In the last few days, plenty of people have mocked the Prime Minister for his apparent inability to answer simple questions about New Zealand’s attitude to the attacks on Iran by two countries with which we have a very friendly relationship, the United States and Israel.    By chance, I heard him struggle with the simple question which Corin Dann put to him on RNZ on Monday morning this week.  I found myself feeling sorry for him because the current situation highlights the dilemma we face in...

The following is written in Don's capacity as trustee for Hobson's Pledge: It is almost the end of 2025 and, as you may know, the Government has recently introduced to Parliament the two Bills it seeks to replace the Resource Management Act  (RMA) with. The Bills were pushed through first reading under urgency and have been referred to the Environment Select Committee. We will shortly be able to make submissions. We have already looked at the Bills and sought some initial legal advice. As you...

With less than a year to go to the next general election, polls suggest that the current Government could well lose to a Labour-led coalition, despite the mess which the last Labour Government left just two years ago.  Is that negativity warranted?   There are all kinds of criteria one might use to assess the Government but in recent years I have consistently used just five.   First, has the Government taken any significant steps to improve our longstanding record of appallingly slow...