New Zealand’s Next Lorde?

The first thing which struck me is how good Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke voice is! Her’s are not my politics: I’m all for the conversation ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill has started.The modern set of Treaty of Waitangi’s principles have been developed by courts since 1975’s and have been accepted by…

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Night at the Sassy Kava

So there I was…It’s not every day you find yourself in Fiji. Especially when this morning you were getting your kitchen installed, after your wife had just melted down about how bad the kitchen was.I bagged my stuff and tools of my trade and shuffled out the door of a…

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When was Inflation Beat?

Yeah! Good News! New Zealand’s nailed inflation.Don’t get me wrong – I dislike inflation, and everything about it. I don’t like how sustained persistent inflation is created by the government spending money it doesn’t have and buying up large on both the taxpayer and consumers ticket (inflation is a tax)….

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The Game

I read somewhere that, regardless of the political environment, the top 1-5% of a society will always succeed.They might be the generals in Pakistan, Myanmar or some other dictatorship. Or American Ivy-Leaguers, with their path mapped out by family and familiarity connections. In England, they’re the Ox-bridge or Eton brigade.Regardless…

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The Life Cycle

Do you remember when your cat was young and new?You’d play with him, and he would come and cuddle with you. You were the most important thing in his life. And his fragility and new-ness to the world made you feel special. You might just be the dopiest prick in…

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Eugenie Sage: Our Most Regressive Politician

Before she, thankfully, stood down from re-election in October, Eugenie Sage from the Greens already ranked highly on my shit-list of worst political decision-makers ever.She was the “brains” behind the outlawing of single use disposable plastic bags. A Really Bad Decision-makerShe wasn’t alone in her left-wing appetitite for using public…

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The Price of Booze and Smokes

Stats NZ released its Consumer Price Index today. Booze & Ciggie InflationHere’s what’s been happening to the relative cost of your weekly booze and smokes.Booze and smoke annual prices increased approximately 1.6% faster than other goods and services between 1988 and 2009. All other goods and services increased in price,…

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Working From Home

Lots of the talking heads think that Wellington needs to return to the office for both productivity reasons, and also the good of the inner city.I’m currently at the Bank of New Zealand, and I asked my team why they don’t want to come into the office more. The most…

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Brisbane Construction Boom

Rebecca and I landed in Brisbane last night, and we’re staying at the Emporium Hotel in South Bank. We have this phenomenal view of the Brisbane CBD. Check out this photo. It wasn’t clearly defined, so I added red marks over each.There are 13 cranes helping construction in Brisbane’s CBD….

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Australian Adventuring

Woo hoo!!Rebecca and I are off to Brisbane for a week!!I’m hoping to catch-up with one of my best friends, Peter & Leigh Wysocki, and their family Trixie and Theo.Peter and I are going to the Nick Mason concert! And Rebecca is going to hang out beside an infinity pool…

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Milk Scarcity

Oddest sign…… why does NEW ZEALAND have milk supply issues?!?!But it looks like it’s backed up by evidence:I’ll be damned… That’s not good for both June GDP, and New Zealand, especially given inflation and a contracting monetary policy stance.🫤

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Single Issue Voter

ResponsesFirst response in from ACT  Does ACT have a view on the Commission’s opinion around a 50-50 split, and would it seek to implement the Commission’s advice in the elected new parliament?ACT has not formed a position on the 50:50 split as advocated by the Law Commission in 2019. We…

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The Best Stories are Economic

I’m watching These Final Hours. All the best movies are grounded in economics.This wasn’t a Wall Street movie. It wasn’t about money, or greed. It was about economics: choice, constraints, outcomes and uncertainty. It was an apocalypse story based on economics. Wasn’t this an Australian Sci-fi?That’s the thing about sci-fi…

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