions where mining occurs. It is one of the more sensible growth ideas to emerge from this election campaign so far. The logic is simple. When a mine is proposed, local communities experience the disruption – the consent battles, the pressure on roads and services, the divided town meetings. Wellington gets the royalties. In those circumstances,...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-wellington-takes-the-gold</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d40aacd142869289e8b417</guid><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:40:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[DR MIKE SCHMIDT: Pragmatic Water Management]]></title><description><![CDATA[In my previous article “WCC’s Actions Are a National Moral Hazard” , the objection to transferring water assets was framed in moral and ethical terms: councils hold critical infrastructure in trust for the public, and irreversible transfers undermine trusteeship and create moral hazards by allowing responsibility to be exported rather than exercised. Some councils may not subscribe to such ideas, conveniently treating the issue as merely “practical” or “technical.” Thus I appeal to them on...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/dr-mike-schmidt-pragmatic-water-management</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d19830f7044e6cf7ae55af</guid><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:19:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_6ed231994cbf4f7cab1fb88692e856a5~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_713,h_541,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[JONATHAN SWIFT: A modest proposal for superannuation affordability]]></title><description><![CDATA[Being a practical scheme whereby New Zealand's retirees may personally contribute to the fiscal sustainability they currently enjoy Superannuation reform is politically impossible, so let us not bother. Instead, let us fix the problem the way we have been fixing it anyway, just more honestly. The pension costs more every year because New Zealanders keep getting older. The only reason things aren’t even worse is that younger people keep arriving from overseas and paying taxes. Treasury...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/jonathan-swift-a-modest-proposal-for-superannuation-affordability</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ceae6a40e74dbec4fea735</guid><pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:57:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_e82261f5a50b48c99742ec29151b17b1~mv2.webp/v1/fit/w_528,h_581,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[DAVID HARVEY: The Distant Yet Pervasive State]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Shepherd and the Flock: De Tocqueville’s Warning and the New Zealand Condition This article arose after I had read a number of different pieces. One was Bryce Edwards’ “Democracy Briefing: The Establishment joins the electricity insurgency” . That in turn led me to Danyl McLuchlan’s Listener article “Fuel for a Crisis”. Then from out of the blue arrived a piece about the state of social media discourse and how volatile, vicious and elemental it can be. All this gave rise to some thinking...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/david-harvey-the-distant-yet-pervasive-state</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d014cef7044e6cf7abcc90</guid><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:30:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_1a54859d95d84bb292464a2769523f9f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_96,h_96,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>