When the Left and the Right start behaving in the same way, there’s nothing left of the Left

I HAVE BEEN RESISTING the conclusion that New Zealand no longer possesses a “left-wing” movement. What the news media persists in referring to as “the Left” or “progressives” are no such thing. By any reasonable definition, the movements identified – or identifying themselves – as left-wing fail to measure up. What they truly are we […]

When the Left and the Right start behaving in the same way, there’s nothing left of the Left

The rise of NZ First

I write at Patreon: NZ First scored 11.9% in the January 2026 Taxpayers’ Union – Curia poll. This is a very high level of support for NZ First generally, but especially for them in Government. The last time NZ First polled this high was in the lead up to the 2017 election. They also spiked…

The rise of NZ First

Why did Austria-Hungary do so poorly in World War One? (Short Animated D…

Nathan Whetton: Civil Disobedience, Protest and the Jury Trial Reforms

On 2 December 2025, the Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced significant reforms to criminal trials in England and Wales. Defending his proposals on the BBC Sunday programme on 4 January 2026, Lammy justified restricting jury trial on the basis of his strong sense of justice, explicitly pointing to the fact he had a photograph […]

Nathan Whetton: Civil Disobedience, Protest and the Jury Trial Reforms

My polling predictions at Newsroom

Newsroom asked some pollsters for their predictions for 2026. Mine are below: Every poll (or almost every poll) will show that both National and Labour will need two partner parties to govern, not just one – that is: only National/Act/New Zealand First and Labour/Greens/Te Pāti Māori will have enough seats to make 61.  All 71…

My polling predictions at Newsroom

“It’s Going to Get Really Serious”: Liberal Influencers Discuss Public Trials and Court Expansion After Democratic Takeover

Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta spoke with popular podcaster Jennifer Welch, discussing the plans for radical changes after a Democratic…

“It’s Going to Get Really Serious”: Liberal Influencers Discuss Public Trials and Court Expansion After Democratic Takeover

Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights on

By Paul Homewood   h/t Ian Cunningham   From the Telegraph:   Two of Britain’s oldest nuclear power plants could be kept running for an extra two years because of an acute electricity shortage in the UK.

Britain to extend life of ageing nuclear plants to keep the lights on

Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired

A crazy article by Halim Rane at the ABC: In the aftermath of violent attacks, public commentary quickly reaches for a familiar label like “religiously motivated terrorism”. The term sounds intuitive but it is analytically flawed, socially harmful and counter-productive to both national security and social cohesion. I would argue that a more accurate and useful…

Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired

Endangered Republicans at Yale

The NY Post reports: A recent report from the Buckley Institute found that there are no Republican faculty members across 27 departments at Yale University. … It found that nearly 83% of faculty are registered Democrats or primarily support Democratic candidates. More than 15% identify as independent, and fewer than 3% are Republicans, according to the report. Most notably, 27 of 43 undergraduate…

Endangered Republicans at Yale

Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity

As I wrote nine years ago, Oxfam is a pathetic organization. Originally created to help the poor, it has been captured by activists who peddle class warfare. But they play that role in an incredibly sloppy fashion. In all the debates I’ve been part of over the years, no left-leaning academic has been willing to […]

Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity

Is there a British productivity comeback?

Let us hope: Britain is seeing early signs of a long-awaited turnaround of its productivity woes, according to an alternative measure that suggests output per hour worked has risen at a pace not seen since before the financial crisis. The Resolution Foundation said a “blistering” productivity surge has been masked by problems with official statistics and pointed…

Is there a British productivity comeback?

A functional organization helps Apple innovate

HBR: SUMMARY:THE CHALLENGE: Major companies competing in many industries struggle to stay abreast of rapidly changing technologies.  ONE MAJOR CAUSE: They are typically organized into business units, each with its own set of functions.  Thus the key decision makers—the unit leaders—lack a deep understanding of all  the domains that answer to them.THE APPLE MODEL: The company is organized…

A functional organization helps Apple innovate

Have the Greens lost their mojo?

Bryce Edwards writes – The Green Party should be flying high right now. They’re not. As the 2026 election year begins in earnest, the Greens find themselves in a deeply anomalous position: polling has slumped, internal organisation has been shaken by staff departures and scandals, and the co-leaders seem strangely detached from the scale of […]

Have the Greens lost their mojo?

We’re still better off than ever before

Steven Pinker wrote at the Free Press: Human progress continues, with some backsliding. Since publishing two books on human progress (The Better Angels of Our Nature, 2011, and Enlightenment Now, 2018), every year I update my graphs on the major dimensions of human well-being. Most people think everything’s gotten worse, but that can be a misleading…

We’re still better off than ever before

AI, labor markets, and wages

There is a new and optimistic paper by Lukas Althoff and Hugo Reichardt: Artificial intelligence is changing which tasks workers do and how they do them. Predicting its labor market consequences requires understanding how technical change affects workers’ productivity across tasks, how workers adapt by changing occupations and acquiring new skills, and how wages adjust…

AI, labor markets, and wages

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