The National Assembly of France today voted against a confidence measure in the cabinet of Premier François Bayrou. As a result, per Art. 50 of the constitution, the premier must resign and the government is ousted. President Emmanuel Macron had appointed Bayrou last December after the previous premier, Michel Barnier, had been ousted in a […]
French cabinet loses confidence vote
French cabinet loses confidence vote
09 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics, Public Choice Tags: France
Abundance 2025 – Preview
09 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - USA
Five questions I’ll be bringing to the conference this week
Abundance 2025 – Preview
The Once and Future Nation
08 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
Chris Trotter’s speech to the NZ First Convention 2025 NEW ZEALAND FIRST’S ENEMIES, and on occasion, its friends, delight in portraying the party as the prisoner of nostalgia. Bewitched, they say, by a nostalgic vision of a New Zealand that no longer exists. Bothered by the irreversible changes that have overwhelmed their nation. And bewildered […]
The Once and Future Nation
Supreme Court Matters: Constitutional Guardians or Constitutional Threat?
08 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Roger Partridge writes – When a constitutional law professor warns of “dangerous foes” threatening New Zealand’s legal system, you might expect concern about genuinely destabilising forces – political interference with judicial independence, or threats to the rule of law itself. You would be wrong. Professor Dean Knight of Victoria University recently addressed the Institute of Public […]
Supreme Court Matters: Constitutional Guardians or Constitutional Threat?
Cal State University Professor Indicted for Assault on Federal Officers
07 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, politics - USA
A federal grand jury has indicted Cal State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Anthony Caravello for throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a raid at a Glass House Farms marijuana facility in Camarillo, CA. In addition to a large number of arrestees, the authorities found at least 14 child workers. Caravello has […]
Cal State University Professor Indicted for Assault on Federal Officers
Peeni loses in a landslide
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
With a third of polling places counted it seems clear Peeni Henare has been thrashed, barely getting half the votes Orini Kaipara is getting. A humiliating loss. Based on this Te Pati Maori could sweep all seven Maori electorates next year.
Peeni loses in a landslide
American Humanist vigorously endorses “affirmative care” with no lower age limit
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, health economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is among the most prominent humanist/atheist/skeptical organizations in America, but it’s been getting increasingly “progressive” (read “woke”). You may remember that in 2021 the AHA revoked its “Humanist of the Year” award given to Richard Dawkins 15 years earlier, saying this: Regrettably, Richard Dawkins has over the past several years […]
American Humanist vigorously endorses “affirmative care” with no lower age limit
The Judicial Calvinball of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA
Below is my column in The Hill on the chilling jurisprudence of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson’s description of opinions as an opportunity for commentary on contemporary issues is a radical departure from long-standing traditions on the Court. While justices have occasionally strayed into extraneous issues, Jackson appears to view her position as giving her a […]
The Judicial Calvinball of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Prebble on Covid unaccountability
06 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of pandemics
Richard Prebble writes: A Royal Commission is our nation’s highest form of inquiry, reserved for the most important issues. To ensure confidence in its findings, commissioners have the power to summon witnesses and take their evidence in public under oath. In my research, apart from health reasons, the only person to have ever refused to […]
Prebble on Covid unaccountability
Law and order – why tougher deportation law might win votes but fail the unreasonableness test
05 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of immigration
Peter Dunne writes – The government has just announced plans to strengthen New Zealand’s immigration laws to make it easier to deport residents convicted of serious criminal offences. Under current law, permanent residents of up to ten years standing who have been convicted of criminal offences can be deported after release from prison. However, the […]
Law and order – why tougher deportation law might win votes but fail the unreasonableness test
Judging Little
05 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
Received a pamphlet from Andrew Little in the letterbox. He makes five key pledges in it, so I thought it would be useful to record them here, and analyse how one could judge if he has kept his word, if he is elected Mayor. They are: 1 Keep Rates down A rates increase no larger…
Judging Little
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
05 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking
…the federal government did something extraordinary: It committed more than $140 billion toward the region’s recovery. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than was spent on the post-World War II Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks. It remains the largest post-disaster domestic recovery effort in […]
How well did Katrina reconstruction go?
No, the President Cannot Strip Rosie O’Donnell of Her Citizenship
04 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he may strip comedian Rosie O’Donnell of her U.S. citizenship. He has made the threat previously, despite having no authority to do so. In the United States, political critics cannot be stripped of their citizenship, and pursuing such a course would be a fundamental denial of constitutional protections not only […]
No, the President Cannot Strip Rosie O’Donnell of Her Citizenship
A gross failure of editorial judgment
03 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, regressive left
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a story in the New Zealand Herald this morning about the death of former King Cobras gang leader Ulaiasi “Rocky” Pulete. Carrying the byline of Herald crime reporter Jared Savage, it’s written in the reverential tones normally reserved for an esteemed community leader, business person or sporting figure. Pulete is described as “a […]
A gross failure of editorial judgment
The by-election without much choice
03 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
It’s hard to get too much enthusiasm for the Tamaki Makaurau by-election. The Maori roll and seats have become more politicised than ever before, as they are no longer an exercise in ensuring a core level of Maori representation in Parliament, but rather an expression of Maori nationalism. It used to be that the Maori…
The by-election without much choice
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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