Graham Adams writes — Sir Apirana Ngata has a pre-eminent place in the pantheon of Māori luminaries. He is widely regarded as a visionary leader who, in an illustrious political career, championed biculturalism when assimilationist policies were the norm. He energetically promoted Māori language and culture, and land reform. He was an MP for nearly […]
The highly inconvenient Sir Apirana Ngata
The highly inconvenient Sir Apirana Ngata
10 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
CHRIS TROTTER: Are you a leftist?
10 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
Chris Trotter writes – THERE WAS A TIME when a leftist’s definition of “leftism” corresponded pretty closely to everybody else’s definition. The term identified a coherent worldview – to the point where knowing where someone stood on one issue enabled them to predict with surprising accuracy where they stood on a host of others. If […]
CHRIS TROTTER: Are you a leftist?
PETER WILLIAMS: Supreme Court decision astounding
09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate activists
Three years ago a friend of mine who’s a District Court Judge asked me if I would be guest speaker at the annual DCJ shindig, scheduled that year for the Hilton in Taupo. Despite a feeling of significant intellectual inferiority, I accepted on the condition that all I would talk about were personal experiences from…
PETER WILLIAMS: Supreme Court decision astounding
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
On February 1 Sean Plunket re-played the audio of Don Brash’s 2004 Orewa speech at The Platform. To listen to the entire speech, go here. Alternatively, the full text of the speech is reproduced below. Today Don reflects: “It’s very long – really far too long for a Rotary Club speech. I should have taken…
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
She Says She Wants A Revolution.
05 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: regressive left
Heads Up: Jeremy Corbyn’s greatest mistake was to give the ruling elites and their enablers advance warning that he was coming for their power, their purse, and their privilege. Candidate for the Green Party co-leadership, Chloe Swarbrick, appears to share Corbyn’s naïve assumption that those who own the system will sit idly by while a…
She Says She Wants A Revolution.
DON BRASH: WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY DO WE WANT TO BE?
03 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Last Sunday, the Sunday Star-Times recalled on its front page the “fiery debate” triggered by my speech to the Orewa Rotary Club just 20 years earlier. Articles by several authors in the same paper brought the debate up-to-date and warned of the dangers of ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, which the National Party’s coalition agreement with…
DON BRASH: WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY DO WE WANT TO BE?
More from New Zealand, a nation whose science is circling the drain
28 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
I’ve written a lot about New Zealand lately, in particular the schools’ and government’s attempt to force the teaching of “indigenous ways of knowing” (mātauranga Māori) into the science classroom as a system coequal in value with modern science. That means not only equal classroom time, but equal respect, treating indigenous ways of knowing as […]
More from New Zealand, a nation whose science is circling the drain
Spot on
27 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
📸 Look at this post on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/ny4YzhWSbvAFW2wA/?mibextid=xfxF2i
My letter to the Chicago Maroon about Students for Justice in Palestine
25 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Over the last several months, I’ve seen and read about demonstrations on our campus by the pro-Palestinian group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which apparently has roughly 200 campus branches in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand. SJP has been particularly active since last year’s October 7 massacre of Israelis and others, which they […]
My letter to the Chicago Maroon about Students for Justice in Palestine
The danger of the Treaty debate wearing us down
25 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Screeds have been written about the Treaty of Waitangi. And there’s more to come as division over race and rights ramps up.Its content and meaning are getting lost in the crossfire and the danger of ‘contestants’ talking past each other looms, if not already happening.When matters get murky, and misunderstandings abound, there is also a…
The danger of the Treaty debate wearing us down
Canadian university advertises for scientists expert in Indigenous “ways of knowing”
23 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
The combination of Canadian wokeness and the migration across the Pacific of New Zealand’s “indigenous ways of knowing” trope has led to this ad by The University of Victoria. The U of V wants to hire three candidates in any branch of science with expertise “in either (a) working with Indigenous ways of knowing, or…
Canadian university advertises for scientists expert in Indigenous “ways of knowing”
Will Milei succeed in Argentina?
22 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, monetary economics, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Argentina
I give him a 30-40% chance, which is perhaps generous because I am rooting for him. Bryan Caplan, who is more optimistic, offers some analysis and estimates that Milei needs to close a fiscal gap of about five percent of gdp. I have two major worries. First, if Milei approaches fiscal success, the opposing parties […]
Will Milei succeed in Argentina?
MICHAEL BASSETT: TV ONE’S BEAT-UP ON THE TREATY AND THE KING’S HUI
21 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Last Friday night, TV One’s lead item on the 6pm news was a story by reporter Te Aniwa Hurihanganui. She had scored a leaked piece of advice not yet considered by Cabinet that was intended to warn ministers in the new government that they would run into trouble with Maori if they backed David Seymour’s…
MICHAEL BASSETT: TV ONE’S BEAT-UP ON THE TREATY AND THE KING’S HUI
Bill Maher has a new rule, which is his
21 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s an eight-minute clip from Bill Maher in which he touts a new rule: 2024 is supposed to be “The Year of Sanity”. Maher gives several examples of pervasive insanity, the most prominent being the likely reelection of Trump as President. He also mentions tolerance of shoplifting, pro-Palestinian activists, admiration for the Houthis, frantic rumors […]
Bill Maher has a new rule, which is his
The periodical Science touts Indigenous science
20 Jan 2024 1 Comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, regressive left
That this editorial appears in the premier journal Science, and is one of a growing number of pieces urging us to respect “indigenous ways of knowing”, suggests that the woke movement has sprouted a new branch. It’s one I’ve discussed many times with respect to Māori “ways of knowing” (Mātauranga Māori, or MM) in New […]
The periodical Science touts Indigenous science
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments